August swept past with a few days of “tropical systems” that cooled us for those few days. The days I intended to work in the office, our street power was off and the way things are wired, that meant the office was un-electrified. Bummer, eh? So I got a little behind but here is our news for August!
ASL classes began in earnest. We are teaching 6 ASL classes to hearing students (5 classes in 2 private schools in person and one homeschool family Zoomer family) during ‘school hours’ weekly. Also 3 biweekly adult ASL classes, and two ASL classes on Wednesday evenings. It’s fun to see the hearing people learning and then using their new knowledge in our social gatherings or in church!
We began our literacy classes.
5 ladies came the first Saturday of our literacy program. Some are learning the alphabet and others are learning English as we use bilingual readers. We look forward to seeing them alternating Saturdays. They and the men who came but didn’t enter the classrooms agreed to attempt to learn to ‘read’ bell music so we may have a bell choir for Christmas! 2 of the ladies come every Tuesday for more tutoring. What fun it is to have them come for the day to work and pray and have lunch together.
One of the men assured me he reads but asked if we could have Bible classes to deepen his walk with God. Oh my heart! As I pray for a male pastor/shepherd for our little flock, I also am preparing a Memorize The Verses: Be like a tree (Psalm 1:1-3. Jeremiah 17:8) challenge. We have medals for the ones who do the memory work and we will celebrate their learning.
One of the hard parts of ministry is attending funerals. Jose Vega, pictured with his lobster, died in August.
Many from the deaf community were able to attend his funeral and Pastor Luis Martinez spoke words of comfort to us all. Betsy was able to interpret the funeral service and graveside ceremony.
Glenda Coupe pictured here holding Natalia – died in August. Click on her name or her photo for the link to more information.
God KNOWS the part you play in the ministry and I want to thank you serving with our ministry. May God bless you for your contribution to our work. Without your prayers and practical gifts, we would not be serving God here as we do.
Thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve God here in Puerto Rico.
