Score International

We arrived safely Saturday afternoon to the DR and actually flew into Santo Domingo a few minutes early! We stepped outside of Customs to over 90 degrees and started sweating before we even stepped on the basketball court! We drove to the SCORE International Complex which is just amazing! They have renovated a hotel into a wonderful conference place for mission teams. SCORE is growing immensely and will host over 5,000 short -term missionaries this year. The people here have been so welcoming, embracing, and inspiring. We dropped our luggage, grabbed a quick dinner, and then climbed back in the bus to head to first game. We played a club team and did quite well considering the heat and traveling since 3 AM and won by 20 some. We went back to crash for the night. 

Sunday morning we got up early to head to church in the Capital City. We went with two softball teams staying in this complex from Cornerstone University and Palm Beach Atlantic. We were greeted so warmly by the congregation at this local church. We did lots of singing, listened to a group of mother’s sing in a small choir as it was Mother’s Day in the DR, and heard a great sermon as it was translated for us. Even though we invaded this church with all three teams, they were so happy to have us. What a blessing to worship in Spanish with God-fearing people! In the afternoon some of us relaxed at the beach and a few of us went back to the airport to pick up one of players who had to come a day late, Erin Zielke. Then, we drove over to the new SCORE softball and baseball complex which is absolutely unbelievable.  A five million dollar complex has been donated by Rawlings Foundation for SCORE to use year round - God is good! In the evening we had a fantastic devotional time led by the SCORE staff with some singing and sharing. We all were challenged to ask God why we are here and what He wants us to see with our eyes, mind, and heart!

Monday morning after breakfast we headed out to a Sugar Cane Village where we ended up at an elementary school. We donated some school supplies and had a great opportunity to play with the children for a few hours. Even though we didn’t speak the same language, we were still able to share the love of Christ. We left this afternoon for another game in the heat. This time we played a national championship team and lost by 20. What has inspired me the most are the hearts of my players - this is Coach Met writing this. A number of my players have shared their testimony at half time of both games and with the children this morning. They have willing jumped into every activity that we have done so far. They were such a blessing to the kids today and had a blast playing with them! I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am for my team and for the way they represent Christ to me and to others! This is a trip that I know will be forever impacting on our team and to each one of us individually and we still have 4 days left!