Batter-Up!

Doug's position as youth pastor has been expanded to include baseball coach. With 4 boys of "baseball age", he can hardly avoid it! Doug's team includes some of the boys who are in his Thursday afternoon youth group, so he already knew most of the kids.

The first few weeks of practice were a real struggle. Just getting the kids to show up to the practices was a challenge, plus he needed to use a lot of terminology that he didn't know in Spanish and then, once they were all there, a new problem arose: not enough equipment. We pulled out all the balls, bats and gloves that we had, but even with those, we barely had enough to scrimmage. Uniforms are out of the question. Fortunately, once the games started, we discovered that most of the other teams have the same problem, so the teams share gloves during the games. Whew!

It's been fun watching the team begin to learn to work together. It's still a struggle, but it's fun. Our boys have their hands full trying to remember their "manners". What an opportunity to be lights!

One thing we've noticed which is different here from in the States: good sportsmanship. There ain't none! Well, to be totally honest, there is good sportsmanship...just not on the Boca del Rio team. So, Doug's main goals this season are to teach his team how to encourage each other, how to respect each other and how to work as a team...and hitting, catching and throwing, too. I think he's got his hands full! Pray that God would pour down grace and mercy on Doug and his team! Also pray that our boys would keep good attitudes! It's hard to keep a positive outlook when all/most of your teammates are grumbling and complaining.[and if anyone would like to help with baseball equipment, send us an email!!! :^) ] [Editor's note: Praise God! We received a gift of about a dozen gloves, a few balls and some batting helmets! Hurrah! Now everyone on the team has a glove to use and we're not so nervous about the boys getting beaned in the head by a fast pitch!!! Thanks for praying for us!]

Team Boca del Rio

Women's Bible Study at Tita's House

Last week's Bible study was held at Sister Tita's house. We had a great time of study and prayer...and I brought my camera. For the past 3 weeks, the ladies have been meeting every morning at the church for a time of prayer and study in the book of Proverbs. This has been a really neat time, too, but I won't bring my camera to these studies. What woman wants her picture taken at 6 in the morning? Not me!!! The Thursday afternoon study is much more "photogenic"!


The ladies have also been focusing on praying for our families and children. We believe that we are in a battle for the very lives of the children of Boca del Rio. Over the past few weeks, we've seen more and more evidence that we are indeed in a spiritual battle with a very strong and very irritated enemy! Please join us in praying for the families of Boca del Rio.

The book of Luke, chapter 1 verse 17, (talking about John the Baptist) says, "and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." We are praying that this turning of the hearts would be evident in Boca and that we would see families reunited and healed.

1st Annual Boca del Rio Volleyball Tournament

This is destined to become an annual event! The church began to advertise this tournament about a month ago. When the day finally arrived, 13 teams signed up to compete. Each 4-man team had to have at least one woman or a boy under 14 years old (to hopefully even things out!). The only other requirement was that church members couldn't be on a team with other church members. That was a really great idea! Most everyone in the church wanted to play, so it was neat to see them group up with 3 non-church-goers.

There were some tense moments during the second and third days when the weaker teams had been eliminated and the serious players were left. Several times the pastor and a couple of the other Christian brothers had to step up and set the example of good-sportsmanship. It all ended well, though.

After their match on the first day, one of Doug's teammates got angry and said he wanted to quit the team. This was one of those "tense moments". Doug handed him back his entry fee ($2) and told him he'd rather have him play, but if he was going to get angry it would be better to not play at all. The guy walked off for a while, but came back and apologized and the team was able to continue playing. It was quite a turning point, too. After that first match, the team's whole attitude changed! Missed shots weren't such a catastrophe and good shots were praised like crazy! What changed? Doug started taking the blame for every mistake. If someone missed a shot, he said, "Oh, man! I wasn't watching!" or "I should have been there! Sorry!" It was such a change from the normal, that it got the guys' attention and they caught on -- I think more unconsciously than purposefully. Pretty soon they were laughing and joking and really enjoying themselves. And -- they ended up taking 3rd place! Pretty cool!

It was wonderful to see so many new faces on the church grounds throughout the week. The tournament gave people a reason to come hang out and also gave some "common ground" to talk about. Many folks who wouldn't normally come spend time at church came and stayed all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And now, two weeks later, the net is still set up, folks are still hanging around, and the ladies have started having weekly games, too.

Tourney Finale

The last day of the volleyball tourney, the SEND team shared music, testimony and a drama with the tournament participants (and everyone else who was hanging around!).

It was a great way to wrap up the 3-day event and to focus ourselves on Jesus!