The Dominican Republic Report

Last week I had a special opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic with Score International on a short term mission trip. The trip was designed around the Dominican's love for baseball. You need not travel far within a community to see either the face of a Dominican player like Albert Pujols on a poster or to see a group of kids playing a pick up game (sometimes using makeshift equipment). The trip also offered opportunities for visiting with local orphans and some site seeing. Conducting ministry can be spiritually draining so the trip also involved morning devotions and evening worship services. Here is my experience.

Pre-Trip: Some wonderful friends who love Christ made this trip possible. Many people contributed financially to this trip and I am not aware of all of them. Therefore, I just want to say thank you and I know God will bless you for your part in the events of last week. Many students and Sunday School members helped gather flip-flops and toothpaste for the orphans. You will have rewards in heaven for your true Christianity.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008:

I left home at 2:30 in the morning for a 6 AM flight to Miami, Florida. While at the gate in Raleigh International I noticed a group of men wearing baseball caps and shirts. As we were about to board I did not get an opportunity to visit with them or to ask where they were headed. I had a good idea so I waited until we landed in Miami.

In Miami I ran into one the men and asked if they were headed to the Dominican. Ed Naylor told me they were in fact headed to the Dominican and introduced me to their group leader, Kenny Dickerson. I recognized Kenny as an umpire we had last year at a game in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. We had spoken about this very trip and it was real neat to meet up with him. I was traveling alone so they asked me to tag along with their group. God is great, especially since I was nervous about meeting people. These guys would keep an eye on me the whole trip. They are a bunch of awesome men who love Christ. What impressed me most about the group was the fact that it included two teenage boys, John and Zac. I pray these young men never lose their love for Christ and people.

Fast forward about four hours and we are in the Dominican arriving at our hotel. When we arrived we discovered to the Tony (a member of the Rocky Mount guys) did not have a room for whatever reason. Since I had been traveling alone, I was supposed to be accompanied by Michael Shelton (Brazil messed up his passport) who did not get to come, Tony became my roommate. He is an awesome man with a very large heart for Christ, his family, and kids. So off we go to get settled in. We had to learn how to work the lights in the room (they kept shutting off after a minute), unpack, and get ready for dinner.

After dinner, we had an awesome worship service, and then were divided into our teams. Before we were placed in our teams we were visited by the Minster of Sports for the Dominican Republic. He thanked us for bringing the news of Jesus Christ to his country and baseball to the kids. When he finished speaking; we were divided up and I was placed in "Group 4-Infield" under the leadership of Aaron Ledesma. Aaron is a former major league player and current coach in the Yankees organization. He is also a man very conscience of God's power in a person's life. This was evident from our conversation in the airport but also in the way he would lead in prayer beginning that night.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

Breakfast was served at 6AM and the morning devotion was given at 7AM. By 8AM we were on busses headed to our different locations. My group was off to a neighborhood in Santo Domingo. I soon discovered that each day we would share testimonies to help us get to know one another. Through this I was able to discover many men and coaches who love Jesus, love baseball, and have every day struggles like all people. The reason I say this is because many were team owners, college coaches, and major league players. These are the men who have "arrived" from a human perspective and I guess I was a little star struck. However, these men were so humble and honest about their walks with God and the pressures of being in the "upper levels." They shared how they cope by having their own email circles and team Bible studies.

An hour later, we were arrived to a baseball field that was a glorified sandlot field. On the field waiting for us was the Minister of Sports and about 500 kids, coaches, and parents. We conducted clinics for the outfield, infield, pitchers, catchers, and hitters. They kids were divided into these five groups and rotated every 20-30 minutes. We even had an umpire clinic with us that day for the coaches and would be adult umpires. Following the clinics all these people piled into one set of stands, and the earth in front of the stands, to hear a local missionary preach a gospel message. I did not understand all that he said but I looked into these kids faces and I saw God working. I cannot explain it but I saw God at work. In the end about 200 came forward to receive a decision paper and to make a public profession of Christ. The day could have ended there but it is not over.

We returned in time for lunch and then at 2PM I went to Ninos de Cristos, an orphanage in La Romana. Here we were able to give to these children the shoes collected and the other gifts we brought. We spent two hours playing and spending time with kids ranging from 16-years old to infants. At 18 the girls and boys are forced to leave the orphanage and begin a life. Until recently this has been very hard since most lack a good education. Thanks to the Pujols Family Foundation these children have an education space and better materials to begin their adult life better prepared. When it came time to leave I am not sure who wanted us to stay more, the kids or us.

The evening brought another wonderful service and we left exhausted but pumped for the next day.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Another round of early morning breakfast and devotions, and then it was off to San Cristobal (2 hours away). It was drizzling so we did not know if we would get to conduct a clinic that day. However, when you drive that far the weather can change. We had a great set of clinics for about 200 kids. Another missionary spoke and we had close to 60 kids come forward to make a public profession for Christ.

Since we traveled so far we missed lunch and the opportunity to go sight seeing that day. I was really hungry that night and made a poor choice on food selection. I did not know it right away.

Friday, November 21, 2008

I lay in bed, when I could, suffering from food poisoning. The sickness subsided long enough to get help after the morning devotion (which I got to hear-while seeing one of the doctors on the trip) and to make the evening service feeling weak and tired. That night we heard the testimony of Tony Fernandez, Dominican Short Stop, who played 18 years in the majors. What a powerful testimony.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Still not eating but feeling better. We went to our final devotions, and then headed to San Pedro de Marcois for a rally. There were about 8,000 people there. When all was said and done, every little league team received new equipment, all received the message of Christ, and about 1,000 made public professions for Christ.

All that was left to do now was go back to the hotel, grab my bags, and head to the airport.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

2:00 AM –I arrived home.