General Update #6

11.11.09

I am very excited to be able to say that in just a few more days I will have hugs from my family, and that Lord permitting, I will be with my church family at next week's prayer meeting! I will be traveling home all day this coming Monday.

I have two main pieces of news from Mexico to share in this last update.

The first is that we have three additions to the team! The first two are a newlywed couple, Samuel and Magali, ages 24 and 23. Samuel works during the week as a nurse, and has arranged his schedule so that he can be with us on the weekends. He speaks English and has also done some translation with Marcus in the past. His wife Magali is expecting their first child in March. They have already been quite a blessing in the work. The third person is Ramón, a 26-year old who has been active in the work in the assembly in Orizaba.

The second piece of news is in regards to my work down here. Two weekends ago I was talking with one of the ladies from the church in Omiquila, Viviana. It was only then that I found out that she has three grown deaf children that attend the chapel. I could hardly believe it took me nearly four months to realize this! When I had said hello to them, I had always just thought they were very quiet people. They hide it very well by smiling a lot and muttering an acknowledging sound. It then dawned on me that I had met some deaf people while evangelizing in Tepexpan, and that it seems it's a genetic thing that many of the Aztecs are born deaf.

Viviana told me that her children do not speak any standardized form of sign language. It seems that is generally the case among indigenous deaf. Because they use homemade signs to communicate, the signs are mostly unique within each family. I discovered that there is an official Mexican Sign Language, whose alphabet is nearly identical to the American Sign Language I had learned as a child. This past weekend I was fascinated and thrilled to begin teaching Viviana's children to spell their names. It was really quite an exciting privilege, and they are very enthusiastic about learning.

My plan is to learn the Mexican Sign Language while I am home, and then teach the deaf, their families, and the team when I return. Eventually we hope that we can be fluent enough to not only explain the gospel to them but also to translate the ministry meetings. Right now, it is extremely difficult to know how much they understand of the Bible. Very possibly the majority of what they understand has come from observing the Betty Luken's feltboards.

So, I have much homework to do while I am in Massachusetts. I will continue with the translation work, I will study the Nahuatl dictionary, and I will be learning Mexican Sign Language. We can be continuing to pray that I would use the time wisely, and that the Lord would give me much help in learning.