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
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