Day 5 of my Dominican Republic Missions Trip

July 24:
After my first night where I actually slept well, I woke up to a delicious bacon an eggs breakfast. Immediately after breakfast we got dressed and loaded into the girls orphanage bound bus. When we walked in the gate for the orphanage, each player's hand was immediately grabbed by one, two, and sometimes three little girls. We were all led off to separate parts of the orphanage by Dominican girls ranging from 5-15 years of age. They did everything from singing to us, playing volleyball, and teaching us their special handshakes. It was so awesome being able to be their "big brother" for a few hours. When time came to leave, it was hard to leave, but when we did, all the girls had huge smiles on their faces. We returned to the complex for lunch which consisted of (once again) chicken and rice. We had about an hour of down time which we spent relaxing in the dorm before our game. The game was at the Giants complex where we were staying and was by far the best field we played on. We won 5-2, and after the game,Christian High catcher, AJ Gregorovic, shared his testimony. Once again, we handed out tracts to all the players and fans, and we spent about an hour after the game socializing with the players. Tired from the orphanage and the game, we had one more thing to go to- the SCORE international missionary night. This was basically a gathering for all the groups to come together and have a night of worship. After the service, we had the opportunity to buy souvenirs from some local missionaries. Of course, as any guy would do, I bought a machete. We headed back to the hotel and got a much needed nights sleep.

Day 4 of my Dominican Republic Missions trip

July 23rd:
On the fourth day of our trip, we woke up to cereal, bacon, eggs, fruit, and delicious juice. Once again an outstanding meal. Soon after breakfast we left for our first game which was at the Olympic training park. The game time was scheduled for 10:00, but since it took almost 2 hours to find the field, we started closer to 11. There must have been 100 fields in that park area which were flooded by thousands of baseball players of all ages. Our first game was soon underway and all of us started out extremely nervous. After all, we WERE playing in the baseball capital of the world, and most of those players could start on any varsity team. As I said, we were tight for the first couple innings, but eventually we scored a few runs. Then a couple more. Before we knew it, we were up 11-7. In the last inning I was called on to close. The Dominican team posted a late rally scoring 1 run on a deep no out triple to center, but they failed to score, leaving two runners in scoring position. We were now 1-0 in the DR. After the game, we handed out tracts to all the fans and players, and Calvary Vista 2012 Graduate, Sam Hebert gave his testimony to everyone. Sam finished his testimony and the players from both sides socialized for a while. This is where I met 16 year old shortstop, Kendry Abreu (he spoke almost perfect English!!). He is a very good shortstop who was born in the DR and had a short stay in Manhattan, New York before returning to the DR where he currently lives. It was cool to meet someone from another country who loves the game as much as I do, and to be able to share Christ with him was just awesome! Sadly, the time and to head back to the complex for lunch. We returned to fried chicken, dirty rice, and salad. After lunch we headed off to a local sugar cane village in Santo Domingo. We arrived and were greeted by hundreds of children, all asking for candy and toys (luckily we brought plenty of those!). I handed out a piece of candy to one kid, then another, and another, and before I could save myself, hundreds of kids were jumping on me begging for candy! They were pulling my shorts down, climbing on me, pulling my hair, poking me, and of course, yelling at me in Spanish. I was lucky to get out alive! We handed out whiffle balls and played catch with the local kids. The 9 year old I was playing catch with probably threw harder than most 13 year olds here in the U.S.! After a few hours, we had to leave so we could get back to the complex in time for dinner. We had some delicious spaghetti and salad for dinner along with some wafer cookies. We went over the very long day in our devotions and then went to bed at 11:00 local DR time.

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

Me Hitting

Me hitting at Coach Sullivan's house...That is a 35 inch bat that weighs somewhere between 35-40 ounces (I'm thinking closer to 40)!

Calvary vs. The Rock Academy D-5 CIF Championship

                  CIF CHAMPIONS !!!!
The Calvary Christian Lions brought home the school's first-ever CIF section title with a solid 8-4 win over the Rock Academy Warriors on Friday in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Eastlake High School.

Even though CIF scheduled the game an hour's drive from campus, the trip was well worth it for all as #1 seed Calvary jumped into a commanding 4 run lead but the tenacious Rock players battled back to get within one run before the Lion's extended their lead and put the game away.

Senior ace Russell Harmening got the nod on the mound and perhaps came into the game a little too pumped up when his first pitch of the day struck the Warrior leadoff hitter. After bunting the runner to second, SDSU-bound junior Andy Brown lofted a soft single to center easily scoring the runner and giving the Rock a quick 1-0 lead. Brown advanced into scoring position but Harmening stepped up and struck out the next two hitters to extinguish the threat.

Calvary had a golden opportunity to jump back in the game when Rock starter Hudson Pearson had trouble settling in and walked the first two Calvary hitters but the Lions were unable to capitalize and two strikeouts and a groundout kept the score 1-0.

The Rock threatened by mounting a two-out rally in the top of the second but failed to score. Calvary answered right back with a two-out rally of their own. Connor Kollenda and David Flores drew consecutive walks and sophomore leadoff hitter David Carpenter tied the game at 1 apiece with a sharp line single to left. Kollenda barely snuck under the tag at the plate reaching past the catcher to score the tying run. Sam Sheehan followed with a bouncer to third that was mishandled by the thirdbaseman to load the bases. Sophomore Matt Hartman made them pay for the miscue when he fought off a two strike pitch and dunked a ball to right scoring Flores and Carpenter to give Calvary a 3-1 edge. Harmening then helped his own cause by lining a deep drive off the center field fence that cleared the bases and gave the Lions a solid 5-1 lead.

Normally, a 4-run lead is money in the bank for Harmening who has a career 1.84 ERA over the past 3 seasons. The Rock however, had other intentions. They answered right back when Brown hit a soft bouncer just out of Harmening's reach and reached base with a one out infield single.
The Rock is an extremely aggressive baserunning team and Calvary was prepared for it, but they failed to play what they practiced when Brown attempted a quick steal of second. Harmening stepped off and had the runner easily but the rushed throw to second was wide and he advanced on the error. Harmening momentarily regained his composure by striking out the next hitter for the second out. Brown, who finished the season with 30 stolen bases, then took advantage of a high leg kick and easily stole third. A rare lapse in control however by Harmening walked Michael Martinez, a hitter he struck out on 3 pitches his previous at-bat, putting runners on 1st and 3rd. James L'Esperance then delivered big for the Warriors as he launched a home run deep over the left field wall to tighten the score at 5-4 and a pumped-up Rock team was back in the game.

The Rock may be tenacious, but Calvary is too as they answered right back when Isaac Conover drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a Kollenda single and scored on a Flores groundout to give the Lions a bit of breathing room at 6-4.

From the point on, Harmening was determined to lead his team victory allowing only one baserunner, an infield hit, for the remainder of the game. After the 4th inning, Harmening came into the bench and told his coaches that "Finally, I am pitching - not just throwing".

Sam Sheehan extended Calvary's lead by another run when he blasted a solo-shot over the center field wall to lead off the 4th inning. It was his third home run of the year.

They added their 8th run in their last at bat when consecutive singles by Carpenter, Sheehan and Hartman accounted for their final run.

The game was not without incident however when a scary moment occurred in 6th inning when a Rock hitter hit a short popup in foul territory on the first base side. Harmening ran over to catch the ball, but the Rock hitter, running on the foul ball, laid out Harmening who hit the ground. The batter was called out on interference but what originally appeared to be a serious injury, ended up with Harmening having the breath knocked out of him.

Afterward, Harmening said the pain moved from his arm to his chest and he cruised through the remainder of the game. He picked up his 10th victory of the year, allowing 6 hits, 1 walk and striking out 12 to cap off a stellar high school career.

The title was Calvary's first, in any sport, in the school's 20+ year history. The Lions finished the season with a 28-5 record with an undefeated league championship and Lion's Tournament and CIF Championship trophies in hand.

PREP BASEBALL: Vista Calvary Christian wins first baseball title

http://www.nctimes.com/sports/high-school/nct/baseball/prep-baseball-vista-calvary-christian-wins-first-baseball-title/article_19b98fd3-22ab-5da7-92ac-5673631223e5.html