Learning His Stories

At the beginning of this year, we talked with the Deaf and asked them about learning His stories and why it was so hard for them to remember them. Before they had used pictures in a chronological method but many were having a hard time repeating the stories or helping others remember the signiicance of the pictures so we wanted to try something new. Some said they wanted to learn the stories but use one positive and one negative story for each verse so that they could better understand the application of the truths. So we are using a new method to help the Deaf learn His stories. We first teach a short Bible verse that they are able to memorize and then we teach the application of that verse using both the positive and negative example. This method has generated an excitement and enthusiam among the Deaf and they are learning the stories. This past Sunday we asked how many remembered the verse and almost all of the church individually got up and recited the verse. What a blessing to see them ¨hide God´s word in their hearts¨!

Christmas with Friends

We were excited to have friends, Larry and Dawn and their children, spend part of the Christmas holidays with us. We spent the time walking on the beach, playing putt-putt golf, and of course going out to eat. What a blessing, joy and encouragement they are and were to us!

Teaching and Seeing the Christmas Lights

On Saturday night we went with the Deaf to the downtown area of the city to view the Christmas lights... Wow! We walked for over an hour and a half and even then did not see all of the lights. Wish we could add all of the pictures, but we took so many and thought that you would enjoy the few here.

Went to the city of ¨M¨ to do a two day workshop using StoryOne at the basis. for those of you who do not know, StoryOne is basically using a lot of drama and movements to teach His stories to the Deaf. Many of the Deaf in our country can read and write a little but they depend much on sign language to understand the truths. We had 7 Deaf who attended and this is the first time that we have done this kind of workshop in that city. The Deaf got involved and helped with the dramas and re-telling of the stories.

Visiting an Aquarium

We traveled in December to another city in our country to teach and train the Deaf in storying and while we were there we stayed in the home of couple who are also associates in our company. We had a wonderful time of sharing and fellowshipping together and he invited us to go to an aquarium that is the largest one in South America. These pictures do not do justice to the beauty that we saw but we wanted to share them with you.

Christmas Fans

The old saying, ¨All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.¨, is probably true or at least I think so. Twice a month the ladies come to my house for a Bible study and a time to fellowship and just ask questions about things from the Word of God or personal things that they need. During the month of December I decided to do something different and fun with the ladies and began to look on the internet for a craft that would be inexpensive yet easy for them to do and take home and use. We had been studying the life of Ruth and had finished with it just the week before. I found one that used Christmas wrapping paper, a glue gun, and silk flowers or whatever else you would prefer to use. What a time we had together that day - laughing, sharing, and just being together. I thank the Lord for the ladies who come faithfully to learn God´s Word.

Thanksgiving 2009

For us it would not be Thanksgiving without having a turkey with all of the fixings (stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, and of course pumpkin pie) and even in another country we are blessed to be able to buy turkeys. We bought a 23 pound turkey to share with others and got up at 5:30 in the morning to stuff it and get it ready. For many families here, turkey is the traditional meat served for holidays like Christmas and New Years so they are available year round for which we are thankful and blessed. We were invited to a pastor and his wife´s home to celebrate the day because they have been friends with other ¨M´s¨ for many years and knew of the American traditions. They invited another couple from their church to join us and we had a wonderful day together.

Storying in Another City

We went to another city in our country in the month of November to teach storying and discipleship training in two different churches. We arrived on Friday evening and began on Saturday with a one day workshop. One Deaf lady, ¨C¨ was so excited about storying and wanted us to stay for more days because she wanted to know more of His stories, but we could not do so.

On Sunday morning we were in one church and taught for 3 hours, using this time also to encourage the Deaf believers along with the hearing workers. After church we went out to eat at a steak restaurant with the hearing Deaf leaders there. Then that evening we were in another church and taught the Deaf using drama, mime, object lessons, and drawings. We had such a great time with the Deaf and hope to return later to add to what we already have done. Please pray for the Deaf in the city of ¨C¨ that God would raise up strong Deaf leaders to lead their own people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Volunteer Team

In October we had two Deaf men, Larry and Phil, come to do evangelism and storying with the Deaf. What a joy they were to us - both by encouragement and just learning more about StoryOne and how to do it. They both were very positive and had such great attitudes that the Deaf are still talkig about them and what a blessing they were. We had the joy of seeing a Deaf man accept Christ as Savior while they were here.

During their week here, we also went to a school for all kinds of handicaps - cerebal palsey, mental retardation, blind, and Deaf - and we were able to give the gospel to a group of about 40 Deaf students. Praise the Lord for the opportunities that He has opened for us.

Thanks to our Home Church

We are so grateful to our home church and the many members there who took upon themselves to be ¨missionaries¨ to us while we are living in South America. We had had a family living in our house with the hopes of purchasing it, but after losing their jobs etc. they decided not to buy it -- which left us with needing to do some repairs and cosmetic landscaping to get the house ready once again to sell. In the spring of this year, our home church in North Carolina decided to make our house their ¨Jerusalem Project¨ to help with the repairs. And so, they put on a new roof, black shutters, poured a cement walkway, metal columns for the front porch, metal awning for the side door, replaced tiles for the back walkway, power washed the house and planted new shrubs. We are sure there are other things they did that go over and beyond what was needed, but all we can say is ´THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SERVANT HEART´. We feel honored and so blessed by the sacrifice of time and effort that the people at the church were willing to do to help us. Lord willing, we will be closing on the sale on November 2nd.