I am trying to run out the door but this was too good not to post.  I just talked to Hill for awhile.  The team just returned to the hotel from Dube Bute.  He sounded like he was on cloud 9.  He said that he and Wick first got our their baseball gloves and were throwing the ball back and forth.  A crowd of kids started to gather.

He said that the got out all of the gloves they took and balls.  They passed those out and then those boys started throwing the ball back and forth.  He said they were giddy.  Then Wick got out a bat.  Hill said they did soft toss for awhile and the kids were fascinated by the bat and ball.  Hill said he hit one really hard and it went down the hill.  A group of boys took off for the ball. Then he said the few boys with gloves ran back there as if they realized, "hey, we can catch the balls back here with these!"

They started hitting balls and the boys began fielding them.  Hill said they were having a blast.  The "sports director" of Dube Bute came over to Hill and said, "so, how do you score points?!"  Hill thought, wow....we are really going to do this.

He said he hit a ball, ran around all the bases, hopped on home plate and said "1 point"!! Then Wick showed them how to try to stop the runner by throwing the ball to get him out.  The thought of watching this is hilarious to me.

They broke for lunch and when they came back, they were ready to play.

Moody asked the Principal to pick the best 18 male students.  Moody and Wick took 9 into one classroom.  Hill and Steven Archer took the other 9 into one.  They handed them jerseys, ball caps and gloves.  They came up with team names and cheers.

Hill said they made a HUGE deal about calling the team out to the field and everyone cheered!!!  They proceeded to play a few innings of Americas favorite pastime!!

They knew our group were leaving for the last time but asked Moody, so can we play again tomorrow?? Moody said, you can play tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.

I have tears writing this.......so proud of my boys for having an idea and implementing it.  Baseball is a huge part of our family.  We have family in Dube Bute.  It just makes sense they now can play the sport! They left all of the donated equipment with the PE teacher.  I pray this brings joy to them for years to come.

Kristin and Kurt got incredible footage, I imagine.  Can't wait to share.

I see a future baseball mission trip heading to Dube Bute........anyone interested?????