Category: Deaf

My bed was as hard as a rock

Sleeping dogThis week while I was in Guadalajara I had the privilege of sleeping on the floor at the church. I am going to consider it a privilege since I was not sleeping outside in the dirt. If you have not slept on a concrete slab lately, you might find it amazingly uncomfortable. Every so often it is my lot to have to take up residence with las cucarachas on their level.

Some of the men at the meeting with me had mattresses. They were all claimed by someone else before I got a chance to grab one. Fortunately I had a sleeping bag (albeit a very thin one) to sleep on. One of the missionary ladies tossed in a comforter she had as extra padding. Traveling light, I did not have a pillow. My zippered hoodie, stuffed with clothes, served as a pillow for the week.

It was very musical in the church too. All the men seemed to snore on a different key. Quite a chorus. My friend Gary kindly provided a set of earplugs to use the rest of the week. I was thankful.

One of our cooks was arriving on Tuesday morning (our first morning) but did not have keys to the gate. She honked her horn at 6:30 (after a bed time of close to 2:00 am) to get someone to open the gate for her. Did I mention this was a group of Deaf I was with? Gary and I were the only ones who heard the honking. I decided to let him take care of it and I slipped back into dream land.

The second morning I was up before the cook arrived. This time her brother was supposed to have the key when he dropped her off. He forgot it at home. One thing I get great enjoyment from is waking people up. I had the privilege of waking the pastor from the floor of the church to get the keys.

The third morning the keys were not to be found. I got to wake the pastor once again, but this time the keys were not with him. He sent me upstairs to look in the kitchen. I did not find them there. The pastor had to get totally up this time and search for 30 minutes until they were located.

Friday the head cook did not come. That was too bad. It could be the explanation as to why we did not have breakfast served until 11:30 that morning. Fortunately there was plenty of coffee and cookies to keep me alive.

I had to leave by 5:00 Saturday morning. This meant that I could not use my earplugs and still hear my alarm. Since I did not get to settle into my spot on the floor until 1:30, that meant for a short final night. The lack of earplugs did not affect me negatively though. I was so tired that I did not hear any snoring.

By the way, after about 3 nights on the floor, you get used to it. I don’t think it has ever taken me more than 4 nights to get to where I was sleeping well. It is not as horrible as it sounds.

Guadalajara de nuevo

I spent the last week in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was a good week in that we got a lot accomplished, but it was also a very long week.

There is a group of missionaries and national pastors working with the Deaf in Mexico that gets together a couple of times each year to fellowship and learn from one another. This trip was the normal fellowship time coupled with our planning meeting for camp this summer. This always takes place between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. That is the week that virtually all Mexicans who work regular jobs are given time off. It is easy for the pastors and church leaders to travel to the meeting even if they are working outside the church.

We had a great time of fellowship. There were 3 national pastors as well as another national who is not the pastor of his church, but teaches the Deaf in the church’s ministry. Then there were 2 missionaries present. There were several others who were in and out of the meetings as church leaders and close friends of the ministries represented. But the main ones were the 6 of us present really just to spend time learning from one another and encouraging the pastors.

We also spent a couple of days planning for our upcoming camp. The camp will be in July. The camp facility that had casually been considered was not available the week we needed. We were able to confirm another location that we have used in the past and everyone likes.

I knew there were some grumblings of serious problems. I had no idea what they were or who they effected. Because of this, the other missionary paid most of my airfare to get me down there and made sure that I had my hand involved in the planning of camp. I am the camp director (for this final year), but felt like things could be handled without me. As it turns out, everything was handled well by one of the pastors.  I let him take control and was pleased to know that the camps will be just fine without me in the future.

The problems were never fully revealed to me until the last night of the meeting. What seemed destructive on Monday turned out to be just a misunderstanding of an outside party who innocently spread some information inaccurately. For whatever reason, this information was withheld from me until the end. I think it worked out for the best. There was no need for confrontation and conflict.

It was a great week, but I had a couple of nights that were about 3 hours long. I am ready for some rest.

When does it end?

I have really been hoping for time to catch up on the blog. I have so many events and activities that are taking place every day. Then when I do have time to blog I have not had Internet access.

This week we are in a conference at a church in Ringgold, GA. This is a church that I have been part of in a small way since its inception. A friend of mine started a Bible college for the Deaf in 1994. The school was connected to a local church and did well in the church. After some time though, they felt they needed more room for their own church services because they were growing bigger than the hearing church could accommodate. I am not sure what year they started having services on their own, but they have been an organized church for quite some time now.

In 2001 we were at this church for their missions conference. They were growing well, but still at the early stages of growth. Now the church has several missionaries that they support and some which are sent out from this ministry. We have had well around 200 each night for the conference.

Many of the missionaries and staff at the church and school are old friends of ours. It is great to get together with them and share stories and catch up on old times.

When this is over I will be flying to Guadalajara, Mexico. I may or may not be able to blog from there. But rest assured, I am working and not just going there for vacation. You believe me, right? I know, how can someone go to a beautiful place like Guadalajara and call it work? I will try.

I bet you get great satisfaction from your work

I have often had people comment that my job must be very rewarding. I have always agreed outwardly but never really felt it inwardly. At least, not in the way they are thinking.

I know when people make a comment about my work being satisfying they are talking about the social good that I do amongst the Deaf. They are assuming that the purpose and goal of my ministry is to help the perceived needs of the Deaf. In third world countries these needs might include help learning job skills and communication. One thing I have done in Mexico to further my goal was to work in a school for the Deaf. At the school I taught physics and math. I also had some classes on social skills and general manners. Mostly I taught basic forms of English (which I always thought was the craziest thing since they didn’t even know Spanish). But none of that was my ultimate goal. Those were simply a means to an end.

So what is my goal and from what do I draw my satisfaction in my work?

My goal is to see the Deaf accept Christ as their Savior. The reason is they need someone to save them from the wrath of God against their personal sin. The Deaf, like the rest of us, have one dominant problem: sin.

We don’t need a Savior to give us a better life. We don’t need Him to help us have a better job. Nor do we need Christ to solve any problems we might have. These MAY be a result of salvation and living a life based on biblical principles, but they are not the goal.

Sure, I get satisfaction from my work. But my satisfaction does not come when a person learns to read or gets a job. My satisfaction comes when I see a person accept Christ for who He is: a Savior from their sins and punishment in Hell. While God may grant them a better place in society, that is not my job nor my passion.

Twitter revisited

A bit over a year ago I talked about using Twitter. I have recently (within the last 3 or 4 months) gotten much more involved with twittering.

I own 2 Twitter accounts if you want to follow me. The first one is the one I have been using for a year and a half. That one is the username dpeach. That has mostly been tied in closely with my running buddies. I have a few people who follow me there who do not run, but my main following is made up of people who run and are interested in running news.

My second, and new as of tonight, Twitter account is DavidPeach. I am going to use this one as more ministry related content. I may still post some things about my running, but I plan to make it more about our ministry.

As we explore different ways to help missionaries stay more connected to the people in the churches, this has come to my mind as a great opportunity. My friend Jeff at Missionary Geek and I have talked in the past about using social networking as a way to engage our supporters. I have dismissed much of it because of the problem I see of allowing other people to view my connections. Sometimes, sad as it is, I have been told that I would, or would not be, supported based on who I would be working with. I could understand if the problem was doctrinal, but it never is. First off, I am not going to seek support from a church that I cannot agree with doctrinally. It is always based on personalities or quirkiness that really does not matter in the big picture. Therefore, I have avoided using social networking as a means to communicate with my supporters.

My mind has been steered with the help of some of the people whom I follow on Twitter. The main one being Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson. I have followed him for 2 months. In that time he has told me what new books Thomas Nelson is publishing; he had informed me that they have changed the dress code at the office; and, I know when he plays golf even. Does any of that really matter? Not if I am thinking about what book I would purchase from them. But what it does do is put Thomas Nelson constantly on my mind. That is exactly what I want from people who say they are praying for me and my ministry as well as supporting me financially. I want them to think about me constantly. I want them to know I am a real person who struggles with the same things they do. I think Twitter can deliver that.

Now you can follow one, or both, of my accounts. There may be some cases where I would cross post between accounts, but mainly the DavidPeach account will be ministry related and dpeach will be everything else.