It may sound silly to most, but baseball is a love language for me. While most of the United States claim football to be the countries game, I still lay claim to baseball being America’s past time and regard it as America’s greatest contribution to the world. Baseball is a passion of mine and honestly one of the first loves that I experienced as a child. Baseball is life for me. I love the smell of the grass, the feel of the glove, and the view of the any ball field from the dugout. The sound of a baseball hitting the bat is a perfect sound and is almost calming and peaceful to me. It’s a game of patience, maturity, and heart. I love baseball and consider it one of the languages I speak.
On Wednesday (January 14th, 2015), I had the honor and complete joy to share the love I have for baseball with kids from around the neighborhood my team and I are serving at. We played in a field occupied by cows, goats, chickens, and wild gardens. The field was not only muddy and uneven but it was littered with feces of every animal that seemed to occupy the Dominican Republic. We played with bats that would barely be considered shrapnel, balls that could barely bounce, and bases that were made from milk cartons. The mound was non existent and only one child had a glove to play with. But this place was without a doubt a baseball field and is now a place I will never forget about. We played for a little over an hour before sharing the gospel with them and already have made plans to come back to this little plot of dirt. I know absolutely no spanish, and on several occasions mumbled the phrases “No habla Espanol” and “Soy stupido en Espanol” to which the children laughed at. However, there was no language barrier existent between the kids and I.
It has actually been a dream of mine for some time now to get to teach, and play, baseball with kids from the Dominican Republic. A year ago I actively pursued the chance to fully realize this dream before I even considered The World Race, but God placed on my heart that I should instead decide to forgo these opportunities to pursue missions around the world. Not only was it amazing to play baseball with these children but it was nothing short of an honor and a blessing for me. Im glad and so very appreciative that God allowed me to come to the Dominican Republic and have the opportunity to play a game that is so dear to me. As I talked to the sports ministry director of the church we have been serving at for this past month we agreed that sports is a universal language and is not a spoken language. The ministry of sports is a language spoken by all cultures no matter what game is being played, and it opens the door for so many opportunities to share the gospel and what Christ has done for us through the cross.
To these kids, my name is Pablo (because Brandon is to hard to pronounce), and it brings me complete joy when I see them screaming my name as they run from halfway across the neighborhood to come up to see me. The young ones greet me with hugs while the older ones, being to old for hugs, greet me with smiles and handshakes only baseball players can come up with. I will not be here much longer and will only see them only a couple more times. Please pray that I can make an impression on them so that they would come to Christ and to show them the love of Christ and how much they all mean to Him. Also pray that they become godly young men as the four I know the best are around the ages where decisions that can mold their futures can be made in the Dominican Republic. Please pray for Fernando, Pedrito, Jonathan, and Jonathan, as well as the other children in the Dominican Republic. Baseball owns the Dominican Republic and I am blessed that I was able to use my greatest love as a ministry to share God’s love for us all.
