Croatia 2013 - Day 10

Hello Folks

Day 10 and counting!!

When is 60 feet 6 inches to long? When a 52 year old tries to pitch to a bunch of younger Croatians! Yep, you guessed it!  I threw in my first competitive game since 1985 and to be honest with you, 46 feet would have been too far. I went from Preacher to Pitcher in all a matter of 5 hours and I pray the preaching was more successful than the pitching!

Chris Hill took off in the morning to head back home and made it safely. He was such a pleasure to have and to take over most of the baseball activities. He loves the game, is enthusiastic in sharing Christ and loves these young boys and Storks!

Got a chance to preach at Moscenica Baptist Church and that was a great opportunity to share God’s word with our brother and sisters here in Croatia and to share the gospel with the many people we had invited to come. Barbara, Shannon’s friend from the library came, which she had told Shannon she wouldn’t come to any church. I had invited many Storks and 8 of them came and heard the message. I was so happy to have this opportunity and was told afterward that they would invite me to do so again! Our brothers and sisters in Christ send their greeting to you back in the U.S.

After Church we came home and Shannon and Robert went with Brandon to the airport to pick up our football coaches and cheerleading coach. Because Croatia is going into the EU on Sunday night the airport was closed and the passengers were being bused to a nearby soccer stadium, so that the president and all the dignitaries would have the airport to themselves. It was quite the mess, but after a 3 and half hour delay they met up and Brandon took Mike, Jason and Katie off to Split to start the football camp. We are excited at the opportunity to share there in Split again with football and I am looking forward to seeing how God is going to use our mission team to touch lives there. Please keep them in your prayers. I am thankful for Brandon and his hard work and desire to share the gospel with the Split Sea Wolves and the many others who are interested in American football and will come and participate.

At 4:00 I started my international debut as the starting pitcher for the Sisak Storks. I think by 4:05 I was removed from the mound! Just kidding, it was more like 4:45. I lasted 3 innings and then I told them I was out of gas. Mario came and did a terrific job! When I left the game we were down 4 to 1. It looked like I was going to take the loss as the score was 4 to 1 into the bottom of the ninth but the Storks rallied and scored 3 runs to tie it. I was off the hook but the Storks were still deadlocked. In the top of the tenth Zadar scored one run and the Storks came up with 2 runs in the bottom to win the game in awesome fashion. It was a tremendous victory and great to see they team not give up and win one when all seemed lost!

I will update you later on the evening and all that happened today, Monday! Another display of God’s awesome plan coming together!

Blessings to all

David