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The other side of the story: Australian Open and Vietnam ministry
DAY 1: The worst time for me when I travel is when I go out the door from my home in Hong Kong and I say good bye to my wife and then my little two year old daughter says, ?goodbye, Daddy? and kisses me.
DAY 17: The best time for me when I travel is when I return home and I see my wife and my daughter. I usually arrive home around 10:30pm and I love it when my daughter looks up at me from bed and smiles.
This is the story of the ministry that takes place between these two events
DAY 1: I leave from Hong Kong and try to limit my bags to a manageable one clothing bag and one brief case with my laptop computer. It is never fun carry the heavy clothing bag. One quarter of the clothing bag is usually packed with ministry materials that will be given out and which adds most of the weight. On this trip, I have packed Christian books and WWJD bracelets.
I take the some of the least expensive airlines that I can find. This allows me save money which can then be used for other ministry purposes, to stop for free in various countries on layovers, and to scout out these cities for sending tennis missionaries to them in the future. In this case, Vietnam Airlines allows me a stop over in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. Before I leave my home in Hong Kong, the local newspapers has been reporting on the outbreak of the bird flu virus in Vietnam. My wife is concerned for my health. I always tell her ?I may not be coming back, honey?. A hard but true saying.
I arrive in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam, and a 12 hour lay over in the airport. I look at layovers and long flights as positive aspects of the trip. I use this time as a way to catch up on my email and update my website pages. I leave Vietnam at 10pm on an overnight flight to Melbourne, Australia. I am happy when the contact I am sharing Christ with at the Airlines arranges a free upgrade for me from economy to business class and a much needed reclining sleeper seat.
DAY 2: Upon arrival at the Melbourne airport, I report to the Australian Open transportation desk. As a player guest, I am able to take a car directly to my hotel for free. Several of the volunteers who work with tournament transportation are churchgoers and we have a good time of fellowship and they tell me they use the time in the car with players as an opportunity to witness that they go to church. I often share a car with players and when they find out what my position is they discuss spiritual matters. This happens on the ride from the airport into the city. As always, I intend to drop off my bags at my hotel and go immediately to the tournament site. The qualifier tournament is being held and the main draw players are practicing today. I also use this as a time to get to know the tournament site.
Most of the players stay in the luxury official hotels such as the ?The Grand Hyatt?. Players stay free at the hotel while in the tournament but once they lose are required to pay several hundred dollars a night for a room. Therefore, most of them leave town immediately or if they stay many move into less expensive hotels, such as the ?The Victoria Hotel? at the player rate of $75A a night.
The hotel that I am staying in is not an official hotel but a backpackers hostel, ?The Carlton Hotel?. I am sharing the room with a Christian coach who works with women players. The hotel owner is an immigrant from Egypt who is also a Christian. When he finds out that I am a Pastor, he reduces the rate for us to $20A per person. The location is great, facing the main downtown street in Melbourne and one block from the player hotels. The bathroom is a common bathroom for the entire floor, a little dirty and when I shower I just pray, ?Lord give me strength?. My roommate and I discuss moving to an official hotel. We decide to stay and use the savings for future tennis ministry expenses.
My first day at the Australian Open and I walk to the ?The Grand Hyatt? and take the official player car to the tournament. I report to the credential office and am issued my badge that allows me to enter most areas of the tournament site. I am a guest of a women player from Switzerland. As I arrive to the player lounge, I am surprised as many of the players know me and greet me. I have been working with the men's players for about 10 years now, they remember me from the US Open, and receive TMI ministry email newsletters. Many women players know me from the US Open and the TMI newsletters. Later in the tournament, many of the younger Christian women players develop a friendship with me. Many of the retired senior players also greeted me as I started to minister to these players about six years ago. Almost all of the players are from Australia and I know several of them from their prior trips to Hong Kong to play on the senior tour.
I arrive each day at the tournament about 8:30am and I leave around 8pm. After this time, only a few players who are playing evening matches in the stadium are on site. The others having returned to the hotel. I watch only a few minutes of matches during the day of but spend most of my time talking to the players in the lounge or at the practice courts with them.
I am always thankful when a player offers me food as happened several times during the tournament. Each player is allowed to have a set amount of free food from the player lounge restaurant. It is not a large amount but enough to feed themselves and another person, usually a family member. The prices are quite high and I would generally go through out my entire day without eating and in some cases drinking the bottled water sold on site. I mainly ate at McDonalds for breakfast and upon my return to the hotel, I ate at street vendors that had great pizza for $1 a slice. I can tell you from personal experience that food tastes great when you are very hungry and the look of compassion and love on a players face when they buy me a meal is indescribable. I really feel appreciated during these times.
Many of the players request to meet me off site and I would often meet them in the evening after 8pm. It is not uncommon for me to meet players up to 11pm. God opened these doors, as the players would be going into these meetings wanting to discuss spiritual matters. I attended the tournament players party, which had great food and went late into the evening. I prayed to God that He would open the door for me to share Christ with the players during that wild dancing and disco time. . He was faithful, as I did have talks about Christ with players during the party and even as I left early, fruitful ministry took place with a player at the door.
At various times during the tournament I would meet church leaders from various denominations from through out the city and take players to churches. An entire group of churches is now planning to develop ministry outreach to the players and fans in 2005 and is working with an Australian contact, Chaplain Tim Harland.
DAY 14: I extended my stay at the tournament by two days. My ministry was not finished and I had more players to speak with. Up to the last day, I was busy ministering. It was hard for me to want to leave, but I also missed my family and looked forward to staying in Vietnam for one day. It is a nice feeling to know that if the Lord keeps me, I will be back next year.
DAY 17:
My strongest memories of Vietnam. Tennis is popular now in Ho Chi Minh and I sense that with Gods timing we can place tennis missionaries here. Everyone seems very happy as they stroll in the streets and work. It is a very clean and beautiful city and seems safe. All the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) were closed due to the bird flu and it was in full outbreak.
The next Grand Slam trip is May 21, French Open. If you would like to play a part in this outreach by helping us financially as we purchase items that we need for reaching these players, you may see our needs at www.tennisministry.com
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2002 Tennis Ministry International End of Year Report
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