Read about some lives that will touch a special place in your heart. They were at our 13 Annual Deaf Camp in Honduras. We celebrate God's faithfulness in LOVING all of us...
Meet Norbin. He was brought to us these past few months,
having no way to communicate. From the
few SofL language programs he has been to, he’s learned just enough sign
language to communicate his wants and desires.
He makes us all laugh with his newly learned language. He had seen some photos from last year when
we had village camps at the SofL mission house, and all the children were able
to go to the beach, swim, and play with beach balls. Ever since he saw the
photos, he has been asking the SofL staff, “Where’s the beach?” What’s funny about this is that it’s
nonstop. When we’re in his village, he
asks, “Where’s the beach?” When we’re in
the SofL van, he asks, “Where’s the beach?”
When he came to camp, he asked every 5 minutes, “Where’s the beach?,” as
he carried around a blowup beach ball!
We finally decided to make this boy’s dream come true…so we snuck him
away from the other children and took him to the beach! You should have seen him as we pulled up to
the beach – his eyes were as wide as the sea, and then he asked a new question:
“How far does the sea go?” It baffled
his mind, and he threw off his shirt and ran in, getting dizzy along the way,
and laughing like crazy! When we
returned to camp, he never asked again, “Where the beach?” He knew.
His curiosity was fulfilled and he completed his mission. We’re looking forward to see what his next
curiosity will be. The remainder of camp, every craft Norbin made included his
name and a drawing of the ocean. For
Norbin, camp was more than just 3 days of fun. It was a time of learning many
new things (like how to spell his name correctly), and understanding so many
things – from the beach to the truth that Jesus loves him.
At Signs of Love, we believe
that nothing we do for His kingdom is done in vain, even when it doesn’t look
like we’re making a difference at all, we believe we are – at some point in
time – somewhere – somehow, lives are being changed. For the past 12 years, SofL missionaries have
loved and invested into the lives of the Deaf children at the local special
education school, and for the past 3 years we have poured into their lives daily.
If anybody would have told us
what we were about to witness at camp, probably none of us would have believed
it. This is a group of youth who are no
different than any other group of teenagers – they have their cliques,
arguments, prejudices, selfish tendencies, and all the other challenges that
come along with being a teenager.
Additionally, this group has unique challenges at home and school, and
so for them, camp has always been an anticipated time to getaway. This year, they came to camp with a different
attitude, and their actions showed it…they wanted to give instead of receive –
they wanted to serve instead of be served – they wanted to comfort others
instead of cultivating cliques – they wanted to love instead of gossip. . .
it’s as if we almost didn’t believe what our eyes were seeing! Their actions were so different from anything
we’ve ever seen from this group, and it was inexplicably inspiring to all of us
who so intimately know them. We got to
see fruit! The hours and hours and hours that have been invested into them were
not spent in futility. This reminded us
that we must never give up…we must continue believing that a difference IS
being made, even when we cannot see it.
Onward we go, investing, teaching, believing, knowing that LIVES ARE
BEING CHANGED. THE KINGDOM IS
ADVANCING. HIS LOVE CAN BE HEARD BY
ALL.
The 3rd testimony
is about Josue. We first learned of
Josue about 10 years ago when some teachers contacted us and informed us that
there was a young deaf boy dying of starvation.
We went to this boy’s village, and found him…curled up in a ball, skin
and bones, malnourished and left on the tabletop to die. When I asked his
parents what was wrong, they simply & coldly stated, “He’s sick.” You see, when they realized he was deaf, they
thought it was pointless to feed him. They were starving him to death. God had different plans for this boy. We dispelled the myths his parents believed
about deafness, bought him the necessary medicine and nutrition he needed to
get well, and started loving him like he’d never known! A few months later he was integrated into our
language programs, and we have watched him grow into the young man he is today
– capable and determined! Josue was
engaged in this year’s camp like never before.
He was soaking in all the teachings and dramas. On the last day, he was captivated by the
sermon, and afterwards shared how he wanted more…he wanted more of Jesus Christ
in His life. He wanted to feel more of
His presence. He wanted to be connected
with Christ for forever. We prayed with
him the sinner’s prayer, and celebrated with all the heavenly hosts his
embarkation on the process of sanctification.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
A life changed for eternity. A
life that was once believed to be worthless is now known to be priceless. Celebrating the Truth that love can be
heard by all!
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