Support Letters

I have sent out about half of my support letters. The easiest way to become a supporter and partner with me and G.O. Ministries in Santiago is to follow the link on the right hand side of my blog. It is very clear how to become a financial supporter!

Trip to DR

As many of you know, I was able to return to the DR from November 12-22. Although I was only away for 3 months...it felt like 3 years! It seemed that so much had changed, especially in Constanza, but the relationships and friendships I had developed over the past few years picked up right where they left off.

It was such a blessing to spend my 2nd year at SCORE's annual Men's Coaches Conference in the Capital. It was amazing to be surrounded by so man Christian men who are also passionate about the game of baseball. I was able to make some strong friendships and make some cool relationships for my future in Santiago.

With Will Thompson and Brian Kolb for the week.

 

 

Fun spending some time with Chris Burke and Andy Pettite

Me and Kolb dominated the hitting station all week

Speaking to the SF Giants DR team the last night

Great to get to know Mike Shaheen from FCA-DR. Great man.

Me and Kolb got to visit the kids we sponsor at the orphanage in La Romana

Me and Kenny Dickerson visiting Soriano's care center. Great book by Trot Nixon's Wife.  Fruits of the spirit in Baseball (in Spanish!)

Will Thompson and I were able to continue the trip for a few days after the conference. We went to Jarabacoa and Constanza to visit where I had lived the past few years and to see friends. It was fun for Will to experience a very different area of the DR, and fun for me to see everyone again. It was exactly what I needed!

My little friends at Chucho and Alida's house

Love my little Dominican niece!

Had a great time at a Pro baseball game in Santiago

Good friends Chucho and Paul Cooper

Mi hermano Yovanny - fun to spend most of my time in Jarabacoa with him

Eduardo showing off his gift from Constanza legend Jota Jota

Eneury with gifts from the Ochs'

Me and Joanny

Juliana with her gifts from the Ochs'

Our time in Constanza was special because we were able to see all the exciting stuff going on at the Ark and at the Care Center. Fred and Kasandra have done an incredible job so far as the new Constanza missionaries and it is fun to see them in action. Will and I were also able to go to the Baseball field in Constanza and do a little clinic and share the gospel with the kids there.

For some reason I ALWAYS see these 2 girls here whenever I come to this field. We were only gonna be there for a short time this trip, but in the back of my mind I was praying that I would run into them and sure enough they came running up right in the middle of Will's gospel presentation!

Cool relationship with this team, will be coming back in the future for sure.

God really opened a lot of doors and connected me with the right people during this trip. I am more excited than ever for what God is doing in the DR and how sports can be a huge avenue to reach kids for Christ!

Starting up support raising!

I am (finally) moving forward and taking the next step towards moving down to Santiago! I am putting everything together to officially send out my support letter and brochure.

2 things:
If you are ready to send a check or start monthly support you can send it to:

G.O. Ministries 
11501 plantside dr suite 14. Louisville ky 40299
Put Kyle Bradley in the memo

Also, if you would like your email and address to go on my support database so you get the support info please let me know. I have a lot of people on there but If you haven't received an email from me in the past few months you're probably not on there!

Thank you all so much for your support and love and encouragement. It means a ton to me

Kyle

Introducing G.O. Ministries

Friends and Family,

I am so excited to announce that I will be officially joining G.O. Ministries (GO) and returning to the DR as a full-time Missionary in June of 2012!  It has been my dream and passion to become fully involved in Sports Ministry in the DR, and specifically establishing a Christian Sports Complex. GO has been such an incredible answer to prayer confirming my next step and a testament to God’s perfect timing.  I was praying for wisdom, clarity and a feeling of peace while seeking a ministry partner, and that is exactly what I received before/during/after my visit to G.O. Ministries US headquarters in Louisville.

I am so grateful for my time in Constanza with Kids Alive International (KAI). I learned many valuable lessons and made life-long friendships. God blessed me in those 2 years, clearly preparing me for future work with Dominicans. I am excited to continue those established KAI relationships serving on the island.

I am humbled to see how God introduced me to GO and to see His hand guiding the whole process. I am excited to continue learning more about G.O. Ministries. As I take this step forward in faith, I want to share with you a little bit more about GO and the direction that God is taking this ministry!

GO has been in the DR for over 15 years and is committed to Sports Ministry. In addition to their work in Sports, they also serve their communities through church planting, nutrition centers, medical clinics, primary schools, ongoing training, water purification projects and kingdom businesses. GO is currently ministering in 3 different areas in the DR, as well as 5 other countries around the world. My main focus will be in Santiago, which is the 2^nd largest city in the DR, 2 hours away from my former site in Constanza.

I truly believe that the key to transforming lives and communities is through partnerships with national leaders and I appreciate GO’s commitment to this model.  GO’s mission statement states very clearly what they are about,; “G.O. Ministries seeks to empower passionate, Local Leaders serving inside their cultures to Redeem people, Renew communities and Restore Creation by developing dynamic International Partnerships in Ministry that result in mutual transformation.”

I am excited that GO shares my passion in emphasizing small group discipleship. I can’t wait to really pour in to the lives of young men in the DR and fully invest in helping them become the leaders, examples, athletes and MEN that God calls them to be.

GO is currently preparing to launch their “Leadership Development Complex,” which is their collective plan to bring their ministry to the next level in the DR.  GO does an excellent job of laying out their vision on their website. Please visit http://www.go-ministries.org/projects/leadership-development-complex

This Leadership Development Complex will be a main part of my role with GO and I am excited to help see these plans become a reality. I feel strongly that this is an incredible way to reach the youth in Santiago and will open many doors to continue transforming this community and the sports world in the DR! Short term teams come serve alongside nationals to help with ongoing projects, as well as build powerful, long lasting relationships between the two cultures.

I am currently preparing to start my support-raising in order to move down to Santiago in June. I will send a more complete report through the mail.  If your address has changed in the past 2 years, please let me know. (Also let me know if you receive this email at multiple email addresses).

I covet your prayers during this time of preparation and would love to hear from you with words of encouragement or questions about my future plans with GO.   Feel free to call or email me at any time.

In Him,    Kyle Bradley                                    630.220.5953                                            KyleBradley23@gmail.com

Ernest Shackleford

I am always so encouraged when I have the chance to worship at Glen Ellyn Bible Church during my visits to Wheaton. This Sunday, Pastor Kelly Brady, shared a tremendous parallel to how we need to be ready for Christ's 2nd coming.

Right before WWI, Ernest Shackleford was attempting to pass Antarctica from one coast to the other through the South pole. Long story short, they faced incredible weather and ice and their entire ship went under after 10 months of drifting in the ocean. They floated and survived for another 5 months before making it to Elephant Island. After 497 days they were finally on land again.

Shackleford realized that there was no hope for them to be rescued on Elephant Island, so he took off with 5 other men, leaving 22 behind. They survived a 17 day, 800 mile trek through treacherous waters. 21 months after the initial departure, Shackleford's full crew of 28 was saved.

I had heard this story dozens of times from my Grandfather, due to the incredible leadership and perseverance shown by Shackleford, but Pastor Brady shed a new light. When Shackleford returned to Elephant Island, he found his crew waiting patiently fully packed and ready to go. Every day they waited fully prepared, and every night after another day of waiting they unpacked everything they had and set up camp for the night. After months and months of this routine, they never wavered. What a great testament to how we need to prepare ourselves every single second for the return of Christ. What an eternal shame if we were to be caught unprepared.

(sorry if i messed up any details of this story!)

Life in the US

I forgot to steal pictures from Kiawah for the blog..so here they are! Such a fun trip and great to see almost all of our family (missed Chris and Kirk)

Tubby McWaddlesalot wasn't too excited for this picture, but it was fun bonding with him and Hendo.

Fun night hunting for night crab's with Eric and Henry. The moon was SWEET the pictures don't do it justice.

Henry looking sharp in his NC Wesleyan jersey!

2 of my favorites. Yovanny and Jazzmine, spent a lot of time with them my last few weeks in the DR

My little Dominican Niece, Ali.

Spending time in Wheaton with the Cabin Time crew. Figure I should include this since Schletz is one of my most loyal readers.

Fun road trip with my parents (yup!) from Wheaton to Kiawah to Rocky Mount. Very thankful for them doing that with my to get my car down there. It was fun to have them in Rocky Mount to get an idea of where I'll be for a while.

Pretty eventful first week with an Earthquake, Hurricane and Tornado. 35 trees fell on our campus and obviously the only 2 that landed on anything fell on our bullpen and fencing! Insurance covered it though so its all good and will end up probably looking better than before.

I hate big scary colorful spiders. Unfortunately they are everywhere around our field since we are right next to a little mini forest.

Baseball coach?

Amazing whirlwind trip to Tallahassee for FSU-OU game. Great time with family and friends. Very thankful for my authentic FSU family hosts the Kelloggs!

My long lost little buddy from Caroline and Kirk's wedding.

Blurry picture....sweet tradition

The VIP crew for the weekend @crbourne and @benkuenzle #noles #noregretsweekend #didthatjusthappen?

My new home.

A lot harder to take pictures of the field than I anticipated. Very beautiful field and I have/will be spending lots of time there!

Barrio Flores and Barrio Cercado Abajo Outreaches

One of my favorite pictures I've taken since living here. Her role was to help the little kids color, but she took it one step further and got out the bible and read to the calm kids while they were coloring. The kids really stepped up and did a great job.

The kids lining up to have their evangelism bracelets tied on by the Ark kids.

In Barrio Flores coloring with the kids. They kept coming and we had about 200 by the end.

It was a challenge trying to do a bible story with all these kids!

These are 3 sisters that I got to know in January and hadn't seen since. I went to their house to see if they could come to the outreach and they weren't there. About 5 minutes later I saw them running towards me down the street with huge smiles! I was glad they hadn't forgotten me.

Kids working hard on their evangelism bracelets and cards for the kids.

The kids at the Ark have all come from incredible situations and extreme poverty. Some of them have been living here for 5 years and it can sometimes be hard for them to remember that they have some incredible blessings in their life that can be taken for granted. They have food, attend a private school, have birthday parties, have beds/clothes/shelter, and loving house-parents. On the other side of the walls the kids have next to nothing.

The 6 week summer interns and I all had the same reflection when talking about the kids in the Ark. We decided to do something about it and started teaching the older kids how to lead VBS for kids in the community. The kids may fight and get mad about little things sometimes at the Ark, but they all really stepped up and did a great job. There were more kids than we expected but the Ark kids had a great attitude. I think they really learned more about the blessings they have and about serving others that aren't as fortunate as them.

Glen Ellyn Bible Church

I know I have been slacking on my blog lately. Lots is happening here, and I've been extremely busy. I'm starting to realize that I will be busy pretty much up until the day I leave (August 1).

I figured I could cheat this week and post a link to Glen Ellyn Bible Church's ongoing blog for the week! This is a special church for me as they are my sending and supporting church.

http://gebcindr.blogspot.com/

Math Question

Ok this question was argued to death with a few members in the group that I was with in Haiti. If there is anyone smart out there that actually reads my blog please comment and let me know!

 Ok so when you divide 1 by 1/2 you get 2, and the smaller the fraction you divide by the larger the answer. I.e. 1 / 1/4 = 4 ; 1 / 1/8 = 8 ; etc. So as you approach zero with the fraction the number gets infinitely larger. But what happens when you actually divide by zero?

The group was generally divided into 2 thoughts
1. My thought is that since you multiply by the reciprocal of the fraction 0 / 0 then you get zero.
2. The other argument is that it doesn't make sense that as you approach zero the number is getting infinitely bigger, but then all of a sudden when you reach zero it goes all the way back to zero?

It is confusing to try and type it out but hopefully somebody out there understands and can help me out!

Picture Day!

Today I started an adventure of taking pictures of each child and class. This is for 2 purposes: 1. Is to have options of pictures to put in the kids progress reports that we send out to their sponsors June 1 (yeah right...hopefully july 1!) and 2. I am trying to put together a database of each child's name and picture that I can leave with the next missionaries.

Not a ton to say I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Remember all of these kids are in our ministry and if you want to sponsor one for $35 a month please let me know!