Last night, I wish you could have been a fly on the wall in our share time. The truth is, I wish you could be a fly on the wall during this entire trip. This brotherhood of Ambassadors is growing deeper and deeper and last night during our share time, I wish you could have heard what God is doing in the lives of these guys. It would have absolutely blown you away last night all because of the evident ways that God has shown up among us.
I have a little time this morning before our baseball clinic so I I am going to try to recap our experience over that last few days.
Monday afternoon, we discovered our buses were not going to be allowed into Mexico because of a new restriction. There was a church group from Iowa right behind us in line who had taken their bus into Mexico 17 times and the last time was this past March who was turned away as well. All of us were shocked and frustrated.
After receiving the verdict, we decided that we did not come this far to give up so I made a quick phone call to a friend in Matamoros who we work with every year on the border. I told Juan our problem and told him that we needed a Mexican bus to take us to Saltillo. He called me back 10 minutes later and at noon on Monday, a charter bus was on the way to pick us up in Viejo Laredo.
I wanted to have a little fun with the guys so I had them think that we are going to have to make due with a really junky bus so they were all expecting the worst. They sure were surprised when 5 hours later a sweet charter bus showed up to hang with us for a week in Mexico.
Monday night, we finally arrived in Saltillo and got to the hotel. We all took a needed shower and cleaned up then around 10:30, headed to an incredible Mexican restaurant very close to the hotel. It really is an experience when you walk into an eating establishment with 39 big athletes.
Needless to say, the cooks started "hoppin", the chips and salsa started coming and every body started eating. One of our bus drivers ordered some peppers and after they arrived at the table, it took about 5 minutes for the pepper eating contest to get started. Pretty soon, the waiters were joining in by bringing out the hottest peppers they had in the store. It was pretty funny watching several of our guys man up to throw down some "smokin" chilis, at least it was funny until my 9 year old son joined in the action. He learned pretty fast that peppers are not his favorite.
Monday night was just a blast but what really blew us away was what happened as we were leaving. The guys made quite an impression on all the waiters in the restaurant so we gathered up all the "pulseras" (bracelets in Spanish) that we were wearing. We asked the entire staff if we could share our story with them. 5 minutes later we were sharing the gospel with every staff member at this Mexican place. It was a little crazy because there were a few other customers in the place but they all stopped to listen to the reason we came to Saltillo Mexico.
I got to share Justin's story with them and then I turned it over to Cristobal, (Our Hispanic pastor at Council Road). Before we left that restaurant, 11 people had prayed to receive Christ right there in that Mexican place. One of those people who prayed was one of the bus drivers from Matamoros Mexico who is now spending the week with our group. I am so grateful that God included us in His plan to save Victor. Here we were frustrated that we can't get to Saltillo in our buses but God wanted us to share Christ with a bus driver who lived in Matamoros so He literally sent him to drive us. Awesome stuff.
We were all amazed that within an hour and a half of being in Saltillo, we see 11 people come to Christ so we were really excited about what the next day would bring.
We woke up and headed out to our first clinic. Our clinic is located at a little community park where a lot of kids spend their time in some heated soccer games and playing around. Our team went door to door in groups for a while rounding up kids and before we knew it, 60 + kids are hanging out with us ready to learn some baseball. It was a blast seeing our guys doing their best trying to teach baseball without being able to speak a lick of Spanish on a gravel self-made baseball field. Every one of them stepped up the plate and communicated in spite of the language barrier.
After this clinic, we got some lunch and headed out for our first game. We showed up at the baseball field and it was kind of what we expected it would be. There was a little stadium and neat little baseball field. The truth is that it is not quite like the fields we have in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a baseball field but it was really dusty, really rough and such an incredible experience.
After playing on this field, it is evident why so many Hispanic baseball players make it to the Major League. If you can learn to field ground ball on these fields with these hops, you can play baseball.
This team we played yesterday was actually pretty good. We decided from the beginning that we were going to play a 9 inning game and we ended up winning 5-4. Actually, we should have had a few more runs because Matt Helms and Trent Daniels launched two balls that would have each scored a run but the ball rolled under the huge holes in the back of the fence. They had to settle for doubles. I guess that is just how it rolls in Mexico. In spite of the obstacles, the game was an awesome experience with about 200 fans coming out to the game including one lady with a drum. It was awesome. The only injury on the field was Eric Wall getting hit in the nose with a baseball right before the game. It was a good character builder for our bat boy. He didn't have to rub dirt on it because we were all covered with dirt and it was an absolute blast being there playing baseball in Mexico.
At the end of the baseball game, we met our opponents on the field and shared Christ with all of them. As we presented the gospel on the field, 13 of them prayed to receive Christ including the umpire. (FYI, the Umpire did a great job and really called a fair game.) We were so excited to see so many respond to Christ on the field. There was another game waiting to be played so we asked the crowd to move over to this gym because we wanted to talk to them as well. As we shared with them we saw another 9 come to Christ. A group of boys and two moms prayed and gave their information to the pastor who we are working with this week.
I really wish you could have been a fly on the wall so you could see how the Lord is using these players and coaches to help people come to know Christ. It truly is an amazing sight and one of the most exciting things I have experienced in ministry.
Last night, we ordered some pizza and cokes, cleaned up at the hotel and had a two hour share time together. Brenden Barr and Brad Crawford shared their testimonies and it was an incredibly moving time for all of us. These guys did an awesome job sharing what the Lord is doing in their lives. I was so proud of them and I wish each of you could have heard them talk about God moving in their lives.
We also had a time to process what the Lord has done so far. The truth is that the obstacles we have faced on this trip have resulted in genuine blessing from the Lord. Lee pointed out that in life, you will face some un-expected challenges along the way but you don't every quit on the Lord. This week, we believed God called us to Saltillo Mexico and we did not give up until we got here. Now we are here and people are coming to Christ.
Serving the Lord is such an adventure and I wish you could be a fly on the wall and experience it with us. Keep praying for us because we are about to head out for another clinic and another game against a good team from Mexico.
Serving Jesus and playing baseball at the same time, if I am dreaming right now, don't wake me up.
Posted on
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
by Chris Wall