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DAY 3
Our day began with a morning drive into the city of Santo Domingo to play the club team of San Carlos. The venue is where our women played on their first day, and I can tell you a 10:00 a.m. game is preferred over the late afternoon game.
 
Traffic hasn't quite picked up in the city and the temperatures of the open air gym's haven't reached their afternoon peak. The veteran guys got a rest from starting, so we started four freshman and Michael McGuirk. It was Mike's first game back since his season-ending injury last year and it was great to see him back on the court. He influenced the game early with some great finishes at the rim and showed leadership for our team.
 
At the end of the day, we had a convincing win with a lot of guys contributing. Freshman Makhi McGuire finished 6-for-9 from the 3, freshman big Noal Boler finished with a double-double, and freshman Beyuan Hendricks finished with eight assists and one turnover. All in all a productive day from our young guys.
 
During the afternoon we visited a sugarcane village about 35 minutes from Juan Dolio. Most villages have their own schools and churches, and their local pastor arranges for food to be delivered through SCORE International. We had the chance to visit with the villagers, meet the kids, hand out bags of food, and pray with the families receiving the food. 
 
To put things in perspective, a $15 bag of food will feed a small family for a week. Duke Evans purchased some candy from the village store and handed it out to the kids, as well as some diapers for a mom and child. After a couple hours at the village, we returned to the hotel for dinner and spent some time at the end of the night with our juniors sharing "their stories" and our highs and lows. It was a full day!
 
 
DAY 4
Day 4 began with our team visiting the Pasitos de Jesus home for girls. This outreach was by far one of our favorites. The girls were full of energy and it didn't take long before we were all in a circle clapping and dancing. We played some volleyball and had the chance to see the girls perform some dances for our team.
 
 Little Elizabeth, all dressed in a pink ballerina dress, stole Coach Smith's heart and seemed to love looking at pictures of his kids on his phone. She also laughed when she found out his name was "Bubba."
 
We had the chance to buy some bracelets for $5 that went to help support the home. They had bracelets laying on pictures of each girl at the home, and we pitched in enough money to buy all the bracelets they had. It made their day and they were sad to see us leave. It was a highlight of our trip so far.
 
We returned for lunch before heading out for a 4:30 p.m. game against the club of Villa Duarte.  The power was off in this facility and it didn't come on until the start of the fourth quarter.  Apparently in the city, the power comes on and goes off as it sees fit.
 
When I say it was hot, it was hot. When the local missionaries say it's hot, you know it's a hot. Our team played well and got out to a quick lead. We had a convincing win and the opposing coach praised our team after the game. He said we were the best team they have faced all summer.

We finished the evening with our host missionary Felipe sharing the gospel with the team and taking a group picture. We had dinner at the hotel, along with more players sharing "their stories" and our highs and lows from the day. The trip is flying by and it's hard to believe we only have one more game remaining! Stay tuned for updates on Day 5 and 6.