Our adventure begins…
…on a beautiful summer evening in 2016 as my wife and I were busily damaging our livers at a wonderful local Great Falls destination spot called the “Sip and Dip”. My wife checked the ever-present Facebook application on her phone and was alerted to a notification on the Billings customer service group page. The post was asking for Billings residents who would be interested in hosting a couple of baseball players. These particular players spoke very little English and had been living in a hotel for a month. Being well past “half in the bag”, I responded using poor Spanish in the affirmative.
I received a call at 8am the next morning from one of the family organizers asking when we would be available to pick the two young men up from the ballpark. It took a moment to realize what was going on peering through the fog of a slight hangover, but the previous night’s activities quickly rushed back to the fore. I was concerned that I would be allowing two young men into my home who I didn’t know and immediately tried to weasel my way out of the commitment. Apparently this must be fairly common because she had a quick response – “why don’t you come to the park tonight and watch the game. If you meet the guys and don’t feel comfortable, you can go home empty handed.” I thought that was a reasonable request and agreed.
Once we met Gabriel Ovalle and Alfredo Mena, we were instantly at ease. These were two polite, kind and very respectful young men. We fell in love with them both, and still consider them both to be inseparable parts our family. I am so blessed to have all these guys in my life, but without the heart of the first two the rest would never have been known. I hope the players we have hosted since, and those we will continue to house in the future, realize how the barbecues in the backyard and late night pollo guisado feasts are all due to those two gentlemen.