The Dr. in Germany

This is so very, very late but I've finally got the time to upload the pictures.

I am blogging this on his behalf since he thinks he has better things to do and I've spent too much time asking...

The church that we have been attending, gave the Dr. a wonderful opportunity to minister and experience the mission field for a short time this past summer. He went to Siegburg, Germany to work with the youth within the community, by putting on a baseball camp! Our church has made several trips to Siegburg in the past and they even sent a group to Texas last summer (the Dr. and I helped host several people and loved it!). When he heard about the opportunity to join the mission field, work with youth, AND enjoy the game of baseball (him loving it is an understatement), he knew it was God’s plan.

The German church that hosted the team was Christusgemeinde Siegburg. For this church is was the first time that baseball was used as a ministry opportunity. As common as baseball is here in the U.S., it's almost unknown in Germany. Before the Dr.'s group arrived, the church spread the news about them coming and the fun week that was planned. However, one week before camp was to start, only 20 kids signed up,but when camp started 65 showed up!

Enough for a full six team camp! God is good!

The week of the baseball camp was very busy. On the first Sunday, they had tryouts for all of the kids who signed up. These tryouts consisted of a few pitches to see how they hit, and then a few ground balls and throws to see how they field. Each player was rated then teams were formed as evenly as possible before the start of camp on Monday morning.

Each of the six teams has a coach and an assistant coach from our church. There was also a hand full of station leaders (this was the Dr.'s job) who would teach the game of baseball as well as umpire the games throughout the camp. The Dr.'s duty for the majority of the week was to teach a fielding station (which was the least favorite for the kids, behind hitting and playing games), where he taught the kids how to throw and catch the ball, how to play defensively, and how to run the bases. The week went by very fast but is was a blast! The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and quickly learned how to play the game.

On Thursday night, the team played a friendly game against a local semi-pro team called the Nightmares. Many kids and parents from the camp came out to root for the church team, which was great. Even though they lost the game everyone had a lot of fun and the kids were able to see how a “real” game of baseball is played. (There is a story about my husband accidentally hitting a German in the head with a baseball but I'll leave that for some time when I don't have anything else to blog about...)

After the camp was over the team visited Trier, Germany, the oldest city in the country for sightseeing and shopping. After a LONG flight home, he finally arrived back safe and sound (with many delicious and stylish souvenirs!).

I love hearing about this trip and we are praying for the opportunity to return together next year!