Tuesday May 24, 2016

So Today Jeremy, Andres, our translator Melinda and I went to the Korean International School to practice. Many of the students there were actually from the States so everyone spoke English. The coach is actually from Minnesota so he actually taught the students American Folkstyle instead of international Freestyle or Greco-Roman. The students were all in middle school so we actually taught them some things about Folkstyle. The practice was very short so we only drilled for about 25 minutes. At the end, I had an opportunity to share my own testimony and Andres and Jeremy shared other experiences and knowledge about wrestling.

When we got back, Jeremy, Andres, and I were able to walk around the local area and checked out some shops and the local fresh market.

When we got back from our excursion, we left for Songlim high school to talk with the volleyball team. We got through traffic much quicker than Melinda thought we would so we talked to the Head Volleyball coach, Coach Kim. Later we found out that he used to be the Olympic coach. He is a Christian who has been a part of FCA for two years. We found out that of his 12 athletes, none were Christians. Immediately, we knew that we had a great opportunity coming up. We finally walked out and and met the team which was sitting on benches. We each shared our testimonies and they eventually had a lot of questions about how we deal with pressure, how to be a leader, how our team operates, and many other things. We all did a great job answering their questions in ways that we hope will make them think about having a relationship with God. I was really surprised about how much pressure these high schoolers feel. They mentioned many times their goals of being in the olympics. We kept reiterating how we find our identity in Christ and how we do not find our value in wins and losses. The conversation took a long time since none of them spoke English and every word had to go through a translator. All in all, we felt blessed to be able to talk to all these athletes today. This day is an example of why we are here. We may never know if what we said will make a difference in their lives, all we can do is plant a seed. It is up to the FCA teams here to water the seed. And it is up to God to grow the seed.

Tag Wilbur (Class of 2017)