Thank you God for this day!
After getting the kids on the bus at 7:45am, i spent time in the Word preparing for a day of Bible studies and ministry. I began the day with the thought that I would be possibly leading 3 Bible studies and spending 3 hours with the children of San Jose playing baseball and soccer. It is now dinner time, and I had the pleasure of "being a member" of the first two Bible studies, not the leader. It has been 6 months of ministry down here, and now the time has come where some of the Dominican leaders that I have been spending a lot of time with are now going to take the reigns of the Bible studies. How amazing! Thank you, Jesus! My friend Willie Martinez led the Bible study for baseball players this morning at my apartment. One new player attended, Juan Pablo, and Willie did an amazing job leading the whole group on the roof of the apartmnent (3 stories high). The topic was "reaping what you sow." Its pretty cool to look back at your life and see how the best things came from hard work, discipline and delayed gratification.
After a lunch of rice and beans Dominican-style cooked by my lovely and beautiful wife Jodi, most of our gang took the trip up to San Jose. It would be Willie's first trip to San Jose and a very memorable one at that. While Luis, Ezequiel and Javier spent their time coaching the young baseball players on the field, I spent my time playing soccer with the younger girls. Jodi had to stay back to do some work at the house, so I picked up the slack with the ninas. Suffice it to say, they took over the game pretty quickly and I bent over gasping for air. Willie spent his time talking with members of the community and praying about his talk that would come a little later.
At about 3pm, we hoped back into the truck and drove up to an area under a tree where Willie could preach to a handful of young men. Did I say handful of young men? Ah, how about 35+ women and men from the whole community. God, you are so good! Willie spoke for about 50 minutes. His topic again was "you reap what you sow". While he spoke to the large group of adults and young men and women, I spent most of that time keeping the children away by playing "tenni-ball" or stickball in the street. I could play teni ball with kids all day long. No umpires, no coaches, no parents...just pure fun with a stick and a ball.
I can clearly see God working through this ministry, Craig and Joanna, Willie and Luis, Ezequiel and Javier, and Omar and Noemi. Its pretty awesome to see communities change in a big way because God is becoming the focus of everything. That is why he created us and how it should be.
Here are some pictures from the day:
Bible study on the roof.
A real practice lead by Luis, Ezequiel and Javier.
Jimmy (young coach in San Jose) instructing some ninos on the infield. Jimmy has really stepped up as a leader in the community.
Feeling God's presence under a tree.
Finishing with prayer, 35 strong.
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