Last Day....

Well, it's hard to believe how fast the last day has flown. We have enjoyed our time here in the DR in such an amazing way, and have all learned a great deal. I'm not sure how many people, if any, have been following the blog, but it has been fun to have the responsibility to document our experiences.

As I mentioned Sunday night, we were glad to spend some time with Dr. Horn, and went out to KFC after church with about 50 or 60 of our closest friends from IBC! We were there until after 11 pm fellowshipping and having a great time.

Monday morning we got up and headed to the beach. We were able to find a nice place about an hour from Santo Domingo, and the girls enjoyed spending a little time swimming and playing on the beach. I rented a wave runner and took several of them out in 5-10 minute increments to experience riding in the ocean. While there, we got a call that our game had been postponed from 4 until 5:30, and moved to Santo Domingo University.

We ate at Pizza Hut and fought the traffic to get back to the house and get ready for the game. A torrential downpour flooded many streets, and the traffic casued us to be about 30 minutes late for our final game against the San Carlos Club. SDU is the oldest university in the Americas, founded in the 1500's and has about 120,000 students. It was exciting to drive on this enormous campus and see so many students. We quickly got warmed up (in about 10 minutes) and tipped off. We recognized a couple of their players from the first team we played last Wednesday, but we sensed it would be an even game. The first quarter was even, and Taylor hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to tie the game at 28-28.

It was then that we met with the other team and shared the Gospel. Jenna shared her salvation testimony, and I gave a simple message about salvation. There was something "different" this time than the previous 4 or 5 times. The fans, students, and opposing players, about 50 or 60 in all, were incredibly focused on the message. I had great liberty, and when I asked about salvation, four players and six fans raised their hands asking for prayer. We gave the invitation to talk to several Spanish-speaking friends that were there.

The second half began, and from a basketball standpoint, was our worst quarter of the week. We struggled in all aspects of the game, and trailed by 6 or 7 points at one time. As the quarter continued, we looked behind the basket and Coach Scott, along with a man from the church, were talking to a fan who had raised his hand during the message. Coach had given him a tract in the 2nd quarter, and sensed he was tender. I called timout and gathered the girls around just to pray for the man and those talking to him. We were exciited to find out after the game the man had trusted Christ! I got to meet him and spend some time with him encouraging him afterwards. We were able to introduce him to Roberto, the youth pastor from IBC, and they exchanged contact info. Praise God for the privilege of seeing fruit!

As the quarter ended, we played a little better, and got a big lift when Jenna hit a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 43-43. We played really well in the 4th quarter, and got great contributions from Lisa and Becky off of the bench. Lisa made a key steal that sparked us to a nine-point lead with five minutes left, and we held on to win 53-50. We had a great time fellowshipping with several fans and some of their English-speaking players before heading back to the house.

Once there, we enjoyed a HUGE bbq prepared for us by our host, Don Juan, and his sons. We had grilled chicken, ribs, porkchops, sausage, and wings. Several of the church members were invited as well, so it turned into a huge going away party for us. Bittersweet at best. Afterwards, about 10pm, we went to the home of one of the IBC members. He sells and installs home theater systems in Santo Domingo, and has the most incredible multi-level home theater I've ever seen. We watched Bolt with some of the youth, and enjoyed it greatly.

I will likely wrap up with a post sometime Wednesday. We leave here Tuesday afternoon, land in Chicago about 8pm, and most of us drive to Northland getting in about 2 or 3 am.

I'll do my best to attach a separate post soon with more pictures. Thanks again for praying!