Foosball Table

January 24, 2011 was a significant day at Northwest Bible Church, as Pastor Mark Trotter announced a church-wide mission project for the Passion Center for Children. This endeavor involved shipping an entire semi-sized container, jam-packed full of needed supplies for the education and development of the precious children at the Passion Center.

Church member, Matt Wojnarowski, remembers the announcement clearly and a few weeks later, the suggested donation lists were delivered via bulletin inserts. Matt looked over the list, thought about the needs of his own seven children, and tucked it into his Bible. By the second week of the project, Matt knew exactly what the Lord was impressing on his heart to share with the needy children. One of the items on list for the container project was a foosball table.

Foosball was a family pastime for Matt, as he grew up in a preacher’s home with three brothers and one sister. The foosball table sitting in his basement had been there for several years and was originally a family present from his father and mother to their kids in 1978. Upon the original purchase, Matt’s dad had declared that he wanted to get a table that would last many years. While needing some repair, the table was in fairly good condition. Matt ordered a few parts, repaired, scrubbed and scoured, then delivered the table to the church and left it inside the shipping container. The difficulty of giving away such a sentimental item was immense, but he knew the children at the Passion Center would love it. Childhood memories filled his mind as he walked away, but his heart was full of joy from obedience. He hoped that the orphans in Malawi would enjoy the table as much as he and his family had. The theme statement for the project had been, “If you can’t leave your footprints there…at least leave your fingerprints.” Matt knew that his fingerprints were headed to Malawi.

After much work, the shipping container arrived at the Passion Center on August 17, 2011. The children were elated to open the much-needed and much-anticipated supplies. Their eyes lit up when, in the middle of unpacking necessities, the foosball table was discovered.

The first step of obedience to the Lord to help the orphans of Malawi led Matt to a second step. At the time of donating the foosball table, he held no thoughts of his own feet ever stepping on African soil. But that is exactly what happened. As a member of the worship team, through the gracious support of others, Matt had the privilege of leaving his footprints at the Passion Center for Children in February 2012.

Matt’s earthly father had a great plan for the foosball table with the desire for it to “last a long time,” but the Heavenly Father’s plan for that table superseded anyone’s imagination. Matt enjoyed playing foosball with his family for many years and his hope is that his extended family at the Passion Center enjoys the table for many more years.

Mulunguzi Dam Field Trip

Our American intern, Misse Mbongo, wrote to tell us about a field trip for some of the older Passion kids during their break from school. As orphans from the villages, they seldom get the opportunity to go on trips. The outings provide a great opportunity for the staff to encourage the teens to live for Christ.

The Passion Center staff took the Form 1 (9h grade) and Form 3 (11th grade) Passion students on an educational and spiritual field trip to The Mulunguzi Dam last week. Most of the students had never visited the dam before. For the first two hours of the trip, we were guided by the dam supervisor; he gave us a brief history of the dam. He really made it an educational experience for the children, explaining everything from what a dam is, what a reservoir is, what materials were used to make the dam, and how the dam is flushed out. The guide took us to the bottom most part of the dam and to the gorge as well. He answered many questions and often engaged the students. It was quite an experience for the children, they really enjoyed it!

After this part of the trip, we took a break and enjoyed our lunch, with a few monkeys roaming around. It was really beautiful!

After our break, we sat down in a little open hut within the dam premises for the spiritual part of the trip. We had a brief portion where we encouraged them to work hard in school, then Pastor Joseph Sekiya spoke on the importance of sharing their testimonies with friends and family. He used the apostle Paul as an example, how he told his story in the letter to the Galatians, who he was, how he was converted and how God is using him. So, before one can share their story, they need to write down their story. Their testimony should include (among other things) who they were before they came to Christ, how they came to Christ, and how Christ is working in their lives etc. They do have an assignment to write down their testimonies (as well as what they learned about the dam). Of course we’ll continue to work with them, even taking them out to reach out to others using their testimonies that they have written.

It was a really beautiful trip at the very beginning of their school break!

Snapshot: Friendship only needs a place

What do you need to play with a friend? Not much really.