Mary Ann doing what she does best - loving.
Mary Ann spent some time with us this summer in Honduras. She's created history with Signs of Love as being the first Canadian to serve with us! Following she summarizes her experience with us:
I may not be the
most articulate person, but I am rarely at a loss for words. There were many
instances however in Honduras, over the course of serving with Signs of Love,
that words were not a sufficient form
of expression. Sometimes it was tears, other times is was hugs, laughs, simply
looking someone in the eye, raising hands or even using LESHO signs. Together, these
articulated my awe, my heart break and God’s incredibly immense love for the
Honduran Deaf.
Before
the mission, I knew that there is no education system set up for the Deaf
there, and that they are ‘rejected by society’- but when I arrived, I got a
taste of what ‘rejected by society’ looks like. Real faces, real people, who,
as I looked into their eyes, were maybe experiencing one of only a countable
number of times they have felt loved. It looks like a mother who thought her
child was ‘sick and going to die’ for many years, neglecting to feed him, only
to be told he is NOT SICK, he simply cannot hear. It looks like a family moving
towns without their two year old son because of his deafness. It looks like a
‘not uncommon’ number of families who, even at ages of teens and adults, do not
know their Deaf child’s name because they have not used it enough to remember
it. Each of these and many other people’s life stories came as a
heart-shattering shock to me, because I went in with different expectations; I
had wrongly expected them to at least be treated like people.
Thus
it was amazing to take part in a ministry that does not only address the
linguistic & communication aspect of the Deaf's situations, but shows them
first and foremost Jesus’ love; which contrarily tells them that they have
significance and value as a human being- as a beautiful child of God.
Through
these 11 days, God spoke to my heart on a number of occasions about how to love
deeper. He also taught me how in my own life, I need to be brought down into
humility. That often I think I deserve God’s love, just for being human. God
showed me however that these Precious Ones are already humble, more than
humbled- beaten down, and they need to be elevated into His love. No, they may
not be worthy of it (just like you and me), but they are in fact the object of
it! This poignant message is what I saw manifest in my life, in the team and
among the Deaf over those staggering 11 days. - Mary
Ann Otterbein
