A World Record for World Missions

South Africa | OM International

They played 31 hours of non-stop, five-a-side soccer and broke the world record! And they did it to send Bob to OM's Ultimate Goal Challenge in South Africa. In November, Bob saw a flyer at his church near Glasgow, Scotland. It was promoting OM's outreach during the World Cup. After praying about it, Bob felt that God wanted him to join the outreach.

He explained to his friends what he wanted to do and they began to help him raise money for the trip. There was a world record attempt at five-a-side soccer, which was planned to raise money for charity. But as it was too late for that, it was decided that they would use it to raise finances to send Bob to South Africa. There was also a “frugal lunch” event where a light lunch was served and people donated the money they would usually spend on their Sunday dinner. And there was a “beard-a-thon” where people sponsored Bob to grow a beard during the month of April.

Finally it was time to book flights and Bob began to search for a good deal, but the tickets were very expensive due to the World Cup being in South Africa. The first tickets were about 1500 GBP. Bob prayed, “God, if you want me to go, I want you to give me something [cheap flights] right now.” A few minutes after that, Bob found a flight for 800 pounds! “I was shaking while I was booking the flights, thinking, 'I'm going!'”

Leaving from Glasgow airport was very emotional, as Bob said goodbye to his wife and 2 kids (age 10 and 13). They were in tears. “I've suffered illness for years and that [goodbye] was harder,“ he explained. Bob has been assigned to an OM team working with a church in Johannesburg near the Ellis Park stadium. Without knowing where in South Africa he would be staying, he bought tickets to see one of the World Cup matches. “And guess where it is,” he said. “Ellis Park!”

Credit: OM International
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