Bob Fichtinger

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:19-25

The Global Gathering happens every four years. Around 60 Sports Friends leaders from 13 nationalities, ministering to 19 countries gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand last week. We gather to pray, reflect, inform, encourage, equip, support and have fun within the global family of Sports Friends. This year God directed us through some difficult trials. The coronavirus caused havoc with travel plans. We had several people cancel the trip altogether because of it. The leadership prayed about postponing the event, but felt led to trust God with protection and move forward with the meeting.

I (Bob) arrived early in hope of getting over jet lag (12 hour difference) and explored the city, ate some delicious food, and enjoyed the awesome hospitality of the Thai people. 

Sunday all the Sports Friends people started to roll in. All the people we have been working and praying for over the past three years. It was humbling to be there. These are people who put their very lives on the line for the sake of the gospel. It’s amazing that God would allow us to serve along side these brothers and sisters in Christ. Our conference days where filled with country reports, prayer, Bible study, break out sessions and team building activities.

One of the awesome aspects of using sports as a tool to reach people for Jesus is that it’s non-threatening. It crosses barriers that otherwise would not be crossed. We have 13,200 coaches ministering to 294,000 youth, and impacting over 1 million people as we hear the stories of entire families changed by God’s love. This ministry is being done in places known for their hostility toward the gospel. God is using Sports Friends in a mighty way. I believe the devil is aware of the impact and wants to stop the advancement of God’s kingdom.

“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Halfway into the conference we received the terrible news that John Kato (SF Nigeria leader, in the yellow jersey above) died while en route to the Global Gathering. John suffered some sort of sudden asthmatic attack / respiratory distress while waiting for his delayed flight in Lagos, and died at a local medical clinic. I had never met him, but I’ve been told he was the life of the party and all the kids loved being around him. We grieved, prayed, and worshipped Jesus together as a Sports Friends family. Please pray with us for his wife and two boys as they mourn their loss.

We also got news from our leaders of terrible persecution that was taking place back in their home countries of ministry. In west Africa, terrorists killed two pastors and kidnapped two other friends of our team leader in that country. Later we found out the two that were kidnapped had also been killed. One of our workers learned that new believers in a southeast Asian village where they had been serving had been told to deny their faith in Jesus or face the consequences. They stood firm and saw their homes destroyed and they were expelled from the community. Please pray for the persecuted church within the Sports Friends ministry.

One of the biggest things I got from this Global Gathering was that we are truly a family as the Body of Christ, and He calls us all to serve, support and pray for our brothers and sisters around the world. I believe our Nigerian brother said it best “Death or Expansion (of His ministry)”. Serious. Focused. Real. Life here is so short. Death is coming…we never know when. How are we living the life He’s given us? For ourselves or for His kingdom?

Extra Blessings:

One of our Compassion sponsored children (really a young man) lives in Thailand, and when we realized he lived only 10 km from Chiang Mai, I wanted to see him. I asked one of our Thai SF leaders if he knew where he lived. “Nop” has written us on several occasions and talked about how he is growing in his walk with Jesus, and how much he likes going to church. Come to find out, our Thai SF leader is actually his pastor! I got to meet Nop in person and bless him with some new shoes. He thanked us and asked me when he would see the rest of our family! Pray for him as he finishes school and enters the workforce as a mechanic. Pray also that his family can find a new place to sell their goods. Pray that he will continue to be encouraged to have seen how BIG his God is, and how much He loves to bless His children in surprising and profound ways.

This is a 360 Degree Video – feel free to take a look around to see Thailand to the fullest.

A couple of weeks ago I got the privilege of visiting my first Sports Friends Camp. I traveled to Thailand: the opposite side of the world, where elephants roam free and soccer is the favorite past time. We were located four hours southwest of Bangkok, near the boarder of Myanmar (Burma). I arrived with few expectations and was very curious to see how this camp ministry functions in the daily setting.

On Tuesday, before the kids and coaches rolled in, the staff and volunteers practiced the upcoming week’s activities and participated in a friendly game of soccer. These guys can play! Thailand is blessed to have so many talented coaches and staff, both in soccer and the truth of God’s word.

On Wednesday the kids arrived with their coaches. We had opening ceremonies with singing and silliness. We quickly divided them up into teams and started the ice breaker games. These games helped unite the teams and taught them about working together and championing one another. After lunch we traveled to the soccer field. They had warm-ups and practice, then competed in that day’s tournament. I’m amazed at how talented the kids are compared to the kids here in the states. It was good to see how the coaches interacted with their athletes and how supportive the staff and volunteers where to the coaches. We closed the night with awards for the day and more laughter. The coaches and their athletes went to their cabins and had family time where they were encouraged to discuss the days events and lessons. We stayed back and prayed for them.

On Thursday the day started early with a morning run and exercise. The kids went back to the soccer field and I stayed behind to meet up with some of the ISS Team (International Support Services… a.k.a. the Communications Team). I’m amazed at the talent God’s assembled for this ministry. We discussed the next year’s projects and got to know each other better. I cannot wait to join these creative, energetic, talented God-trusting coworkers!

Each night ended in a staff skit where we acted out Biblical stories with lots of props and lots of laughter. The kids were enthralled and very receptive to learning about God’s word. Again, at the end of the night the coaches had “Family Time” where they asked the athletes about the lessons and skit they had encountered that day. We prayed for their interactions.

The majority of Thais are Folk Buddhist, and Christians come in at a just 0.7% of it’s population. I can’t help but be optimistic for Thailand’s future. I think of the early Church starting from the eleven disciples, and how God selects people for His purposes. I look at the people ministering here to the youth and see their passion, love, and devotion to God for the sake of their own people’s salvation. I look at how Sports Friends functions as a ministry and can’t help but believe the church in Thailand will explode in the next decade. What a blessing to play a part of the body of Christ in the beautiful location of Thailand!

We’re only here for seven weeks, but here are snippets of life in Hyderabad, and what we’re all up to outside of ministry time!

The boys help Mom sari shop.

 

The drive home from the hospital.

Eli loves transportation around here. No seat belts. No doors. Just parents’ very strong grip around the waist. Traffic is chaos here, but moves pretty slowly overall in the city. These guys are strong in defensive driving skills!

Of course we love the extra houesmates that come out in the evening!

There are chai stands everywhere. The one on our block is enjoying a lot of extra business this month! We have had an in-home lesson on preparing Indian chai… But we still like the professionals.

On the roof with Carly. There is a small wall around the edges, but Mom and Dad don’t complain that the stairway access is always locked except when the building manager is up there tinkering around and invites the kids to play for a little while.

Fetya got some free henna painting on a home visit. Such a lovely beauty tradition.

Found American-ish food! (Abe was enjoying it too much to pause for a picture, that’s all.)

 

Wild relay races for Fetya’s birthday

Nehru Zoological Park. Unanimous highlights: reptile house and witnessing a live croc fight. (And the playground, of course.)

Fetya’s lunch of choice: four samosas, a veg ball, and Sprite. Yes, this did get some concerned looks from the staff. (“So full afterwards,” she conceded.)

Went to GVK1 (Western Mall) for a day out, and visited “Fun Zone”. Boys had a BLAST on bumper cars, the mirror maze, air hockey, and whack-a-pig. It’s also home to Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad: nachos, hot dogs, burgers, and apple crisp (not to mention Heinz ketchup and yellow mustard!!)

There are close to 147 million orphans in the world.

That number is hard to grasp… it’s the distance in kilometers from the earth to the sun. It’s a BIG number.

My wife and I knew that God was inviting our family to respond to what were no longer overwhelming statistics, but precious little eyes that just want to see they are loved, and open little hands that need someone’s to hold. In January of 2010 we knew it was time, and we began the process of expanding our happy little family of four (at the time our biological sons were 2 1/2 years and 5 months old).

The international adoption process is sadly — but in many ways necessarily — laden with gross amounts of paperwork, background checks, reports, studies, education, exams and waiting. We felt called to open our home to “waiting children” — those who are older than the 3-5 year range, are part of a sibling set, or have special needs. They are harder to be placed with adoptive families because they are known to typically come with their own set of “larger” issues, as opposed to healthy infants (who need families just as much as waiting children do, but are almost always immediately placed into one). We chose an agency that has a focus on “waiting children”, had our home study completed by a local agency (FTIA), and were ready to see who would join our family next.

When we began our process, we were considering one or two toddlers with possible special health needs. But God always has a bigger plan — our home study approved us for three children up to the age of ten — and the crushing consideration of how to choose was upon us. We waded through lists of names and ages that tore our hearts out; but our first official child referral was for three children no longer even on the lists — three incredible little ones we cannot imagine our family without.

We met our children on paper in March of 2010: Habiba, age 10, Fetya, age 6, and Abebaw, age 2. They didn’t know we existed yet, but they were ours.

In June 2010 we were able to send our kids a “welcome bag” — telling them they have been chosen by a family. We introduced ourselves with letters, photos, a “family t-shirt” and some small gifts. You and I can only imagine the impact that day has on the life of a child living in such circumstances. The photos we received of them in their new family tees are priceless.

After incredible delays with paperwork and a great deal of upheaval in Ethiopia and in our agency, we boarded a plane to Addis Ababa in January 2012 to go to court and legally adopt our daughters and son. It is impossible to describe what it is like to have little arms flung around your neck, though they don’t even know really if you are worthy of their trust and their love. How can you explain what it means to be called “daddy” within a week by a child who has lost everything, but holds enough hope and strength to risk having a “daddy” again? Our visit was only two weeks long, and it held excruciating complications in our court processes, but it cemented our family and left us in awe. Then the hardest part of all — we had to say goodbye.

Our children were forced to wait eight more months before we could be reunited. The wait was suffocating, and the most difficult eight months our family has endured. Still, during that time we saw the redemptive hand of God, who used it to bring forward families to adopt TWO of our children’s dear friends, also “waiting” children who had little hope of being chosen. One of these friends is already home, and the other will be in our community hopefully by Christmas.

And so in September 2012, 21 months after we began the process, we once again landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and snatched our children up into our arms. We would never have to leave them behind again. We struggled through a week in a local guest house where we tried to get to know each other and initiate a parent-child relationship. We picked lice, ate traditional food, shopped for spices and traditional clothes and other Ethiopian memoirs, said goodbyes, took care of official business and came home. The flight from Addis to DC is a grueling 17.5 hours, but when we landed in Indianapolis to be greeted by family and friends who had longed for this day with us, JOY and relief marked the day.

We have been home as a family of seven for five weeks now. The journey to this place has been long and difficult, yet it is still only the beginning. We are working through adjustments, grief, joys, new experiences, language learning, food changes, unfamiliarity. We work through the days with a sense of humor, a tremendous degree of exhaustion — and only by the grace of God. The obstacles our children have and continue to overcome are inconceivable to most of us — and these now 12-, 8- and 4-year-olds are champions of courage, hope, faith and joy. Our days see their share of tears, but they are marked by laughter as well. Most importantly, despite the challenges and grief one must embrace by walking this road, we absolutely know that it is right. There is tremendous peace and security in knowing that we are doing what we are made to do, and that this is not the end. In adoption there is unbearable heartache, but there is redemption, there is healing, there is the realization of faith and there is LIFE.

We recommend it.