Give Till It Helps

I saw a sign the other day that read Give till it helps, and I imagined a world that really put that into action.  For many of us, we give because we want to make a difference, but our giving is based on what we don’t want or need, and that’s as far as it goes.  Imagine if all of us gave until it helped!  I’m so grateful for all those who give to SofL…they give until it helps, and it does make all the difference in the world to the lives we serve!

Our team in Honduras recently traveled to a distant area to reach a group of people who are trying to make a difference with little resources and training.  The deaf children in this area had never met a Deaf adult.  Imagine their fascination when they saw the SofL Deaf leaders with their moving hands and silly dramas that were in a language they could comprehend!  One of the parents of these deaf children commented to one of our staff members that he wasn’t sure what the future of his deaf son looked like until he met Orlan, and he was now incredibly hopeful! (Orlan is a SofL Deaf Honduran Missionary who is married to Amanda, another SofL Deaf Honduran Missionary, and they have a hearing son who’s almost 1 year old.) 

Give till it helps.  That’s something we are addicted to doing at SofL, and with our Lord’s help, will never stop!  Thank you to all of you who are a part of what we do, the hope we bring, and the difference we make.  

Orlan playing a game with one of these deaf children

God Breathes...

God’s breathing dreams and fruitfulness into lives! Enrique is a great example, and his story parallels the lives of many we impact. 

Signs of Love found Enrique when he was 7 years old.  He had no language, and was painstakingly timid.  Enrique spent two weeks with us shortly after meeting him.  In those two weeks he opened up and – because he had no language – acted out the physical abuse he was receiving from his father.  It was heartbreaking.  After the two weeks were finished, we brought him back to his mud-hut home, and asked his mother about the abuse.  With tears streaming down her face she sorrowfully admitted to the abuse his father would give him, and she said, “I don’t do anything about it because he only treats Enrique like that.  I’m afraid if I say something to him, he’ll start being mean to all five of my children.”    That day before we left Enrique in his home, we encircled him and simply prayed for him.  His father was sitting against the wall glaring at what was happening.  The next month when we picked Enrique up for our monthly ‘language program,’ he jumped into the van and, with a face bursting with a smile, shared how his father hadn’t abused him since we last saw him.  His father never again abused him. 

Another time shortly after this, we felt an urging to diverge from our plans and checkup on Enrique.  As we pulled up to his home, he came running out, and with his rudimentary signs communicated, “My mother, my mother, she is close to death!”  We went into her home and the other villagers were paying their final respects to her.  She had a severe infection, and because she didn’t have the $3.00 needed to go to the clinic in the next town, she went to her village’s witch doctor.  He gave her a vile of special potion (water), and sent her home to die.  We showed up just in time.  Enrique didn’t have many signs in this early stage of knowing him.  But he did see us talking to his mother – he saw us use our cellphone and talk to someone – he saw us leave and come back with a box filled with food and medicine – he saw us lay hands on his mother and pray for her, which was the same thing we did for him just a month or so earlier – he saw a doctor show up at his house a few hours later giving his mother shots and medicine – he saw his mother’s relief and he saw her get better. 

God showed us this day that He doesn’t need words to speak to people – language begins with the eyes and communicates directly to the heart.  The words just follow.    Enrique and his mother continued in our monthly language programs.  Over the years, Enrique learned Honduran Sign Language. 

One of our volunteers was so impressed by this boy’s story and his desire to learn that he wrote a children’s book about Enrique.  The title of the book is Enrique Speaks With His Hands.  It is sold at Barnes & Noble and many fine bookstores.  During the writing of this book Enrique’s mother shared with me one day that her prayer for Enrique was that he would be used in others’ lives like Signs of Love was used in his life.  Little did she know that her son would be used in countless lives as he was being immortalized in a children’s book!   The day we had the unveiling of the book when the author got to place a copy of this book in her hands was a day to be celebrated!  God not only answers prayers but He makes our dreams come true!  

Enrique was always the boy to be pitied in his village.  Now he’s the young man to be honored and respected.  He’s been the breadwinner for his family because of his artisan work with Signs of Love; and because of that job his mother now has a cement block kitchen instead of a dilapidated one made of mud.   Enrique knows he is loved by God and that his life has value…great value.  

God indeed breathes dreams into lives and lets them come true.  What’s He doing in your heart?  If it seems beyond what you can do, be assured that’s when the greatest dreams will come true.  Onward, beloved, with perseverance and expectation!  Happy New Year.  

Enrique and His Artisan Work

Remember...love can be heard by all. 

Tis The Season

Robin with the 'gaggle of children'

Tis the season.  We hear it over and over and over again during these weeks.  Tis the season to be jolly.  Tis the season to give.  Tis the season to make dreams come true.  Tis the season to be merry.   Tis the season to get together.  Tis the season, tis the season.  

I’ve been convicted this year more than ever that each and every day ‘tis the season.’  Christmas isn’t supposed to be celebrated just one day a year…it is to be celebrated each and every day.  It’s the reason we live – breath – and have our being.    

Christmas gives us hope, when our hope seems to have run out.  It gives us reason when there seems to be none.  It gives us determination just when we are ready to throw in the towel.  Christmas is the heartbeat of love and is vibrant around us, and when we submit to it, it’s even in us.  

I just finished visiting a very rural and poor area in Honduras.  It’s a place my husband and I happened upon a little over a year ago, one evening when driving home down a long winding dirt road, passing a mother with two little babies, one in her arms, and the other by her side.  My husband stopped and told this mother to get in the vehicle, we’d take her home.  She lives miles down this dirt road in a little community at the end of nowhere.  Her home consists of blocks with a roof and a pavement foundation, nothing else.  No water, no electricity, no bathroom, no kitchen.  But, she has shelter, and she has her children.  That evening started a special friendship…one that mainly consisted of my husband and I helping her out.  We would frequent her at her home, and my husband would always comment on the need for a church in that community.  He even blogged about it once.   This woman has a close friend who lives near her who is also a single mother, and somehow they ended up being a package deal.  

It was months after my husband’s death, and I had not been to visit these two families.  One day I heard voices outside my window, and when I looked up, there were the two mothers, traipsing up my dirt driveway with their gaggle of children. They did not come to ask for food, or help for that matter.  They came to hug me, cry with me, and let me know they heard the news, and they were so sorry this had happened.  They were in disbelief, as they said, “We don't understand why this would happen to someone so good to us.”  Then they asked if they could pray for me.  What?  These women that my husband and I had been ministering to now wanted to minister to me?  It was like our reason for living had been shown to me right then and there. 

You can imagine my delight when this last visit to their community a few days ago proved to be quite amazing.  One of those ladies now has a home church going on in her home!   

It’s when we don’t give up…when we keep on plugging along…when we keep loving even when we don’t feel like it…when we put others first…and when we don’t lose sight of His promises – that things really do change.  Tis the season each and every day.  

God With Us

By Jessie Fox

Imagine not being able to communicate your basic needs with your own mother.

Imagine not being able to communicate your joys and pains with your brothers and sisters.

Imagine your uncle leaving to another country, and no one ever telling you if he will come back or not.

Imagine your mother picking up the phone and horrified looks come across her face as she begins to weep. But you don’t know why...until you attend the funeral of your brother the next day. No one told you.

Imagine the life of a deaf person in Honduras.

Deafness separates them from communication.

Deafness separates them from family.

Deafness separates them from community.

But deafness does not separate them from knowing the love of Jesus.

In the Old Testament the Israelites were separated from God’s presence with a veil that separated the Holy of Holies in the temple.  And a “normal” human, like you and I couldn’t ever enter His presence. Only the high priest could enter and only once a year, and never without blood (Exodus 30:10).

Sinfulness separated them from God.

 …Until God entered our sinful world.  The Creator of the universe left His family, left His community (with the Trinity), and left His face-to-face communication with the Father.  For what? To enter our world, so that we would no longer be separated – that we would never be alone again.  He became “God-with-us”, Emmanuel.  And His death on the cross tore the veil that once separated us from Him (Mark 15:38).

My prayer this Christmas, for each of the deaf that have so often felt the sting of loneliness, is that they may feel and experience Emmanuel, God with them, like never before!

2 of our Honduran Deaf missionaries
teaching (in drama form) the story of
Christ's birth to 2 Deaf children
at a village program

The Fingerprints of God

John chapter 10 verse 10 tells us that the “thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy”. If you are reading this blog, I am sure that the enemy has at some point stolen, killed or destroyed something of yours. Since Signs of Love was born, the enemy has been trying steal, kill, and destroy this precious organization. What the enemy does not understand however, is the second part of the scripture in John chapter 10 that states that God came “that we may have life, and have it to the full”. As we remember all the things the enemy has destroyed of ours, we remember that we are not forgotten. Signs of Love is not forgotten. The enemy cannot win, because the battle has already been won. If we lose focus of this Truth, it is easy for us to feel forgotten, or destroyed, but if we keep our eyes on the Savior, Helper, and King, we can see that His fingerprints are all over our lives and He is leading us in ways we never could have imagined. I want to share a story about a girl who may have seemed to be “forgotten”, but was used as an instrument to grow Signs of Love and provide the Deaf on the Northern coast of Honduras empowerment, and new opportunity. Meet Lucila. (far right)

Two years ago Lucila was living in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. While living there and attending a school for the deaf she was introduced to the Links of Hope, an organization that teaches and equips women and Deaf artisans in developing countries. Alissa Matiya (far left) and Beth Engleman (middle) were part of this short term team.. Lucila learned the trade of jewelry making, thanks to these two beautiful ladies. However, one day Lucila up and left Tegucigalpa with her family leaving Alissa and Beth believing they would never see her again. Alissa and Beth told us that they prayed and prayed for Lucila, not having any idea where she would end up in life. Would she have people to look after her? Who would continue her education? Would she be in a place where sign language was used? Who would teach her about Jesus and His love for her? Little did they know in 2011, Lucila ended up in the class for the Deaf in La Ceiba where Signs of Love was working.
Throughout the school year Lucila would talk about these two North American women who taught her jewelry making, and how much she loved them. She even showed us photos of her time in Tegucigalpa which included both Alissa and Beth. 

One day, Lucila showed Jessie, a teacher from Signs of Love, her certificate from her Links of Hope training, giving Jessie a name to the photos and stories. Hoping to give a simple "thank you" to Links of Hope for all they had done for Lucila, Jessie found them on Facebook, which then led to the Links of Hope team coming to La Ceiba this past summer to teach jewelry making skills to Deaf in rural villages along the northern coast. It was so beautiful to see Lucila reunited with her friends she met in Tegucigalpa and the people that showered the love of Jesus on her. It was also amazing to see a seed that was planted 2 years ago, grow into a project to teach and empower more Deaf in the rural villages of Honduras.

The fingerprints of God are all over Signs of Love, we are not forgotten, and in fact we know that God has tremendous plans for Signs of Love and the Deaf in Honduras. I hope you are encouraged by this story and reminded to pray for this organization as the Lord moves among us in mighty ways!

- Kathryn Groseclose