A Life Worth Following

As the day progressed yesterday, the following comment was made, our experiences on this trip have been so incredible, I am not sure people back home would really believe us.  Some famous person once said, ¨Truth is better than fiction¨.  Well, I am sitting here today letting you know that he was exactly right.  The things that have happened this week have blown away our expectations.  From the very beginning, God made us a promise in Ephesians 3:  ¨Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us.  To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever, Amen¨.  

This promise is what we have lived out this entire week.  Like they say in Nicaragua, ¨Gloria a Dios, Dios es bueno¨. 

Yesterday, was another amazing day.  We began the day by going to the hospital in Leon to pray for people.  Before we left, we took the time to look at what God´s word says about the power of prayer.  We let our guys know that it was no accident they were going to pray for the sick.  We reminded them of how powerful God really is and helped them see that regardless of the situation, God has the power to heal people.  When they prayed for people today, it was not their responsibility to trust their words, but they had to trust the Spirit of God. 

We stocked up on a bunch of candy and hand sanitizer and headed off to a third world hospital and what an experience it was.  When we walked in, we climbed the stairs to go visit the children´s area.  One of the first girls we met was around 4 years old.  She looked really ill and was sitting between two ladies.  I assumed that one of the ladies knew her name but neither one of them could tell me what this little girls name was.  The saddness on this girls face will be imprinted on my mind and heart for a long time.  When I asked her name, the sweetest voice came from her lips as she told me, ¨Mi nombre es Carla Pricilla.¨ It was a beautiful sight to see Eric Wall put a handful of candy in her lap and which was followed up by 12 big Ambassadors gather around her lifting her to the feet of Jesus.  Believe me, this girl needed to be taken to the ¨Great Physician¨.  She needed to spend some time at the feet of Jesus and it was an honor to have the opportunity to take her there. 

After spending some time in the children´s ward, several doctors escorted us to the Orthepedic area.  We prayed for many people.  One doctor invited several of us into a room with 6 men lying on beds.  At first we did not realize that one man was in the middle of a procedure of having all of his toes amputated.  This was an unexpected sight that will also be unforgettable.  For sure, this was the first surgery many of us have experienced.  In the U.S. when someone is having a surgery, it is not usually in a croweded room.  Things are just different here in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  These people need our help and it is such an honor to come here to serve the Lord and serve these people.

There were so many experiences in the hospital that would take too long to discuss.  However, there is one thing that I just have to share.  We were preparing to leave the hospital and started walking down the stairs.  Blake Steppanovich, one of our Ambassadors, was walking beside me.  As we were taking in the sights, smells and atmosphere of this third world hospital, he said to me:  Ï think that the Lord is calling me to be a doctor.  If I became a doctor, I think God could use me to really help people like this.¨

In that moment, I almost lost it.  It reminded me that this is a baseball team that is experiencing so much more than baseball.  God is enabling us to raise up ¨Giants of the Faith¨who will be sent into the world to make a difference.  It was pretty incredible to look into Blake´s eyes as he made that statement.  What I saw was a young man who is getting ready to allow the Lord to use him to make a difference in the world.  This group of guys will be faithful to carry on the message of Jesus Christ to the next generation.  They will be faithful with God´s message.  They are learning how to be Ambassadors for Christ.

After the hospital, we got some lunch and then headed out to a kids Bible study that Oscar and his wife lead every Thursday.  I have to take a minute and brag on our youngest Ambassador.  We only had a few minutes with this group of kids and they were all children.  Oscar said to our group, we need to do a quick Bible Study, which Ambassador would be willing to share it.  It was quiet for a minute and Lee shared his testimony with the group of kids.  As Lee was sharing, I leaned over to my eight year old son and whispered to him, ¨Hey man, these kids are your age, why don´t you share a Bible Story?¨ Eric was a little nervous but he stepped up to the plate and shared the story of David and Goliath.  All I can say at this moment is that Eric hit the ball out of the park.  It wasn´t quite as far as Jared Freeman´s home run but it was really close.  I had to mention this because I was one proud Daddy.  Way to go Eric Wall.  You are the coolest bat boy ever.

As we were leaving the Bible study, we all got to experience a little comic relief.  Reggie, one of our local leaders who hangs with us, went up to Justin Ebert and said, ¨Hey man, try this fruit, it is really good.¨ He handed Ebert a small pepper and told him this was a sweet fruit.  You have heard the statement that ¨big things come in small packages.¨ Well, in Nicaragua, very very hot peppers are really small.  When Ebert popped this pepper in his mouth, he moved to another level in his walk with the Lord.  He was so moved by this experience, he could not help but share this with the entire team.  One by one, theÿ started sharing this fruit with their friends.  Finally guys started figuring it out but unfortunately, I did not get the memo before Cody Dyvig encouraged me to try this little fruit.  Believe me, this was a spiritual experience.  I have to say that Coach V got the worst of this little joke.  All day long, guys were putting the juice from these peppers on his water bottles and in his food.  I would not be surprised if this morning, Coach V´s lips are still burning.  I want you all to know that we are having some deep spiritual moments but there is still time to mess around with each other. 

Finally, we ended the day and it was truly indescribable.  As we arrived at the field for our planned double header, the tropical rain clouds began to form.  Several of us, asked the Lord to hold off the rain.  He did it before and we would simply wanted to ask Him to do it again.  All around us there were rain clouds, thunder and lightning, but from 5 p.m to 9 p.m. no rain fell on that baseball field.  I stood there and watched as the clouds simply moved around us.  I know this is unbelievable but it really is true. 

Before we started our first baseball game yesterday, the leaders from Nicaragua asked us to sing the National Anthem.  We quickly polled some of the Jambassadors to see if they would come to the mic and show off their patriotic skills.  Brandon Culp, Justin Ebert, Sydni Sullivan, Logan Brumley, Tyler Johnson, Ryan Williams and myself moved to the middle of the field and started to sing.  Our starting note was a little high but we got on our tippey toes and got close to those high notes. 

Needless to say, we started our first baseball game and just as we expected, the competition keeps getting better and better each night.  I wish I could describe the atmosphere at this baseball game.  The electricity in the air is truly amazing.  It is crazy how close the people get to the action on the field.  Honestly, it really is pretty dangerous for the people.  As you pray for the Ambassadors, throw up a couple for the people watching our games.  Last night, there were so many people watching us play, at one point in the game, we had to stop and nicely ask an entire row of bicycles to move from right field.  There was one moment when Tyler King, the one guy who has made every blog so far so I thought I would continue the theme, ran into the rolling hot dog stand to catch a fly ball in the outfield.  The only disappointing thing about that catch was that the lady did not give him a free hot dog. 

My words really can´t describe the scenes on the baseball field, you will just have to see the pictures.  It is unlike anything we have all experienced. 

Even though we played a pretty good team yesterday in our first game, we won the game pretty handily.  10-0.  In between our games, the Nicaraguan rock band sang a song and we gathered the crowd together to share the gospel.  Raul Corpus, one of our Spanish speaking Ambassadors, shared his testimony and he did an awesome job.  After Raul shared, Oscar, our Nicaraguan Ambassador, (he is new) got up and shared Justin´s story with the crowd.  After he told Justin´s story, he shared the gospel.  I was standing near the front of the crowd and was really moved by the things Oscar said.  As Oscar began to present the gospel and asked people to bow their heads, I turned around and about fell over.  Behind me were over 3000 people standing and listening to every word Oscar said.  When he asked people to pray, over 1000 people responded to the call of Christ. 

I know that this seems unbeleivable but it really is true.  Thousands of people came to Christ yesterday.  Last night, as we gathered at Oscar´s house, with tears in his eyes, he said:  Ï just could not believe the number of people that came out tonight¨.  Oscar made a statement that was truly incredible.  He said, ¨When you experience something accomplished by human hands, it is obvious.  However, when you experience something that is unexplainable, you know it has come from God.¨ Truly, what we have experienced not only this week, but also this entire summer has come from God.  No human being can plan this.  Only God can do these things and because of His hand, we are motivated to serve Him for the rest of our day.  It is so amazing that God has called us to Nicaragua and He is using The Ambassadors to make a difference in the city of Leon.  It is so unbelievable but it really is true.  Oh yea, by the way, we also won our second game against our first University team in Nicaragua. 

Today, we have a big day planned.  13 Ambassadors are going to a city called Samaltillo to conduct a baseball clinic and play a game.  I think even Murph is going to get to pitch today.  That is right, we are going to bring in the Big Gun and unleash his fury on the Nicaraguan Culture. 

This last statement is really funny if you know our player coach Murph.  He is actually standing over my shoulder right now and is pumped that I put him in the blog. 

The rest of the team is going to stay in Leon and conduct a clinic and play a game tonight.  The 13 that are heading out will be joining up with everyone tomorrow. 

I will try to get to a computer some time tomorrow to blog but I wanted you to know that it will be a little later tomorrow.  If you don´t see a post until later, don´t worry, we just won´t have computer access until later. 

Keep praying for us and thank you all for supporting us both financially and in your prayers.  If you invested in the Ambassadors this year, you can rest assured that every dime you invested in this team has made a huge impact in the Kingdom of God.