Day 3 of my Dominican Republic Missions trip

July 22nd:
On our first full day in the Dominican Republic, we woke up to a traditional cereal and toast breakfast sided with fruit and orange juice. After quickly devouring our breakfast, we loaded into our bus, and headed off to church in Santo Domingo. We were special guests (as announced by the pastor) even though the whole service was in Spanish. Luckily, we had a translator device so we could understand. The church service was just like any normal service. We sang a few song, the pastor gave his message, we sang a couple more songs, then we were done. After church, we headed back to the complex for lunch. At lunch, we had our first taste of the food we were going to be having the rest of the week. We were treated to mouth watering grilled chicken prices with rice and a salad. Soon after lunch, all of us jumped into the bus and went to the beach. Before we went to the beach, we were strictly told "ignore the venders, if you show any interest in what they have, they will not go away!". I though "that can't be too hard"! Well, I was wrong. No more than 30 seconds after we set foot on the sand, a vender walked up to Kiegan Basso and started trying to sell him a bracelet. Wondering what Kiegan was up to, I quickly went over to see what he was looking at - bad idea. The vender grabbed my wrist and strapped a bracelet on. He said "$15 for bracelet." and he wouldn't listen when I told him "no". He kept pushing the sale until my dad walked over, sternly said "we are not interested, NO!". For about 5 minutes, all that came out of his mouth was "my friend! Wow! Me 19! Trying to make living here! Buy something!". He eventually got the idea that we weren't going to purchase anything so he left. We FINALLY went into the water, only to find out that it was unpleasantly warm (about 90 degrees) and for whatever reason, caused everyone to itch. We decided that the beach was overrated, so we went back to the complex and went swimming for a couple hours before dinner. Dinner was deep fried chicken with dirty rice, a salad, and the delicious juice/nectar (which was served with every meal). After dinner we had our nightly devotions and went to bed exhausted, after our first full day.

Day 2 of my Dominican Republic Baseball Missions trip (July 21st)

July 21st:
The second day arrived slower than first anticipated. The lack of sleep on the red-eye flight made the 5 hour flight seem like a 12 hour flight, but finally, after what seemed to be a marathon, we landed in Philadelphia. We filled our growling stomachs with the closest food, which happened to be McDonalds. With an Egg McMuffin down, we had about 2:30 hours of free time before our flight to the DR. I spent it shopping around with AJ, Gordy, and Stephen. We walked about a 1/2 mile but eventually found the store I was looking for - Lidz. I bought a camo Yankees hat and a Yankees BP hat. The time had finally come for us to board the plane bound for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Once we were situated in our seats, the pilot declared over the PA system "We are having some maintenance issues but we should be ready to fly here shortly". Hearing the news, I dozed off for about 45 minutes, only to be woken up by "attention all passengers! This plane is out of commission, please make your way to gate 11B for the new plane. Set to take off in 15 minutes." A hop, a skip, and a jump, and we were on our plane headed to the DR. The flight included some beautiful views of the Bahamas and the Florida keys. We landed in Santo Domingo at 4PM local time. The incredibly humid air was stunning at first, and it felt like you could drink the air. The airport was not air conditioned, so the outside temperature strongly resembled the inside temperature. After grabbing our baggage and somehow finding our way through customs, we loaded all our gear into a van, and we got into a bus which was headed for our destination - the highlands complex. The bus ride to the complex may have been the scariest bus ride ever imaginable. Cars were driving the wrong way, motorcycles we being wrecklessly ridden by helmetless drivers and passengers, there was no stopping for intersections, you honked and hoped it was clear, and the amount of pedestrians was amazing. We survived the bus ride. I don't know how, but we did. We arrived at the Rawlings Highlands complex at 4:30 PM local time. We had enough time to drop off our gear then we went out for some yummy pizza. We were treated to delicious, unleavened bread pizza (arguably the best pizza I have ever had). The group was conversing when a couple guys came up and started singing for us! I believe they sang 3 songs for us, and for a guitar, bongos, and a lead vocal, they were pretty good! Completely exhausted from a full day of travel, we returned to the complex, did a short devotion as a group, and FINALLY went to bed....

Day 1 of my Dominican Republic Missions Trip (July 20th)

July 20th:

On the first day of our journey, all members of the Dominican Republic baseball team met at Christian High School for a one hour orientation. During the orientation, we introduced our prayer partners, watched a cultural video, reviewed a few important verses (Romans 3:23, John 3:16, and a few others), ate lunch, and received all our gear for the trip. At about 12:30 when the orientation was done, all of us headed out to the baseball field for a short, laid back practice. We took infield, batting practice, and had a short infers quad scrimmage. The practice was used mainly for coaches to see where they were going to position the players on the trip, but it also served as a great opportunity in getting the know each of the players better. After the practice was over, the team headed over to Coach Mike Mitchell's house for swimming, basketball, and dinner. It was there that I got to know all the players. The team consisted of Trip Leader Paul Berry, Coach Troy Norling, Coach Zac Nixon, Coach Fred Hartman, Coach Mason Martin, Coach Daryl Hebert, Head Coach Mike Mitchell, Kiegan Basso, Michael Horne, Sam Gershow, Joe Ross, Tyler Leslie, Stephen Johnston, AJ Gregorovic, Anthony Martin, Alex Nurding, Gordon Nixon, and myself - Matt Hartman. After some quality pool time, team bonding, and some delicious pizza, we headed off to the airport for our 10:10 PM flight to Philadelphia. A couple of long lines later, we found ourselves in the air on a red-eye flight to Philadelphia. The long 5 hour flight may have been at night, but many players/ coaches weren't able to sleep on the plane, which set the stage for an incredibly long second day......

Dominican Republic Baseball Missions Trip

    I have been invited by SCORE International to travel to the Dominican Republic on a baseball missions trip.  The purpose of this trip is to use the abilities God has blessed me with to bless others.  A few of my teammates from Calvary Christian Vista baseball and I will be traveling to the Dominican Republic on July 21, 2012, to spread the Gospel to many people in need of Christ.  We will be playing baseball against local Dominican Republic teams as well as visiting children from an orphanage, witnessing to people in a sugarcane village, and bringing food to a local village.  We will return July 28, 2012.
   
    I am very excited about being a part of this missions team. In order to make this trip a reality, I need sponsors to give financial assistance.  I am asking you to join other relatives and friends to consider sponsoring this missions trip.

SCORE International, Inc. is a recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit religious foundation.

    Your prayerful consideration of support is very much appreciated.  Above all, pray for God to use me as a true role model and to share the love of Christ on this mission’s endeavor.

For His Glory,
Matthew Hartman

Ways to donate:


1. ONLINE: Go to our the SCORE International website: www.scoreintl.org/donate/traveler. Make sure you include the name of the traveler in the description.  MasterCard or Visa accepted.

2. BY PHONE: Call the SCORE International office at: 423-894-7111.  The SCORE International secretary will be able to take your credit card information over the phone.

Dominican Republic Baseball Missions Trip

Next week I will be going to the Dominican Republic on a baseball missions trip provided SCORE International. The players are from Christian High School baseball and Calvary Christian Vista baseball. It should be a really fun experience! I can't wait! Here is our schedule...

SCHEDULE FOR WEST COAST BASEBALL
 July 21- July 28, 2012


Sat       21         - Arrive at 1:30pm
                     Travel to Highlands Complex Room Assignments and
                           Orientation, Practice, eat , devotions.
                         
              
Sun       22      -    Breakfast 7:30AM @ Highlands Complex
                Leave 8:30 AM for Church Service
                Attend Dominican Church Service from 9:30AM – 11:00AM
                           Lunch 12:30 PM @ Highlands Complex
               Afternoon Free Time @ Highlands Complex (Pool, Beach, etc.)
                 Dinner 6:00 PM @ Highlands Complex
               Devotions after Dinner (On Your Own)

Mon        23     -    Breakfast 7:15 AM @ Highlands Complex
                Leave 8:00AM for Santo Domingo (Olimpic Center)
                Baseball Game 9:30 AM vs Nicasio’s Team
                               Lunch upon return to Highlands Complex
                Leave 3:00 PM for for Sugarcane Village
                Visit and play games with children
                Dinner 6:30 PM @ Highlands Complex
                Devotions after Dinner (On Your Own)
                           
Tue        24     - Breakfast 7:30AM @ Highlands Complex
                Leave 8:30AM for La Romana Orphanage
                           Visit and play games with Girls
                 Lunch 12:30PM @ Highlands Complex
                           Game @ Highlands Complex
                           Baseball Game 2:00 PM vs Local Team
                Dinner 6:00 PM @ Highlands Complex
                           Leave 7:00 PM for SCORE MTC
                Devotions 7:30 PM @ SCORE MTC “Missionaries Night”

Wed            25   - Breakfast 7:30AM @ Highlands Complex
                Leave 8:30 AM for Quisqueya -Emanuel House           
                           Lunch 12:30PM @ Highlands Complex
                Leave 1:30 PM for San Pedro
                           Basball Game 2:30 PM vs Frank’s Team
                Dinner upon return to Highlands Complex
                           Devotions after Dinner (On Your Own)


Thu    26         -    Breakfast 7:30 AM @ Highlands Complex
                           Leave 8:30 AM for Los Santana Village
                           Baseball Game 9:30 AM vs Los Santana’s Team
                Packed Lunch from  Highlands Complex
                Afternoon Ministry @ Los Santana
                           Play w/ children, paint, etc…
                Dinner 6:00 PM @ Highlands Complex
                           Leave 7:00 PM for SCORE MTC
                Devotions 7:30 PM @ SCORE MTC “Missionaries Night”

Fri    27           -Breakfast 8:00AM @ Highlands Complex
                      Leave 9:00AM for Santo Domingo
                           Shopping & Sightseeing at the Old City
                Lunch 12:30 PM @ Highlands Complex
                           Leave 2:00 PM for San Pedro
                           Baseball Game 3:00 PM vs  July Team
                           Dinner 6:30 PM @ Highlands Complex
                           Devotions after dinner on your own

Sat   28           -Load Luggage on Truck @ 11:30AM
                         Breakfast, Lunch, Final Devo’s
                         Leave AM for airport 12:15
                         Depart 2:30pm- San Diego arrival-11:09pm