Lady Bears leave softball field for the mission field over Christmas break
When the Baylor softball team opens the 2016 season next month, they’ll do so a very different team than last year — and not just because of graduation and newcomers. Head coach Glenn Moore’s squad spent Christmas break sharing their game and the Gospel in Ghana, and what took place there was life-changing for everyone involved.
The Lady Bears spent 11 days over the break in the West African nation, running softball clinics and ministering to more than 300 children in the city of Obuasi. Thanks to some help from Baylor Missions, the softball team was connected with Vincent Asamoah, MDiv ’08, a Baylor seminary grad with his own incredible story to tell, who served as a host for the team and a connection point to children, coaches and leaders there.
More than 300 children came to the team clinics to learn softball for the first time, and the Lady Bears said the local kids quickly took to the game. After the games, the Baylor students shared the Gospel through a series of daily lessons with the children, and more than 100 children accepted Christ.
While there, the team was introduced to the leader of 87 Ghanian villages, Chief Nana, with whom Asamoah had discussed his hopes of being granted an acre of land to build a community recreational center and church. Chief Nana initially had asked for $4,000 for the acre of land, but after visiting with the team and seeing the impact they had in Obuasi, he gave Asamoah the land for free — and not just the one acre he’d asked for, but seven acres to develop for ministry. It was a moving moment in a trip that had already had its share of life-changing events.
“A big part of us fell in love with Ghana and the open-hearted people here,” says sophomore shortstop Caitlin Charlton, a biology major from Florida. “And despite the poverty and seemingly stricken world these people are living in, the joy and happiness they have in simplicity is something I wish I had. I came there thinking I was here to fix the broken, when really I found myself to be more broken than them in ways I had never noticed.”
Baylor softball players and staff were just a few of the hundreds of students each year who see firsthand how their unique calling can be used in the mission field. The generosity of the Baylor family helped support the softball team’s trip, and makes trips for other students possible, as well. A gift to Baylor Missions not only helps make a mission trip for a Baylor student possible, but can make a lasting difference in far-flung places like Obuasi, Ghana, and all over the globe.
Sic ’em, Lady Bears and Baylor Missions!
[Read more players’ accounts and see photos of the trip on the team’s Ghana Mission Blog and the @BaylorSoftball Instagram account.]