Signs

Sign. In the Old Testament God's people often looked for "signs" to know if what they were about to do was God's Will. Today we have something better, God's Word. A letter specifically written to us that outlines principles for us to live by and examples of both those that chose to follow God's ways and those that didn't.

Sign. Sign language is a way of communicating for deaf people. This language has always been something that I thought was beautiful. I remember seeing children's choirs sign songs at church and thought how more worshipful they seemed. God has brought some deaf folk to our church recently. At first I thought, "what could God be thinking". We don't sign. Natalie has had some classes from our deaf neighbor several years ago but that's about it. We have had as many as five adult deaf folks in our service. Sam has had to work very hard on his power points to make them easier for these people to follow. Oscar, the son of one of our deaf couples, has helped translate the past two weeks. Things are getting better. I sit at the end of the deaf row and write out phrases to help "fill in the gaps". We are enjoying getting to know these wonderful people. Sam is giving Oscar guitar lessons during the week. It has been amazing to see Oscar advance so quickly (he definitely has a gift in music). Omar, Oscar's brother wants to get baptized!! Sam plans to sit and talk with him to make sure he understands everything. These folks have been such an encouragement in their faithfulness, patience and eagerness to learn God's Word! Pray with us for wisdom as we stretch ourselves to work hard at learning sign language. Most of our communication is on paper or via Natalie. We are going to have sign language classes with Ana Elsa on Thursdays.

Our little church here isn't so little anymore. We had 50 yesterday and 10 of our regular folks weren't here. We've had 60 and this really is the limit for us. Mexicans don't mind being cramped so we can still hold out on moving and paying rent. We are having our next baptism, April 6th. We could have as many as ten folks take this great step of obedience!