Baseball Clinic

So this past week I had the opportunity to help out with a baseball clinic here in Peru. Every January, a group of 9 men from the United States come to Lima, Peru to teach kids basic techniques about baseball as well as share the gospel with them. One of the coaches was a former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, another coach is currently playing AA baseball for the Los Angeles, Angels; and the other seven are coaches (or former coaches) for college level baseball. It was an amazing opportunity for kids from the ages of 10-18 to learn baseball techniques from professional players and coaches. Plus the clinic was entirely free. The coaches taught two sessions everyday from Monday through Thursday. All in all, close to 300 kids participated. At the end of every session, one of the coaches would present their testimony, another would present a bible story, and an opportunity would be given for each of kids to accept Christ into their lives. Usually half of the kids would raise their hand to let us know that they wanted to accept Christ into their lives. We found out a couple of the Peruvian translators told the kids who didn’t raise their hands; “Raise your hands. Why wouldn’t you want to accept Christ in your lives?” With kids it is always hard to find out who actually wants to accept Jesus into to their lives, who is only doing it to please you, or who is feeling pressured into doing it. The next few times, we assured them of the importance of only making the decision if they honestly were making it out of their own free will. At the end of each session, several of the kids talked to the coaches about Christ and had many good questions about the Bible, Heaven and what it meant to follow Christ. Even though not every kid who raised his or her hand was genuinely making a decision for Christ, it was evident that several of them wanted to give their lives to Christ. The fact that nine coaches would go halfway around the world to teach baseball to a group of kids in a far away country touched the hearts of the Peruvian people. The kids as well as their parent felt honored to be taught by coaches from the United States, especially the two who played in the major leagues. It was evident that they looked up to these coaches. The coaches did not even mind when all the kids wanted them to sign something of theirs, no matter how unrelated to baseball the object was.

Arrival

I arrived safely into Peru late Monday night, early Tuesday morning. I have been staying in the guest house the last week and will probably be here for another two weeks until I move into my apartment. It’s a really nice place and has all the modern conveniences of America such as a washer/dryer, warm showers, nice bed and best of all Wi-fi! Being in Lima over the last week has been a really great experience. I live in the Miraflores district which is a really clean and safe part of the city. It’s also right by the ocean so the climate is very mild. It rarely gets above 80 degrees or below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. My supervisor has been showing me around the city the last few days so I have been becoming quite acquainted with the area. Fortunately, my Spanish is well beyond a beginner’s level due to the fact that my mom and Grandma speak Spanish and I took several years of it in high school and college. This next week I will be helping out with a baseball clinic that we will be hosting for kids and youth ages 10-18. The clinic will be taught by nine men from Florida who are all former baseball players and coaches in the minor leagues. All the coaches are Christians and will be presenting the gospel message to the kids at the end of the week. Pray that God will open up the hearts of the kids and that many will accept Christ into their lives. Many of the people involved with the baseball clinic are going to be Nikkei, which is the people group I came down here to work with. This is going to be the first time I have interaction with any of them so pray that I will be able to make many contacts and start building relationships with them.

My Mission

While most of you probably know that I am going to Peru to be a missionary, many of you don’t know exactly what it is that I am doing over there. I will be working with an unreached people within the city of Lima. There is a people group called the Nikkei, which are decedents of a Japanese population that immigrated to Peru in the late 19th century. While there are over 100,000 Nikkei in Lima, less than 100 are evangelical Christians. The Japanese have historically been closed to Christianity and have always been a difficult population to reach. So much, that if 1 or 2 Nikkei come to Christ a year, then that is a huge success. My job is going to be focused on building relationships within the Nikkei community and sharing the gospel with them. While it is going to be difficult, and the statistics are not in my favor, I truly believe God can create a movement among those people. With lots of prayer from friends and family all over the world and diligence on my part, we can see God do some great things among the Nikkei. If there is anything that you guys can pray for, please pray that I will be able to befriend the Nikkei and build many relationships among those people.