Grace Christian (NC) Basketball - Monday
After a delicious breakfast of eggs, we traveled to Santo Domingo to play early morning games against a club team, “Mauricio Baez.” Our group is guided by Giovanny, a Dominican basketball icon who became a Christian after a SCORE basketball game eight years ago. He played for the Dominican National Team until retiring recently. He is well-known and well-liked throughout the island. Having attended Tennessee Temple Baptist (when the Taylors were there), he is fluent in English and translates for those giving testimonies. The Intern assisting our group is Heather who is a rising senior at Bryan College. Between the guys’ and girls’ games, different youth give testimonies. Davis went first; Coach Green followed. The basketball competition was stiff, but both teams put in valiant efforts. After lunch we went to a grocery store, each buying $10 worth of food. We bought 2 cans of tuna, 1 box of chicken, bags of dried beans and rice, oil, salt and coffee. This will feed a family in a sugar cane village (a village comprise of the sugar cane workers and their families) for one month! We then traveled to such a village, played with the children—quite the highlight of the day– and then went to the village church. There, Chris, Christy and Coach Green shared. Anna led us in singing “Jesus Loves Me” in Spanish. Then, family by family, each was given a bag of this needed nourishment. The kids were given some good ole candy (with tracts for their families). We learned two valuable lessons: playing with kids bridges all language barriers and happiness is not derived by material possessions. Displayed in the church is Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…” Imagine, a poverty-ridden village where the church message is “tithe.” The verse goes on to say, “Test me in this and see if I (the LORD) will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” For some this may be an interesting theory; for these folks, it risks life itself. Yet they experience God’s provision, even through us. When we returned, after dining on pizza, we shared our experiences during devotions.
