This past December, 1and1 made their second trip to Nicaragua. Being able to see the work done over the past year was absolutely incredible. We never could have dreamed the work in Nicaragua could be where it is today. After leveling the baseball field and supplying the entire team with gloves and equipment, we recently purchased bases to lay out the baseball diamond. Not only does the school practice and play on the field regularly, but it has already become a place where people from around the community come and play.

Within the past year, the school has put together their own team and they compete with other teams from around the region. There are even five boys who were selected to play for Esteli’s state team in their upcoming “Little League World Series”. When we first arrived, we learned one of the boy’s father had mainly coached them, but on our last day another man named Nolan arrived. Nolan, a professional Nicaraguan baseball player, lives in Condega and has been volunteering his time whenever he is not playing. Nolan has since retired from baseball due to a shoulder injury and to spend more time with his young family.

On our team, we had a turf grass expert who was able to give us invaluable information about how to get quality turf on the field. Our plan for the upcoming year is to build a backstop and fence around the field, continue working on turf grass management, and putting a bilingual bible in every student’s hand. Although these are some major tasks, with the continued support and prayers we have received we anticipate even greater growth for the next year. There is no way for us to understand the impact we have made in the lives of many young people and with your prayers and donations we can continue our mission of Developing Disciples Through Athletics.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the constant love and support you have shown me in pursing what The Lord is leading me to do. It is imperative to have the support of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This week I would like to share with you more of the background behind this ministry and its vision.

For those of you who don’t know, a 1 and 1 count in baseball is a turning point in an at bat. The next pitch will put the count in either the pitcher or the hitter’s favor. I figured this would be one of the best ways to relate the game to life. I know we’ve all had those times in our life when we’ve been in this position. Almost every single one of us faces this situation on a daily occurrence. When this count comes up during a game, the hitter has no idea what the pitcher could possibly throw because he may either throw a fastball or change it up and drop in an off speed pitch. Either way, the hitter has to be prepared and react to whatever comes his way.

I feel everyone can relate to this, as sometimes we just never know what life is going to throw our way and we start guessing “pitches”. Guessing gets us absolutely nowhere because more often than not we guess wrong and make ourselves look like fools. As a hitter you have to sit back, see the pitch out of the pitcher’s hand and trust your hands to react to whatever comes your way. The Lord tells us to basically do the same thing when we come to a decisive point in life: slow things down and don’t stress out, be prepared for all situations and ultimately pray and put our faith and trust in him.

The purpose of 1and1 is to help young men during these trying times in their life and give them a support group that is there to help lead them through any situation. Already in Nicaragua we have identified particular community leaders and pastors to minister and lead our young men. Most of these men have a past in baseball and know the game, therefore not only do they serve as mentors on the field, but also off.

An update from Nicaragua: the school has received their gloves and we are in the process of finishing up their uniforms. I have contacted a few of my friends and other contacts and we should have designs for the backstop and dugouts soon. We are looking for donations of wood bats and other supplies to finish out fitting their baseball program. If you feel lead to give, you now can! You can send a check to First Baptist Church-Paragould, AR and designate it to the Nicaragua fund. The address is 120 N 3rd St, Paragould, AR 72450.

As we go through this week, please pray for The Lord to continue to bless this ministry and build up Christian men. I want to encourage you to pray and see how The Lord will use you to be an encouragement for the people around you, because sometimes all it takes is a smile to change someone’s day. Psalm 91:14-16– “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Wow, what an amazing year it has been in my life. A year full of The Lord opening doors and closing others; at the time it is so hard for us to comprehend why God would put us through these hard times. Although when we get through the trials, we always grow and become a stronger individual. I ask as you read this, you would understand and pray for what The Lord is doing through me and also through you. I hope 1and1 Ministries will touch you in some way to challenge yourself to go out, serve and use your talents to bless our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

About 6 years ago my home church, First Baptist Church-Paragould, put together a mission team to go to Nicaragua. My father and I were apart of the team. I was only 14 years old, but my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to see another apart of the world and experience something life changing. As always, parents are ALWAYS right. The week I spent in Nicaragua is what really jumped started my Christian walk. I was saved when I was 9 years old, and like most 9 year olds I didn’t fully know what it meant. Then 5 years later when I led a group of teenagers to Christ and saw extreme poverty that’s when everything clicked for me and I have been on fire for The Lord ever since. Now that doesn’t mean I have stumbled along the way or am perfect either, the mission trip made me realize the bigger picture and helped me see how to fully live for Christ. At the time, Nicaragua was the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, only behind Haiti. Poverty was widespread across the country; one could see it everywhere they went. The ironic part was, even the people living in the city dump had a smile on their face. They were grateful for every single thing they had and unlike us, never took anything for granted.

Throughout the years after the mission trip, my Dad and I talked about going back to Nicaragua, but just never could find the time. Then God stepped in. This past summer, the Razorback baseball team sent me to Dallas, Texas to play in the Texas Collegiate League. Within my first few weeks of being in Dallas, I was scrolling through my timeline and noticed one of the translators from my Nicaragua mission trip was in Dallas at a Pastor’s conference. I couldn’t believe Melvin was actually only a few miles from me. I immediately contacted him through Facebook, hoping he would remember who I was although we had barely spoken in 6 years. Melvin replied and invited me to come to lunch with him during his conference. I went and was immediately touched. Melvin was in a program put on by Dr. Ramesh Richard called “The Global Proclamation Academy.” This program is one of the many Dr. Richard puts on to reach his life’s mission, “Reaching 1 million individuals.” Notice how he says individuals; the way he used this word spoke to me, because often times I feel we go on Mission and just want to see how many numbers we can tally in the saved column, rather than making sure those people grow and are ready to go and equip more believers.

During our lunch Melvin and I had a great time of catching up and I started joking with him about the World Cup and how I’m sure everyone in Nicaragua is always watching it. Melvin proceeded to explain that soccer really isn’t big in Nicaragua; he said it’s starting to pick up popularity because it’s cheap and easy to play, but if given the choice any Nicaraguan would rather watch/play baseball. Then he went on to tell me about how there is a school in Condega, about 30 miles from where he lives, looking to start a baseball team. I immediately became interested and told him I wanted to come down and take a look into helping them out.

I told my Dad everything Melvin and I had talked about, so we made arrangements to go to Nicaragua this past Christmas break. We made plans with Melvin and he got everything straightened out. Our trip was 5 days long, which was the perfect length. While we were there, we met with Community leaders of Estelí and figured out just what the people needed. When we went to the school in Condega, I was absolutely shocked. These kids were playing baseball in a pasture that had rocks and grass up to your shins, but they definitely didn’t play like it. These kids had skills that most kids in the states could only wish to have. One thing that stuck out the most to me was during warm-ups not a single ball was missed or thrown away and some of these kids were even 8 years old!

After we played a game with them, I taught them a few things that would improve their game, then over lunch we met with the Principal and discussed what needed to be done. This school was established by an European Atheists group, who dropped their funding when the school decided to incorporated Christ into their name. The principal starting working jobs on to simply provide food for the children and pay the teachers. I believe this school is one of the best in Nicaragua, although it is small, the principal helps prepare the older students to take standardized tests to go to University and she also has starting teaching English in the school. She told us she wanted to start a baseball program so she could keep young men engaged and off the streets. We went over with her what needed to be done to get the program started: first the field needed to be leveled, second the kids needed gloves and finally they needed uniforms. Within Condega there was a man, would make the gloves by hand and also put together catching gear, then in Estelí we found a uniform maker.

After our trip, Dad and I set out to raising funds. We knew this would be the most awkward task of all, but The Lord provided. We did a mission report with our home church and because of their gracious giving we were able to raise enough money to buy equipment, uniforms, and level the field. We told Melvin about what God had done at our church and he said that was great, but another man already gave the money to level the field. We used the money given to us, to buy the uniforms, gloves, and since the field was already taken care of, we have decided to put the money towards a backstop and fence.

The Lord is doing amazing work with 1and1 Ministries; we all can see it working. The mission of 1and1 is develop the community, and also use baseball as a tool to minister to young men to build them to be Christian Leaders in their community. Although we are only in Nicaragua now, this ministry will explode throughout Latin and South America; due to contacts given to me by Dr. Ramesh Richard’s GPA program. I ask you to help 1and1 whatever way you can; serve if you can serve, give monetarily if you feel lead, but most importantly pray for The Lord’s blessing on 1and1. Thank you for reading and may The Lord bless you. —Hebrews 12:1-2.