The day started off pretty much as usual. However, I haven’t told you about Sasha’s (Craig Loper’s Israeli brother) special coffee that I have had each morning. It is some type of Iranian coffee with cardamom – it is really tasty coffee until the last few sips, and you see this ugly, thick motor oil looking stuff in the bottom of your cup. Sasha says it is good for the heart – I am not so sure about its nutritional value, but trust me, you do not want to argue with this guy!
The craziest thing happened this morning in baseball. Obviously, we continued to struggle with baseball terms, but something just as funny happened. Our leader wanted each group to recite in English (we are trying to help them learn more English words) what he termed “the baseball prayer” before they could bat (they love to bat and will do most anything to have a chance to hit). The baseball prayer goes like this, “Thank you God for baseball. Help me to play in a way that will bring glory to You.” It is a simple prayer that we thought would help the kids speak some English. So, our first group of boys came in at 9:30 a.m., full of excitement, and we got them together at the first of our session so that our leader could explain what we would be doing during the session. He lined up someone to translate, and he said, “Today, we are going to do something different. Before you can bat you will have to say, in English, ‘the baseball prayer’.” And in unison, the 12 boys said out loud, “DA BASBOL PRAYER”. It was hilarious, all of the Abilenians standing around just busted out in laughter.
Our experience, here at camp, continues to be a blessing – to me and my family, to our team of true servants, and to the Israeli kids. We are seeing God work in many ways. The results of what we are doing for these kids will, most likely, not be felt or seen for many years, but hopefully, we are planting seeds that will grow and produce a harvest in the future. Please pray that a harvest of good fruit will be generated from our efforts here.