Saturday, April 5, 2008

Word From Thailand: Soccer Donations


As reported in this post from February 6, one of many Friends In Mission that we met while in Thailand was Asia Athletic Institute, a Christian ministry that reaches out to the youth of northern Thailand through sports, English language instruction and health care.

Contact with Astrid Sebert, who heads AAI, had just been made a few weeks earlier in January. Our meeting with Astrid included the transfer of a large bundle of soccer (in Thailand, we say football) gear – both new and used – that had been donated by the Dallas Texans Soccer Club of Midland. The donated gear included shirts, socks, shin guards, cleats, goalkeepers’ gloves, and equipment for coaches.

"I brought some of the soccer balls to a refugee camp last week," Astrid wrote to us earlier this month. "The kids were very happy with them. They do need to clear some land, though to play soccer in the camp. God bless, Astrid" 

AAI also plans to use donated gear to equip a new soccer team being formed at a school in Mae Hong Son, a small town in northern Thailand, near the border with Myanmar (Burma). In February, Astrid also discussed plans for expanding existing programs and introducing new programs as part of AAI’s continuing mission to bring more people to Christ. At that time, she also provided our mission team with Scripture and lessons used by AAI, which will be used as devotionals for the Upward Basketball program, here in Midland.

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