Germany - Baseball Camp and a few thoughts...

1. Nothing motivates a pastor more than to see the church of Christ effectively fulfilling its purpose on earth. It has been a none-stop experience of excitement and challenges from the moment I knew I was coming over to Germany. I'm a privilege pastor, God has been merciful to me and my family by placing us in a church with men and women eager and ready to serve, to go, to give and to join the movement of the Nazarene beyond the confines of comfort, meism and self-centerdness. I will be forever grateful I call FBC Pharr our tribe family.

2. Spending time with Elder-Pastor Robert Riesen and his beautiful family has been an encouragement and a spiritual blood-transfusion for my soul and spirit. I love this man, his family and the work they do in the city of Detmold, Germany through the local church.

3. I got to experience our first day of Baseball camp today. Germans are competitive by nature, intelligent by design and learners by choice. Definitely values that I personally treasure. I could definitely do life until Jesus' return with these fellows. Great country, amazing people.

4. As expected, one of my favorite sections of baseball camp is "team-time". Translation, devotional and Bible time. Monday's word was "focus", the importance of avoiding, at all cost, distractions, interruptions with the purpose to build intentionality and aggressiveness towards the goal. I saw the fire in the eyes of everyone of our team members. A desire to express and experience the art of sports through baseball, yet the fear to fail and missing on the opportunity that these "Americans" bring to their backyard. Although I haven't even learned one single German word, yet, their passion and aggressiveness goes beyond language and cultural differences.

5. I got a chance to walk down-town Detmold today after having a great conversation with two German camp leaders about our current process to make disciples and the impact this week has in both of our churches as we grow and walk in Christ-likeness.

6. I'm getting to spend time with our FBC Pharr team everyday. It is interesting to see our folks interact and react to sports competition. People look different on the baseball field than weekly Sunday morning worship experiences. Lots to learn, much to digest.

7. Although I'm still limited on my vision due to my right eye retina, I'm so very fired up about preaching and teaching the word every single morning to my Orioles team. I cannot wait to speak during our evening services on Wednesday night at 7 pm and Sunday morning at 10 am during our host church's worship gathering. Join me in prayer as we continue to make Jesus famous in Central Europe.

8. I miss my family, I miss my church and I miss my bed. God is good, really good.

Vidal

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