Wiffle Ball in Dominican Republic

Monday begins with visits to poor neighborhoods

Monday 11/13/2011

The HWSA Mission Team had a fantastic Monday! After breakfast, morning devotions, and loading up on the bus, they headed to a local supermarket, Jumbo, to purchase food to feed families at a local village. Members from our missions team are checking in now to give your more details....

Update from Nathan

For the first half of our "feeding a family project" we left our hotel and headed for the Jumbo. The Jumbo was the Dominican equivalent to a nice Wall Mart or Target. Our purpose was to get in, buy 25 bags of rice, beans, spaghetti, oil, salt and 50 cans of tuna, and get out. It was actually really fun, we split up into teams and set out to find our ingredients then filled our bags and got back into the bus. What was next to come was one of the most heart touching experiences of my life, but I’ll let josh tell you about it.

Members of the HWSA Missions Team shop for groceries at a local supermarket. The groceries were assembled into bags and taken to a village to help feed local residents.

**(Scroll down to view more photos)**

Update from Josh

Leaving Jumbo, we departed to our destination, which was a small Haitian village on the outskirts of town. We arrived at the village and jumped off the bus with faces full of ecstatic expressions. The first thing that we came across was a wild horse that was used in the village. And we soon noticed that we were in an area that was surrounded by extreme poverty. The children of the village came running to our team with a cordial hug and faces of hope and joy. The team then split up into different groups and played several games, including several rounds of wiffle ball and marbles. We also had people hand out Albert Pujols testimony cards because people in this country could relate to him since he is also from this island and proclaims his faith daily. After we played with them for awhile we gathered around and shared the word of God with the group. Jordan and Nathan gave their testimonies on how them came to know Christ and what He has done in their lives. Keith Coneby brought it all together saying that money isn’t the most important thing in life, but God is! He said how material objects will only last for a short time, but God lasts forever and He wants you in His kingdom. After the congregation the team formed a line and handed the grocery bags we recently bought from Jumbo. We handed the bags to the elders of the village and they dispersed amongst the families living there. We then departed and said adios to the fellow village members. We lead 15 people to Christ and it was a great trip as a baseball player and as a member of God’s forever family.

Update from Garrett

Village residents of all ages gather to watch the baseball game.

When I arrived at the ball field, I was surprised to see all the people gathered around the field to watch us play a game of baseball against their local high school team. Their lives around here are much different compared to ours. To see how they live around here makes me feel like I take everything for granted at home. Even though they live in such poverty, their love for the game never changes. They love to just be on the ball field and play a hundred percent. To have them see Christ through me on the field means the world for me. I want them to experience the freedom and love of God and become a believer to be able to experience this outstanding feeling that only God can provide.

Monday's Photos

The HWSA Missions team meets early Monday morning to plan for the days events.

Members of the HWSA Missions Team shop for groceries at a local supermarket. The groceries were assembled into bags and taken to a village to help feed local residents.

Mason, Chuck, Josh, Jordan and Trey get the rice.

Kel, Spencer and Nathan getting 25 bags of beans.

Chris and Jason load up on canned meat.

Steve, Trey, Nathan and Mason load our 25 bags of groceries from the local Jumbo market to take to the village.

Jason loads grocery bags to be distributed at a local village.

Luke and the HWSA Team is greeted by a local man as they enter a sugar cane village north of San Pedro, Dominican Republic.

A woman walks through a sugar village north of San Pedro, Dominican Republic.

A pig feeds outside of a home in a sugar cane village north of the Dominican Republic.

Members of the HWSA Missions Team enter a sugar cane village north of the Dominican Republic.

We started communicating with the villagers through the national language of the Dominican Republic...baseball!
This hit sent the wiffle ball over the green building. Nice hit!

A girl hits the ball during a pickup wiffle ball game. Nice swing!

Kel hands out Gospel tracts to residents. The tracts contained testimonies of American Major League Baseball players who grew up in the Dominican Republic.

Coach Coneby gives a high five to boy who launched a wiffle ball hit over the green monster! (building)

A young boy from the sugar cane village.

A young boy watches the pickup game.

Local women watch a pickup wiffle ball game during the HWSA Missions Team visit to a sugar cane village.

Many of the residents in the Sugar Cane village are Creole speaking refugees from Haiti.

Chuck and Mason shared their testimony about how God adopts us into His family.

All the residents of the sugar cane village gathered around a pavilion to listen to us as our words were translated by our SCORE missionary Filipe.

All the residents of the sugar cane village gather around a pavilion as the HWSA Missions Team shared testimonies and the Gospel.

Josh distributes a bag of food to a local villager Monday morning. The bag cost approximately $10 US and was enough to feed a family of four for 3-4 days.