As the pandemic continues and countries begin to open back up, our work in each base is looking different every week. However, we are blessed to continue finding ways to serve God in the communities to bring light and hope. Today’s story comes from Dave Adams, one of our Sports Site leaders in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.
Like everyone else, these past months have been very different for the Men’s Sports Site here in Jarabacoa. In mid-march, we shut down completely. The first few months were challenging for a lot of our boys’ families. Many of their fathers work construction, so they were laid off during that time. The food program was a huge blessing to many of the families who were out of work. Thank you so much to all who donated to help with that program! Even though we could not practice with the boys, we were able to keep in touch and check on them when we would distribute food and at random times when we would drive by to say hi.
Even though the fields just recently opened up for training, we have been able to have practice at the base since the last week of September, thanks to our batting cage. The batting cage was already a huge blessing, especially during the rainy and hurricane seasons, but this took the gift to a whole other level. We are so grateful and cannot thank everyone enough to make that dream become a reality. We were able to host practices at the base for almost two months, which would not have been possible without the batting cage. We are now starting training again like normal at the field in Buena Vista (with protocols, of course). It’s great for the boys to get back to something resembling normal again, especially with schools going virtual for this school year.
One great experience during the pandemic was connecting even more with parents. Zurdo and I did weekly devotional videos and sent them to the players and parents through our team’s WhatsApp group. One of our main messages, and something I want to encourage each one of you with, was that we continue to serve an all-powerful God. COVID was not a surprise to Him. We do not know why God allowed this to happen, and we may never know fully, but we can see, now more than ever, how little control we truly have. We can choose to panic and live in fear, or we can draw even closer to the One who created it all and is in control of all.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy! Please keep our boys in your prayers as we continue to minister to them. There is so much fear and panic in our world. People are looking for something outside of themselves now more than ever before. You’re not going to find a better time to share Christ with others. Take advantage! God Bless!
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