baseball camp and the water park

posted by sharla, santiago, d.r.

this is day 5 of our 8 day trip. you've heard this before, but it's true again - we have a great group and they're doing an awesome job! we spent three days in the villages of chichigua and los algodones (literally, "the kite" and "the cottons"). we were planning to do a baseball camp in chichigua, but the field was being used to weigh sugar cane, so we threw everyone in the back of the pickup and drove 15 minutes down the dirt road to los algodones. Jay Tucker and Jason Weems led the drills, and after working on skills each day, we played a game against the kids from los algodones. these are kids that normally play baseball with sticks and rocks. Jay brought gloves, balls, bats, batting helmits, and even catcher's equipment! the kids had a blast! we were also able to share the gospel with them and talk about parallels between baseball and life.

during the baseball camp, Allison Lynch, who has been here three times now, led a program for the younger kids. Kelly Mack and Abbye Metcalf rotated between baseball and the kids' program, and Jen, Jay's daughter, worked with the little ones as well. they'll have to tell you more about it, but apparently the word "chaos" was at times appropriate. but the kids had a blast and settled down for the lesson and coloring pages on the 7 days of creation.

on the last day, we took our team of 12 boys (ages 8-13) to a nearby waterpark. this is a park mainly built for tourists, and I can assure you, these kids had never been to anything like it. they had a blast after they got over their fear of the big water slides! we all had a great time with them. the only low point was hearing dominicans at the park ask why we were with "those haitian kids." they also got a lot of "you don't belong here" looks. but I think we noticed more than the kids did, and they were too busy having a blast to care. it was sad to have to say goodbye at the end of the week.

we're now in Santiago. Jay and Allison had to leave today to get back to work, so I just got back from taking them to the airport. we've been joined by my friend and Makarios board member, Kate, and her boyfriend Scott, along with my boyfriend, Don. we're all headed up to Ruben's farm, which is always a great time, and then we'll go from there to a waterfall in Jarabacoa. I love it here!

thanks for your prayers! we've been blessed with great weather, safety, and health, for which we are very grateful.