CU Men's Basketball Trip--DR Post #2

Here's another post from Wes Hudson about Thursday in the DR...love hearing the reports...Kyle Bradley from GO shared this with me about the team of guys so far...

It's an impressive group and easy to invest in. We're having a blast!

Here's the report from Santiago:

Hello from Santiago, DR coming from Wes Hudson. Today has been a great day to say the least! As Shane has told you in the last blog, we are doing construction and today we did just that. We started early once again with everyone waking up around 8 o’clock to eat breakfast. This morning we had eggs, sausage, and PB & J, again another delicious meal the hard working cooks have been spoiling us with. Man do they know how to cook! After breakfast we met back up around 8:40am to talk about the second part of the mission statement that GO ministries has. Today it was about redemption, restoring, and renewing. Kyle our main leader had a great talk about these three topics and how important they are not only in the ministry but also in everyday life for everyone! After the talk we were off to another hard day of work. When I mean work this is hard labor and a great way to understand really the difference between hard labor here and in the United States. We worked for a good 2 ½ hours today. During that time we accomplished many things like trenches finishing the cemented walls and continued working on the cistern that was started yesterday. The cistern is going well and being dug semi quickly! Good thing we have so many hard working Dominicans, teammates, and coaches! During our hours of working I have noticed that our team gets extremely tired in this heat and hard labor but then I look and notice the people that do this way more than we do! The main construction guys are Luis and Felix. They are constantly working and never taking any breaks and it makes me really appreciate how many things that I truly have been blessed with.

When we got done working we headed back for a fantastic lunch cooked by our famous cooks. Again supplying us with great food. Today for lunch we had chicken, rice with beans, plantains and bread and butter. It was delicious! After lunch Luis shared his testimony. This testimony truly spoke a lot to me during this time. He had gone through so much and has gotten so far since he has turned to Christ! He is a very awesome person even though he won’t agree with that because he is one of the most humble people I have ever met!

Now that we were done with lunch we got a quick little cat nap and then headed off to Los Perez to play with some local kids. This was a great experience! Right when we arrived you could see the excitement on their faces and how much they loved seeing us to come acknowledge them. This was definitely changing just by seeing them being loved by others and being played with. This was a lot of fun! We played basketball, held the kids and swung them in circles, and watched the young phenomenal kids play baseball. Wow did they love to sit on our shoulders! This was a nonstop thing throughout the hour we were there. It was great!

After the hanging and playing with the kids we went back to the dorms to take another nap before dinner. After the naps we had a great dinner that consisted of mashed potatoes and fried cheese. This as well as the other meals were awesome! After dinner we had to gear up for one of the best experiences and toughest teams we have played and definitely the best we will!

Gametime! We rode our bus to the Santiago Metros stadium to play against the Dominican Republic National team. As we arrived the metros were still going through practice, so we sat and watched a little bit. After their practice we finally got to suit up and get on the floor. As we got on the floor we continued to look smaller and smaller as their players walked out on the floor. It started at 6’3” then 6’5” then 6’8” then to 6’10” and yes I’m going to say it 7’1”! We looked at them and just said oh well we have to figure how to play against. Then we started layup lines and man, I think they may have springs in the floor because everyone was getting up and throwing it down! Then the buzzer sounded and it was time to play! The game started out great for us! We got off to a quick start with a nice alley-oop from Alex Lyle to Ben Lanning!! We thought we were in good hands and got a quick lead and our biggest 11-7. Boy did that end quick! They went on a 14-6 run to end the quarter to finish 24-17. We were still in good hands and had a lot of confidence then the second quarter came along and our legs started wearing out and the work we did previously in the day took a toll on us and couldn’t buy a basket. We ended the half down 20. The second half started a little rough but hung with them for the most part and then they just blitzed us in the fourth. After the game we met up with the guys and they were very classy and humbled themselves so well! They were so nice to all of us and thanked us for playing! Can you believed that thanked us?! One of the highlights of the night was the dance routine they had at center court, which they included us in as well. They start off with a beat and then everyone gets a chance to get in the middle and do a little dance. Of course I was selected along with Mike, Travis and Coach E. The best dancer of the night goes to Coach E for sure!! He has some moves!

           

After the talking we rode back home to shower and again we get spoiled with another meal of tacos. The tacos were great!

Everyone is enjoying this great experience! We all need to take some time to look back and really think about how blessed we truly are and how many great people our in our lives. Being here has changed so many views on life and has really made me look at how special life is and the smallest impact that we can have on anyone! God bless!

Wes Hudson, Senior, Class of 2014