July 2015 Update

The month of July was highlighted by another group visit in the last week of the month. We hosted a group from Hope Church which is located in Monroe, NC. It was their first mission trip as a church and they made the most out of it. They were able to add two more sprinklers to the irrigation system, place the bases and home plate on both fields, visit and share the Gospel with four of the five communities we are working in, and provided laughter, joy and love to the people of Nicaragua. After months and months of work it is rewarding to see the baseball field taking shape. Now with the bases in place, and thank you Hope Church for your long day of work in the blistering heat, we just need for the rains to really start coming so that the grass will grow in well all over the field. It is always a pleasure to have groups come down and work along side of us to help with the vision and plan that we have. Groups always bring excitement to the kids and the community as a whole. They also bring manpower and can get a project done in a couple of days that otherwise would take a lot longer. So we are definitely grateful for the two teams that come down this past month but we are also excited to turn our focus to working hand in hand with the Nicaraguans to bring about a ministry that is going to be effective in the communities we are based in.

A devotional that one of the team members shared at the beginning of a practice touched on a simple thing that can easily be forgotten by many of us. In short, a story was told about how a baseball player thought he had hit his first collegiate home run by way of an in the inside the park homerun. Unfortunately the player had forgotten to touch first base and his excitement quickly turned to dissapointment as the opposing team threw the ball to first base and the ump signalled that he was indeed out. The analogy was made how Jesus is first base and if we forget to touch first base all the other bases are meaningless. How many times can we forget this in our own lives. We can get so caught up on going to second, third, and even home that we sometimes will "miss first base". Be it career aspirations, personal goals, family matters, or even our daily lives if we forget about the most important "base",  Jesus, all of those other things are meaningless. Even though the world will not call us out, heck they might even be cheering us on and patting us on our backs, our Heavenly Father will know that we missed the mark. Jesus himself challenged us on this in Matthew, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul?" We can put together the most amazing baseball little league Nicaragua has ever seen with the best fields and the best equipment, and subsequently we would be praised by many for giving kids who have nothing something to be apart of. But, if we are missing first base as we round the bases then it is pointless. In Galatians 1:10 Paul sets clearly were his priorities are, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." In a society of what have you done for me lately and doing what makes yourself happy, it is easy to get caught up in winning the approval of others and even yourself. Yet, the only approval that means anything is God's and it starts by us touching first base.

Leading songs at Sunday School

Water balloon fight gone crazy!

Setting home plate

Sunday school in Nuevo Amanacer

June 2015 Update

In June we had the privilege of having Stan Dobner and a group from Idlewild Baptist Church help us out for 10 days. It was a jam-packed schedule and we were able to get a lot accomplished. They led a fruit of the spirit teaching at two different Sunday schools, visited and prayed with multiple families in various communities, helped with maintenance on the field and around the mission property, installed an underground irrigation system, led baseball practices, held a field day event which was an all day event, and as always loved on those whom they came in contact with. It was an incredibly productive and successful trip. Stan felt that this was his best trip yet to Nicaragua and below are some of the reasons why.

One of the main objectives for the team was to install an underground irrigation system so that there would be no need to remove any piping every time that there was a practice or game. Thanks to the hard work of both Americans and Nicaraguans, they were able to get everything done in under three days! Words cannot express how much of an incredible blessing it is to have such an effective and efficient system. We are definitely the envy of the town!

Look at all that water!

During, the previous trip that this group made in January we did a mini baseball day camp. It was such a success that it was decided to do another one but bigger and better. So that is what we did and it turned out to be fantastic! In January only the kids from the community of Candelaria participated but this time we brought in all the kids from all five communities. We had two micro-buses running all day picking up and dropping off kids. In the morning we did the baseball camp holding three different sessions for the age groups of 11-12, 9-10, and 6-8. Then, in the afternoon we brought all the kids down to the mission property where we treated them to hot dogs and chips, a slip and slide, face-painting and games. We had over 200 kids come to both the camp and the afternoon event. It was a total team effort by everybody and by Nicaraguan standards it went as smooth as one could hope for. Also, before we started with the games at the mission property we had a time for the Gospel to be shared with the kids. A Nicaraguan who has been a huge help so far with this sports ministry shared a message with the kids and after five kids made decisions to accept Jesus! It was definitely a great day!

Getting some groups organized!

How many kids can you pack into a 15 passenger van?

But by far the coolest moment on the trip was when we were able to go visit the newest community that New Song has become apart of. The community is called Fe y Esperanza, which in English means Faith and Hope. The pastor of the community is named Daniel Campos and he has been the one leading the devotionals with the kids at every baseball practice. On the way to the community Pastor Daniel shared the story of how he and his wife decided to become involved with this specific community.  He described how he was struggling to find the best way to reach the community and begin a church in a place where he did not know many of the people. When he heard of the plan to begin the sports ministry and have a baseball league he said, “This is it. This is the opportunity that I have been waiting for.” He has capitalized on providing this ministry to his community and at the moment about half of his congregation consists of kids that have been going to the practices along with some of their family members. We were able to attend the Friday night service and Pastor Daniel asked Stan to share. Stan gave his testimony about how he was saved through baseball. After sharing, an alter call was given and over 10 kids decided to accept Jesus, most of whom had been participating in the practices and have heard the devotions that are shared at each one. It was an awesome time and definitely an encouragement to see how God is already using this ministry!

As far as an update on the start of the baseball league, it was decided to move the opening to January 2016. This will give plenty of time for the grass to grow in and to build a solid foundation for the league with finding the right people who will be coaches, chaplains, and apart of the committee. In the meantime to keep the kids encouraged and excited we will be having exhibition games starting in August. We are very excited to finally be focusing on what this ministry is about instead of worrying about fields, grass, and wells. As always we are thankful for your support and prayers. God bless!

Sunday School in Candelaria!

Visiting home and passing out baseballs!

Getting ready for some drills and yes those are goats in the back