Posts
Or Merry Christmas!
Please keep us in your prayers even during this break from classes. The barrios where many of our students live can be dangerous places during the holidays, even moreso than during the rest of the year. There is a lot of drinking, and with so many people armed, sometimes things get out of hand.
Also pray that the students will be able to come back to school on the appointed day! It is considered totally normal here to take an extra week or even more, during the Christmas vacation. Parents often take their children back to their native town, and the kids really have no say about getting back to school on time.
School was scheduled to start on January 7th, the day following Three Kings Day, when children traditionally get their gifts. But that would fall on a Wednesday, and the logic would be, "Why bother when there are only a few days left in the week? We'll send our child back on Monday." Probably only a few students would show up. (This is in ALL the schools here, except the private schools for the wealthy.) So we decided to make Wednesday through Friday a special time of teacher workshop and prep for the second semester, so as not to waste the time.
We wish you a joy-filled time with family and friends during these holidays.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
The kids in Sabana Perdida are enjoying their rehearsals for the Christmas event on Friday. Each class does a song or something, so we put together a brief Christmas play.
At the bottom of the picture you see three teachers: Mela, who teaches the older kids, Yulissa (deaf) who teaches Bible and acts as a TA at both schools, and Yoselin, who teaches the younger kids in Sabana Perdida.
Most of the students are in this photo, although there are a few absent.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
There is a new missionary family working with the Deaf in Santo Domingo. This is great news! Santo Domingo is a city of 3 million people and counting. The deaf population is double what you would have in a more developed country, so you can imagine that we are continually short of workers.
We have invited them to do a weekly mini-church service with our students, since most of the students aren't able to get to church on Sundays. We do have Bible studies a couple of days a week too, but this will be more like a church service. Several of the students have come to know the Lord at this point, so the timing is good.
The deaf pastor from another church sat me down on Sunday, and said "We need more missionary workers." Enough said. Please pray for God to send these workers. Life is difficult here, and it isn't easy to find people who are willing and/or able to come, and even harder to find people who will stay long term. But we put that in the Lord's hands where it belongs; he is the one who calls.
There is a new Christian school for the deaf in Hato Mayor, established by a short term (one year) missionary . Every city does not yet have a school for the deaf, Christian or otherwise, and we are all concerned that each city have at least one; we are rejoicing over the new one. We look forward to the day when every deaf child will be able to attend school, and learn a language through which they can understand the good news.
Our new teachers are working hard at improving their Sign Language. Many of the newer students came in without Sign, and are already communicating in formal SL at a basic level.
The hearing school where we have two self-contained deaf classrooms has been having some serious problems. They have lost two teachers as a result. The director and admin. have taken over teaching those two classes till January at least, as it is too close to vacation to hire a teacher immediately. They've brought the classes downstairs as a result.
This is causing some problems with the deaf classes, as there is so much noise and confusion going on, it makes it difficult to teach. Our facilities are very basic. Most of the classrooms consist of a large room that has been subdivided with thin plywood. It doesn't reach to the top, and noise travels. You might think it wouldn't bother the deaf children, but it really does. It distracts them greatly.
The children are practicing a Christmas song at one school, and a drama at the other, to present to friends and families.
Please pray with us that God will continue to supply all our needs, and that is so much more than just finances; needs for dedicated workers, qualified teachers, classroom space, and all the other things that belong in a Christian school are on our prayer list. We want to see these kids come to know the Lord. That is our heart.
Sign language classes are just around the corner in January!
We have invited them to do a weekly mini-church service with our students, since most of the students aren't able to get to church on Sundays. We do have Bible studies a couple of days a week too, but this will be more like a church service. Several of the students have come to know the Lord at this point, so the timing is good.
The deaf pastor from another church sat me down on Sunday, and said "We need more missionary workers." Enough said. Please pray for God to send these workers. Life is difficult here, and it isn't easy to find people who are willing and/or able to come, and even harder to find people who will stay long term. But we put that in the Lord's hands where it belongs; he is the one who calls.
There is a new Christian school for the deaf in Hato Mayor, established by a short term (one year) missionary . Every city does not yet have a school for the deaf, Christian or otherwise, and we are all concerned that each city have at least one; we are rejoicing over the new one. We look forward to the day when every deaf child will be able to attend school, and learn a language through which they can understand the good news.
Our new teachers are working hard at improving their Sign Language. Many of the newer students came in without Sign, and are already communicating in formal SL at a basic level.
The hearing school where we have two self-contained deaf classrooms has been having some serious problems. They have lost two teachers as a result. The director and admin. have taken over teaching those two classes till January at least, as it is too close to vacation to hire a teacher immediately. They've brought the classes downstairs as a result.
This is causing some problems with the deaf classes, as there is so much noise and confusion going on, it makes it difficult to teach. Our facilities are very basic. Most of the classrooms consist of a large room that has been subdivided with thin plywood. It doesn't reach to the top, and noise travels. You might think it wouldn't bother the deaf children, but it really does. It distracts them greatly.
The children are practicing a Christmas song at one school, and a drama at the other, to present to friends and families.
Please pray with us that God will continue to supply all our needs, and that is so much more than just finances; needs for dedicated workers, qualified teachers, classroom space, and all the other things that belong in a Christian school are on our prayer list. We want to see these kids come to know the Lord. That is our heart.
Sign language classes are just around the corner in January!
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