WOW, what an experience so far.
Yesterday the 26 Ambassadors loaded up on a plane and headed for Leon Nicaragua. The fact that the Lord provided all the funds for us to go was truly a miracle from the Lord. For it we are truly thankful because it has been our prayer from the beginning to have the opportunity to expose these future leaders to a world wide vision that impacts God´s Kingdom.
All the flights yesterday went pretty smoothly and no one actually threw up, passed out or flipped out on the plane. I gotta tell you that it is really funny watching the look on some of faces of these studly athletes as they walk on a plane for the first time. Some of these boys were flat out scared but I promised not to mention Wacey Henderson´s name so I want to keep my word. I have to tell you that it is really amazing to see the impact these guys have when they walk on a plane. For some reason, people know we are baseball team and they ask us what we are doing. Many of our guys, including our bat boy, were faithful to share our story with people on the plane. As is our custom, when we share our story, we hand out bracelets and it is quite a sight seeing people walk off the tarmack proudly wearing their Ambassador bracelets. It just goes to show that people really are interested in the gospel story. We all need to learn from our Ambassadors here and speak up more often about our faith in Christ.
Yesterday, we did have one little delay in Miami. The plane sat on the runway for two hours and then had to go back to the gate. It was a little invonvienient but it sure beat sitting on the yellow bus. (I don´t want to sound ungrateful, the yellow bus is really awesome}. It was pretty funny when Carson woke up, saw we were at the gate and really believed we had already arrived in Nicaragua.
Even though we were 3 hours late, we finally made it to Managua. After a fairly quick trip through customs, we made it to our vehicles and started the journey to Leon. It took us about two hours to get to this wonderful city. This week in Leon, we have some wonderful hosts. Oscar and his crew welcomed us with open arms. It was a lot of fun last night busting out all of the Ambassador gear and giving it to our friends here in Nicaragua. After some instructions about the next day, we got situated and we all crashed for our early morning on the town.
Sleep was fast and but restful. Breakfast was at 6:30am and by 6:50 everyone had donned their Ambassador gear and we were off to the press conference and meeting with the Mayor of Leon. This meeting had to take place early because this week in Leon is a festival marking the city´s history. The mayor walked through many details about the city and greeted us with open arms. We then had the opportunity to present him an original Justin Sullivan Ambassador jersey and share our story with him. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel with the point leader of this great city and I am still so amazed how the Lord continues to open doors for us.
After our time with the mayor, we went to a local high school. We divided up our six translators and spread out all over the campus. The leaders of the school allowed us to go class to class sharing our story and sharing the gospel room by room. I wish you could have seen our Ambassadors step up to the plate here. They all boldly and passionately shared their story of faith with several hundred teenagers in Leon. It was really cool.
After going to the high school, we went by the field to pray for our minstry tonight. So far we have four games set up over the next several days with more teams asking us to play. We will play as much as possible. Baseball is actually the national sport for Nicaragua and has a very large following in this country. Our guys strolled into this High School and you would have thought the New York Yankees (wearing gold of course) just showed up. It is truly amazing to see the impact a group of athletes can have for the kingdom of God.
After going to the high school, we went to our baseball field to pray for our night tonight. All the guys broke up into their positions and spent 20 minutes prayer walking through their area on the field. I wish you could see this field. It´s just not like anything you have seen in the United States. Greg Disney marked off the baselines and 1st base was 90´¨ and third base is 93¨. This pitcher´s mound is a little off and the back stop has a huge gaping hole in the fence. Actually, there really is more hole than fence in the back stop. Not to worry though because tonight, at 6:00 p.m. when we face our first opponent there will be a wall of people to stop any balls that get a way. :0. We have hired a band and a sound system for the week and in the 7th inning stretch, we will stop play and share the gospel with all who come. It is just going to be an amazing night.
Well it´s time to get a little lunch Nicaraguan style and then we are off to another high school this afternoon to share our story. This has already been an amazing experience for each one of our coaches and players. We are taking a lot of video and pics to try to capture the significance of this experience.
We ask that you continue to pray for the Ambassadors as we serve the Lord through our gifts on and off the baseball field. Here are a few ways you can pray for us.
Pray for divine appointments for us.
Pray the Lord opens the hearts of people we meet.
Pray the Lord moves in the hearts and lives of our players.
Pray that people come to know Christ through our work today.
Have a great week back home. We appreciate all of your support which has allowed us to serve the Lord here.
Chris Wall
Posted on
Tue, July 26, 2011
by Chris Wall