Nick

The team with Alfonso Soriano.  Many of our players gave their shoes and gloves to the Dominicans after our last game.

Dear Diary,

Today was a great day! We started off our day by eating a quick breakfast and then getting our uniforms on to go play some Pelota. We then got on the bus and drove about thirty minutes from the SCORE complex to a baseball field called Stadium Alfonso Soriano. We arrived and started a seven inning game. The Dominican kids are really good and they beat us on a walk off hit. Then we gathered all of the kids, lined them up and shook hands. right after that we broke out the sandwiches and fed them and all sat around together with the kids. Then we started the next game by mixing up the teams and started playing against the others with us all mixed together. The first two inning Felipe  (a missionary who is also our translator) pitched and carved the other team up. Then I came in the third and struck out the side and went back to the dugout and all the dominicans came to congratulate me. Then the next inning I got into a little bit of trouble and ended up giving up the tying run and then got out of it. Then we called it a game.

After that we met up and gave the kids Bibles and had them sign cards for us so we could pray for them. Then Felipe prayed and talked to the Dominicans a little bit and translated for Keith. Then a few of the SCORE guys and a couple of the Dominicans gave their testimonies on how Christ has worked and influenced their lives. After that we gave them new baseballs, a lot of old baseball stuff and I gave one of the kids my first baseman's mitt.

We then took some of their old baseballs and had them sign them. When I was sitting, I was thinking about giving away my Evoshield sleeve but I really didn't want to part with it. Then I just took it off and tossed it to one of the kids when he turned around. As we were leaving I was walking out and one of the kids points down. At first I didn't understand but then I got it, I thought about it for a second,  then took off my shoes and handed them to him. When we were driving back to the complex, we were driving through the village and Felipe spotted Alfonso Soriano and our awesome bus driver turned around. So then we pulled over and Felipe and Keith went and talked to them, then they let us come over there and get pictures with him. I took a selfie with him. After that we headed out and went back to the complex and got ready for the beach. The beach was amazing, we had a lot  of fun and Wyatt found this weird thing that we think was a sting ray tail and smelled absolutely grotesque. Then we went back and ate dinner.

For me one of the best parts of the day was getting to hang out with and play ball with the Dominicans. I loved seeing how happy they were and they were some of the nicest kids I've ever met. Seeing how grateful they were for the stuff we gave them was awesome because they're just so happy when they get some of our stuff because they have so little. The kids just made me very happy because they're just such happy people.

Nick