Introduction : 8/11/11
“When my buddy Jake and I started Holyfires Ministries about five years ago, I told Jake that he was in charge of all foreign ministries (I was only half way joking at the time). However, the Lord has really laid foreign missions on my heart as of the last year or so, and I have been wanting to be obedient to His leading and go if He opened the door for me to do so…Through my old junior college coach (and by old I mean in the past, I don’t think your old Mac, haha) an opportunity presented itself. My old coach was putting together a baseball missionary team for four or five people to go to the Dominican Republic and share Christ through the game of baseball (baseball being the tool used to build relationships, and that platform allowing us to share Christ with the players we coached)…When approached about going I felt led to jump at the opportunity to do so…The following journal entries are just a few small snap shots of the week I spent serving the Lord there…

Journal Entry #1 :  7/23/11
(on the plane,…writing…hoping the turbulence chills…en route to Miami, FL from Dallas, TX) “I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store. I’m humbled by the thought that the Lord has allowed and entrusted me to go and take the gospel, and to be even a tiny part in His plan of redeeming a people for Himself. My Bible study this AM (5:00 am I might add…could have used a much later departure flight) was titled the King’s Assignment. It was out of Matt. 28:19-20 which talks about going and making disciples…I think of the apostle Paul, and all those before and who will come after me. To be walking in the footsteps of these giants of the faith is a humbling honor to say the least (however, not exactly taking the gospel like Paul as he floated across turbulent sea’s in a little bitty boat, and I’m calmly zipping over the ocean in the comfort of this plane). I pray that the Lord prepares my heart, and give me wisdom and strength to be a good vessel in doing His mighty work…(the Lord has place us right here, right now. Represent)…God using me, this once such a wretch, to go and proclaim the gospel in other countries…wow…AMAZING GRACE…

Journal Entry #2 : 7/23/11
(arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at the “missionary apartment” at about 3:30 in the AM…and in case you read right over it, I woke up at 5:00 AM!!!! Wow is this a different place than my place at Lake Point Dr. in the metroplex) “Met up with the Coleman’s at the airport, crammed everything and everyone in a van, and drove no holds bar to the apartment where we were staying the first night…B-Lo (Bryant, one of my players I coached at UT Arlington that I was able to bring on the trip) took an ice cold shower when we got to the missionary apartment, after hearing him talk about it I opted just to go to bed. Nearing being up for 24 straight hours. Time to try and get some sleep…

Journal Entry #3 : Day 2-(10:30 AM)
“Freeeeeeeeeeezing cold shower number one down! I think I still have some of the soap on me as I gave up trying to wash it all off in the frigid shower conditions. Waiting for our 3 hour bus ride to Ocoa, which is up in the mountains. We will be staying there for 4 days. Going to get my first glimpse of the Dominican in the daylight.

Journal Entry #4 : Day 2-(9:45 PM; at the Hotel del Banco, I think that’s the name, in Ocoa)
“The drive to Ocoa blew me away. I wish I had a better vocabulary so I could articulate how I felt on the drive better. The things I saw I had only heard about, and they were all too real when driving through those scenes…it’s about 75 degrees here, which is a nice change from the 115 degree heat that I left in Dallas, TX…Had a dinner tonight with the team in the hotel lobby, which consisted of some chairs and a table outside. Afterwards we went to a house church. The Column of Truth is what it was called. It was a single car garage. The people were very warm and welcoming. The gospel was brought in Spanish. Due to the crowd that gathered we could all not fit in the garage so some of us were in chairs outside. We (well they, as it was in Spanish and I didn’t know the song), were singing songs to the Lord. Led be one guy with clapping as his instrument, the song was being belted out. It then started raining on us out of nowhere, and the spotty electricity went out. The pastor turned on a battery-powered light, and people never hesitated and just belted out the song to the Lord even louder. People were getting wet, and it was hard to see, but yet all I could think was how beautiful a sound this must have been to out Lord and Savior. This genuine worship was truly beautiful!…laying it down for the night. No A/C, so I probably won’t sleep due to my creature comforts that I’m used to not being present. Breakfast at 8AM…Peace and Praise God…

Journal Entry #5 : Day 3
“Bout to have breakfast. I will be interested to see what’s on the menu. Has stopped raining for the time being, which is nice since it was going to be tough to conduct our baseball camps for the locals in the rain. I’m sure they would not have minded, but if this rain holds off it will definitely help. First baseball mission camp starts this morning at 9AM, and then the second will start around 2PM…The music is cranked and loud all over town already…lets roll…

Journal Entry #6 : Day 3-(10:00PM)
“I cannot begin to put today into words, and yet here I go giving it the ole college try…What a platform baseball coaching and speed training is here in the Dominican. After you show some of the Dominican ballplayers that you know what you’re talking about on the field (hold your opinions here, ha), you then have this instant relationship that seems to be built and you then have their complete ear to talk with them about Jesus Christ…We had two baseball mission camps today, and I spoke at both (as did several of the other mission team member). The Lord completely gave me what to say after the second camp. I often pray for myself to get out of the way, and please Lord speak through me but this one was just AWESOME! I ended up speaking the same words that the kids had heard a few hours ago from their coach in a devotional he led them in before we ever got there. Upon arriving we knew none of this, didn’t even know that their coach was a believer. After I spoke their coach got up and said that he didn’t think there were coincidences with God, and that hopefully they would now really listen to his and my message since they were basically the same just hours apart. I think it did hit home with some of the kids because of this. It was very encouraging seeing one of our brothers in Christ coaching, mentoring, and teaching Christ through the game of baseball just as we flew so many miles to help do…One of the Dominican coaches invited me and our team to his softball game that night at 7. We went, and saw many crazy things happen during the game. Things I actually had never seen on a playing field before. It was fun just sitting in the stand laughing and enjoying the game together with the rest of the mission team. The coach we went to see seemed appreciative that we showed up as well…After that we headed to Pastor Robert’s house church for 8PM worship. When I showed up Pastor Robert grabbed me and said lets take a walk. We went down some side streets and into some homes to talk with some kids about Christ. It was impressive to see Robert’s boldness for Christ, as I was a bit scared. My zeal for wanting to share Christ trumped that though. We specifically went and talked and prayed with this one man, and left him a Bible and some gospel tracts. We then went back to the church. I was asked to lead the church in a word that evening, and so I shared out of Matt. 7:24-27 on Building Your House on the Rock. In other words, that your foundation/life must be built on Christ and Christ alone; all else is sinking sand…I’m now back at the hotel. Completely exhausted, and yet ready to go some more all at the same time. Doesn’t make a lot of since I know, but it’s how I feel. Breakfast in the morning at 8AM…Praise God for all the amazing things that he allowed us to be a part of today…to Him be the glory…

Journal Entry #7 : Day 4
(it’s 10PM now as I’m writing this, and this bed is not getting more comfortable to my dismay) “Two more baseball mission camps today, and church at Pastor Robert’s house church from 8-10…too tired to write more at this time, and I must try and get some rest…hope I can remember all the amazing things that happened today…God is moving here in Ocoa!

Journal Entry #8 : Day 5-(1:45PM)
“Yesterday, Day 4, had a ton of happenings. Very receptive (to the Word of God that is) kids and coach’s at both baseball mission camps yesterday. I was able to share the gospel to a bunch of the players in the stand again after the morning camp, and other members on our baseball mission team shared as well…We were able to share after the afternoon camp as well. Again, what an amazing platform God has given us here. All glory to Him, now and forever…Following us sharing at the afternoon session, the Dominican coach’s got us together in a tight circle and thanked us for being there and prayed for us. It was a very thoughtful and sincere moment. I felt led to give one of the Dominican coach’s, who I may have previously mentioned I don’t remember, a few Bibles and a Holyfires T-Shirt. His name is Alberto, and he is all about sharing Christ, teaching, and mentoring through the game of baseball. He doesn’t have much, and still volunteers a bulk of his time to coach about 200 kids on various teams basically for free. He cried and fell into my arms out of appreciation. What was just a few little things from me, meant so much to him. Tearing up is not necessarily a bar for appreciation, but he was genuinely moved. It blew me away how just a little item or two could do this, but I think he was just more appreciative of the love that both brought us to Ocoa, and motivated us to share and spend time with them. This love I speak of is no credit to us, but it’s just the love of Christ oozing out of us. Christ loved us first, and this love in us we want to be marked by in relation to how we treat others…Had church again last night, our 7:30 meeting started about a hour late for the 4th straight night, haha. Another beautiful evening of worshiping our Lord together though…On another note, we had chicken’s feet in our dinner last night, and again for lunch today. It is becoming a staple at meal time. No bueno para me (my Spanish for this is no good for KJ’s diet). Other than that all is good. The mission team and I are just in need of strength, as we are all running out of gas…Said some goodbye’s to a few coach’s that we will not be seeing again on this trip. One of them, Chito, gave me his necklaus (however you spell that???), and said to please not forget him. I was moved by his kind gesture…Oh, and I made a Spanish speed training video today for a few coaches. Went pretty good actually despite the language barrier…Got our last camp in Ocoa today at 3:00, and church later tonight. We are then off to Bani early in the AM (pray for safe travels as driving over here is a little wild)…

Journal Entry #9 : Day 5-(6:00 PM)
“Just got back from a little mountain town about 10 miles from Ocoa called Sabana Largo. A wonderful place! Prettiest setting I may have ever seen a baseball field in, and some of the warmest people I have ever encountered as a whole. Tons of players showed up for the camp, and many locals just showed up to see what was going on and sat in the stands. Laughter seemed to permeate through the mountains in this place. The faces seemed to have perma-grins, and the joy they found in just some of the smallest things was a great lesson for me to take home and try and put into practice…I spoke after the camp to all the players and locals that had gathered in the stands…Vibrant response…you could just really feel the Lord moving! Brought this once non-crier to tears (although I had my had pulled down really low so I don’t think anyone noticed)…

Journal Entry #10 : Day 6
(in Bani, Dominican Republic…about and hour and a half south of where we were in Ocoa, which was up in the mountains. The weather here is warmer, and more tropical as it is on the coast. Bani is a much bigger city than Ocoa as well) “Had a safe trip in the mission van from Ocoa to Bani; beautiful scenery along the way…the vast beauty of this country is completely under the radar…Got to Bani, and hit the ground running. Went and did a camp about an hour from Bani. I cant remember the name of the city, and I couldn’t have been more last after all the small, windy roads we took to get there. There were a bunch of kids again when we showed up to the field. They were waiting for us under a group of shade trees. They seemed very eager to get to work with us. Once again, we were welcomed there with open arms by the people there. After the camp, some of the team members shared with the group under those same shade trees. Went afterwards and had an amazing lunch, and I was starving at the time so my opinion may be a bit skewed here…We are all running pretty low on fuel, but we know God will give us the strength to keep going…Actually did a softball camp in the afternoon. That was a bit of a surprise to us. Pastor Falcon set it up, and it ended up going great…This camp involved some very talented teenage softball players, horses, chickens, cows, and a bunch of locals that had gathered to just watch. Some funny stories, but will have to get into that another time…God once again opened the door for us to share the gospel with the team and those that gathered…Had dinner with the team and Pastor Falcon at a pizza joint tonight; seemed like a little slice of America…Hotel room actually has A/C!!!!!…………..However, it’s not working; what a tease…One more camp in the AM, and then off to Boca Chica for a little R & R before we fly back to the U.S. on Saturday…Goodnight.

Journal Entry #11 : Day 7 (Friday)
“God used our miscommunications and confusion for His good…There was confusion this AM between the pastor and the team we were supposed to have a camp with. Long story short, this communication actually led to us working with two different teams rather than just one. We split up and went to work. Coach Mac and I went with the older kids, and the rest stayed with the younger one’s. With this platform that God provided we were able to share Christ with twice as many people as originally thought…Camps are now over, and what a humbling experience it was to watch God work through them…We got back in our reliable, yet shaky van, and headed the 2 hours to Boca Chica…We as a team relaxed, ate, and laughed together on the beach for several hours just enjoying God’s creation and each other’s company. We departed ways after dinner to get some sleep, as the 3 AM wake-up call is fast approaching; 4 o’clock departure from hotel; 6:30 flight to Miami…

Journal Entry #12 : Day 8
(Back at home in Texas) “After a full and fun-filled day of flying, we are back in Texas…What an amazing week…God bless…

Final Thoughts :
“The journal was just a few snap shots of my time in the Dominican Republic. I wanted to share the thoughts not to somehow try and show something I did, but that when you are willing to let God use you He will do so. Christians, it is our joy to be able to serve our Lord and Savior. It is a blessing to be a part of God’s redemptive plan. We’ve only got one life to do it, so let’s throw off all that entangles and run the race marked before us.”

-Matt. 28:19-20= Go and therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of age.

-One last thing I promise, I just wanted to let yall know that I took some video blogs during the trip as well. It should be up on the website, www.holyfires.com , very soon. I will also try and attach 5 emails that one of our mission team leaders would send back to the people praying for us back home. These emails, although still just snap shots, will give you a more holistic picture of what we did with our time in the Dominican Republic.

Peace : KJ Hendricks

Phil. 1:21

www.holyfires.com

kj@holyfires.com