Last couple days of camp...

June 14th
Monday was nice and relaxing. In the morning, we walked to El Batey to watch the older boys play a game. It was really great to be able to see them play as a team. They lost 1-0 on a solo homerun. They were able to use the (so generously donated) equipment our group brought with us on this trip. After the game we invited a few of the players to go to the beach. At the beach we surprised them with a trip on a glass bottom boat. They really enjoyed it! Unfortunately, Stacy managed to get sea sick; but other than that it was a very enjoyable experience and we saw some beautiful fish, sea urchins, and coral reef.

June 15th
Our last day in the Dominican Republic. We did a little souvenir shopping, and we spent quite a bit of time getting ready to go back home. I did receive a surprise; a few of the older boys from our site came by the hotel to tell us ‘adios’ and they presented me with a bracelet that said, “Todo lo puedo posible en CRISTO” and “Que me Fortalece” (Phil 4:13). They gave me this to remember them by and I will always remember them. They changed my life – this whole trip changed my family’s life. The flight was good, but it was sad to know that it was over. Saying goodbye to our new Dominican family and our new AIM family was very hard to do. But we are all going to keep in touch. Our site director is even having a BBQ this Saturday – and we are very excited!

We are so thankful to our Lord God that we have been given the privilege of being born in the U.S. We are so thankful we had the wonderful opportunity to travel on this mission trip. This has changed our lives and is the 1st of many trips to come. The way the Holy Spirit worked within the lives of everyone involved is incredible. I am excited to follow the next step in God’s plan in this journey we call life. I also urge you – if you’ve never done a mission trip before – consider it. There are all kinds of Christian mission trips available, domestic and international. Pray about it. It will change your life in a powerful way.


God Bless,
Carlos

June 17, 2010-Back Home

First of all, we have arrived safe and sound back in Houston. The last time I wrote was the last day of camp so I have a few days to write about, sorry about the delay.

June 13th
We visited a village to pass out candy to the kids. Kids do not get candy on a regular basis, another one of those things we take for granted. Wow – what a humbling experience. The village was very poor. I have never seen anything like this in my life. The houses were built from scrap wood and metal they had found. They had no electricity or running water and the sewer line was running through the village. I was so saddened by the way these people live, and it truly made me realize what a blessing and privilege it is just to be born in the U.S. The kids were so excited to receive candy. Slowly, we had a following of little children as we walked thru the village. We ran into one of the grandmas from our baseball site. She’s a matriarch in that village. She invited us into her house, a great honor in the Dominican. She thanked us for all our work and said she would work hard to continue to bring the word of God to the children. She walked with us and explained about the village. They have their own stores, churches and school – all within this small village with narrow, winding dirt roads. As we were walking, we came to a friend of hers who had cancer in her chest and it had spread to her head. We stopped and prayed with her. It was very sad and no one had a dry eye after that.

In the afternoon we went to run a practice for the older boys that we had taught during the baseball camp. It was so great to help them. Another reality set in when we showed up to practice and they did not have enough gloves for everyone. They had five baseballs, and one bat. In the U.S. we can’t even think of holding a practice with that amount of equipment. Some kids in the States have more baseballs in their personal bag than this team of 15 kids. This group had called their own practice. Their coach was holding a practice for the younger team at a different site. The coach has to keep most of the baseball equipment with him – rather than passing it out to the kids to keep individually. If the kids keep it individually, there’s a very good chance that older children or even young adults will take it away from them and sell it. But that doesn’t stop this group of older kids from calling their own practice daily with the little equipment they do have in their personal possession.

More to come later. I hope you are enjoying our blog, and pray that you have a wonderful God-blessed day.

God Bless,
Carlos

June 12 -- Last day of Camp / VBS

Today was awesome! We had a guest from San Pedro (on the south side of the island) – Marco. Marco is starting a similar baseball ministry in San Pedro. He went with us to our site at La Union and preached in Spanish to the children. Amazingly I understood every word he said. My Spanish is not the best and I don’t always understand everything in Spanish but today God gave me the ability to understand what Marco was saying. A couple others in our group also had the same experience. The Holy Spirit was definitely there. The words that Marco spoke were very strong and meaningful. We had over 50 kids come to Christ and it was awesome. Those kids will receive a New Testament Bible in Spanish from our group and it even has a baseball player on the cover.

Today at camp I gave away my shoes, socks, and hat. I had also brought a couple shirts to give to the kids. And understand – I didn’t give away an old pair of shoes – I gave away my favorite pair of Under Armour shoes that I wear all the time and two of my favorite dri-fit shirts. When I gave these items away, it was so awesome to see the look on their faces – the joy and surprise. The saying ‘it is better to give than to receive’ is so true. It meant everything to them that I would give them the shoes off my feet. I joked with Stacy that I may come home naked. Others from our group gave away things as well.

After camp we all headed to MultiUso (another one of our sites), and we presented the equipment to the teams that was so generously donated by friends, family, and complete strangers. I wish everyone that donated could have seen the kids’ excitement. I stood and talked to the young men in my group and they started asking me and Justin (another missionary) for our autographs! It was so funny! I was talking with one of the Dominican coaches that came to our hotel and he told me that a lot of the guys in my group really thought highly of my coaching. This touched my heart and meant so much to me. In such a short time, I have bonded with these boys and feel like their coach and mentor. Words cannot describe the feeling in my heart. And the fact that 8 of the kids in my group accepted the gift of salvation is incredible. The concept of ministering thru sports works very well – and you have fun at the same time! The way I see it, God gave me the ability to teach baseball for a reason and this is it. I would really love to stay here and teach these boys more about Jesus and as a secondary teach them more baseball. You can see the desperate need they have for a role model and discipline.

The young men from my group have a doubleheader Monday and they invited me to come watch them play. They have even offered to pick me up at the hotel to go with them. I’m not sure what our mode of transportation will be – as transportation around here is quite an experience – but I have faith we’ll get there safe and sound. I am also trying to get to their practice tomorrow.

Today there was crying, smiling, and excitement all at the same time. A lot of people may never experience these feelings, but I pray that someone will read this and want to help others as the Bible has instructed us to do. I am so grateful for everything that I have. The Dominicans are very gracious people and I would love to continue to bring them hope and share the word of Jesus Christ.

Something unexpected happened this afternoon at the hotel. I was told by the front desk that a young man was looking for me. A little confused, I went to the front desk and there was “Big Pappi” (our nickname for one of the kids in my group). When I saw him I was floored that he had come to see me and then he asked me to come out around the corner and three more guys had come to visit as well. Using the “public bus system” they had traveled to our part of town to come visit with us some more. It was just so awesome to know these young men just wanted to spend some more time with our group – they just wanted to be close to us. Such an awesome feeling and an awesome day!

God Bless,

Carlos

June 11th --- We're loving the Dominican Republic!

Wow…we've been so busy that we haven’t had time to update the blog. We are having an absolute fantastic time here in the Dominican Republic. We are really getting to know the other family with the mission group that is working with us at our site – the Vigil family. We know God placed us in their group for a reason. Our families are bonding and we will definitely be getting together with them back in Houston. We hope to also get together with other people from the AIM group. The entire group is such an awesome group of people. We feel so incredibly blessed to be a part of this vision and trip. We serve an awesome God!

This evening at dinner, a couple people shared some stories from their site. Tears ran down my face as I listened to their stories. I could write a book just from this trip. Here’s one of the stories:

There was a 13-year old boy that came to the coach (one from our group) and said he was a pitcher. Coach said ‘okay – you can pitch.’ The boy said ‘but I only have these flip-flops – I don’t have any shoes.’ As it happened, they had a few extra pair of shoes with them. They found a pair that fit him – a size 13 shoe I believe – and took the pair of shoes to the boy. His eyes got wide – he was so excited. He put the shoes on and was able to pitch. After playing baseball, he took the shoes off, carefully placed the laces back in the shoes, cleaned them off, and put his flip-flops back on his feet. He carried the tennis shoes around with him very carefully. He was so appreciative and so happy to receive this pair of used shoes we brought with us. This story touched my heart and I wanted to include it in the blog because this was a pair of shoes generously donated from someone back home. Every piece of equipment, every pair of shoes donated will be put to good use here in the Dominican. And even though you may not be able to go on a mission trip – you have helped these children by taking a few moments out of your day to donate equipment. And you have blessed these children – thru our group we are showing God’s love to these children with all the things we have brought for them. I pray that you feel God’s love as well, and that your heart is warmed because of your generosity.

Tomorrow, all our groups will converge at one site – MultiOso. Please pray for tomorrow --- we are bringing 2,000 children, as well as our group and our Dominican helpers --- together in one site. There we will have a Festival for the children --- food, games, music, and lots of fun. This is also the time we will present to them all the equipment, cleats, uniforms, etc. that we have brought for them. Until this point, we have been running the baseball camps and Vacation Bible School. We save the presentation of the gifts until this last day. We will also have another alter call for more children that wish to be saved. So far, we have had 100+ children accept the gift of salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen --- we serve an awesome God!

June 9, 2010 -- First Day of Camp / Bible Study

Today started off very chaotic, but it all came together. Our site, “La Union,” had at least 150 kids. I was very fortunate to work with the 13-15 year old group. This group has some very talented young men. I had one young man that looked like “Big Pappi” David Ortiz. It was very humbling to see most of these kids with no gloves. In my group of 12, only 2 of them had their own gloves. Back at home we wouldn’t think about sending our kids to a baseball camp without a glove. They asked if we brought shoes for them. They really wanted spikes. For these kids, it’s too expensive for them to even buy a used pair of spikes. We are so blessed to be able to bring them all the equipment that everyone so generously donated.

It was so awesome to see God in action today. After a very short time, these kids were looking up to me and setting an example for the younger kids. I was being blessed at the same time that I was blessing them. To see the excitement and joy in their faces was overwhelming. I was so involved with the kids that I didn’t notice the heat, lack of food, or even the time. I felt like I was in my element and enjoying every minute of it. When it came time for lunch, chaos really ensued. Kids were pushing and fighting and didn’t want to form a line. I called my group back from the others and explained that the younger kids look up to them for an example. We needed them to set a good example and be patient and wait their turn. They were so eager to do that. They helped us organize the younger kids in lines and waited until all the younger kids had been served before they got line. That was awesome to witness.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

God Bless,

Carlos

A Little Note from Stacy

I just want to add a few words to what Carlos said. As soon as you land you know for certain you’re not in the U.S.! In addition to the simplicity of the airport, the electricity went out while we were waiting for our luggage. It was out for about 15 minutes. No one seemed too concerned about it – the staff said it happens about once a month. As we left the airport and headed to the hotel, we passed thru the town of Sosua. We saw quite a few shacks --- you can definitely tell it’s a poorer city. Cody was sitting on my lap – he whispered to me “We really are blessed Momma.”

I’m going to keep this short as I’m sure we’ll have plenty to write about tomorrow evening. We still have a 9pm team meeting tonight – and then we’ll be resting up for tomorrow morning!!

God Bless,
Stacy

WE ARE HERE!!

This morning we left Houston at 9am and arrived in Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic at 1:30pm local time. When we stepped off the plane and into the airport, you knew you were not in an American airport. It felt like we were stepping back in time -- very simple, no air conditioning, no shops in the airport. As we entered customs they greeted the adults with a small cup of rum – something you would never see in the U.S.!

We had our first meeting with all the local coaches and the pastor. It is so amazing to hear how appreciative they are for all that we are doing in their country. We as Americans take so much for granted and here it is so appreciated. I just wish we could appreciate what we have instead of complaining about what we don’t have. The local man that runs things here year round, Checo, even wrote a song in Spanish for us.

Checo has already seen how much equipment we have brought with us and is amazed by it. Checo mentioned that these kids usually play barefoot, cut a limb from a tree for a bat and use some type of bottle cap for a baseball. All the equipment that we as Americans consider no longer usable, will be the best equipment these kids have ever seen.

I am so excited for our first day of Camp tomorrow! Please continue praying for our group and our work here.

By the way -- pictures may have to wait. Internet connection isn't that strong and I couldn't get any uploaded to the blog this evening. Will try again tomorrow.

Have a great day and God Bless,

--Carlos

2 days and counting!!!

Soon we'll be on our way!! Here's the link to the story KHOU aired on yesterday evening's news:

KHOU News Story

Soon we'll be able to post pictures of the kids we're working with and the baseball camp! We're getting excited!

Have a wonderful God-blessed day,

--Stacy

6 days and counting...

Today I spent the day collecting our drop boxes. I started at Hilton Furniture. I arrived and looked for Mr. Hilton to thank him, but he was out of the store, so I proceeded to collect the box and load it into my car. While loading up, a security guard stopped me and spent some time asking questions about our mission trip. While talking, Mr. Hilton showed up and asked how our equipment drive was going. As you may remember, we were short on baseballs. Mr. Hilton offered to purchase the remaining baseballs needed for our trip. I thought it was neat how God works…if the security guard hadn’t stopped me to ask about the mission – I would have been gone before Mr. Hilton returned.

My next stop was Chillin’ Time in Friendswood. In addition to some equipment and gloves, there was a bucket of 8 brand new baseballs. As I left there, one of our Christmas light customers called. Keep in mind she lives about 5 minutes from where I was in Friendswood. She called to say she had more baseball stuff for me (she had already donated equipment). Her timing was perfect…and I’m sure you can guess what she had for me….a bag of baseballs!! I’m sure others in our group have been collecting baseballs as well. Today was an awesome day. We serve an awesome God!

Have a great day and God Bless,

--Carlos

7 days and counting...

Carlos has been posting up a storm…so I better get busy! We are getting so excited about our trip! I would like to take a few minutes today and write a little more about why we decided to look for mission work. We tossed the idea around a little over the past year – but never got serious with it until this year. Carlos likes to observe Lent. He was raised Catholic and even though we attend a Baptist church – he still likes to observe Lent because it helps him focus on the reason for the Easter season. Being the supportive wife I am :) -- I observe Lent with him as well.

As you know, Lent is 40 days. For some reason, at the beginning of Lent, I felt led to read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I couldn’t get this book off my mind…I knew God was telling us to read it. I had read the book a few years ago, but didn’t really “get” the book. Apparently I wasn’t spiritually ready for the book back then. Carlos and I decided to read the book together– Lent’s 40 days – the book is 40 days– a good fit. We read the daily chapter separately and then we would discuss it at night. I liked reading the daily chapter first so I could highlight the parts I thought Carlos should give special attention. :) I’m such a good wife like that!

Little did I know how our lives were about to change! This is an awesome book. If you feel you’re ready for something more in your spiritual walk – but you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for --- read the Purpose Driven Life. Follow the instructions and read one chapter each day. You really do need the time to think about each chapter’s meaning before moving on to the next. I loved the first day’s subject – “It’s Not About Me.” Whoa…talk about stopping you in your tracks. This book will make you think. The first seven days of the book are now available free online at:
The First Seven Days

I love the very first day where we read, “Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. You’ve probably tried that already. You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for!”

Great food for thought!

God Bless,

Stacy

Memorial Day

8 Days and counting

Since today is Memorial Day, I want to start off by thanking all the service men and women who proudly serve our country and those who have previously served our country. So many of us forget what this day is really about.

Today everyone going on the mission trip gathered together to sort the baseball equipment that we will be taking on our trip. It was so overwhelming to see all that was donated. Only God could get this much equipment together. He has given us more than enough to equip all the teams in the leagues with bats, gloves, etc. We are still a little short on baseballs but we trust that God will provide those before we leave. Here are a couple pictures of our work in progress.

God Bless,

Carlos