Hey...
It's about time that I post something on this blog =P
I wanted to share something...you know, you might think that last blog (internship) was the last post
I actually have something of which you may not be aware...
You see, this whole thing started this past spring
At that time, I decided to give up my dream to God...
My dream was to start a ministry in Honduras for Deaf people...
I had three goals in this ministry:
1) Gospel...that is, they will understand the Gospel thoroughly and clearly...
2) Education...they will be taught how to read and write, so that they can function independently through written methods with hearing people...even read the Bible on their own...
3) Basic needs...to provide whatever they need such as food, clothing, shelter...
Those goals in my dream ministry...and I laid it before God...it was difficult for me...in fact, I cried...
After giving my dream to Him, I moved on with my life...I almost forgot about it because I was preoccupied with RIT courses, graduation, getting ready to go to Wildwood Summer Project, planning to live in Florida, visiting Honduras to see my family and to go on a mission trip, and starting the internship...
All of a sudden, soon after returning to Florida from Honduras, I discovered that God has given me the bigger dream...
The Big Dream has six goals, which consists of the same goals I mentioned above in addition to the following:
1) Raising leaders in the Deaf community...to equip Honduran leaders to lead deaf Hondurans
2) Residence...that is, deaf Honduran may learn academic subjects and stay overnight...to eliminate the transportation...
3) Employment opportunities for Deaf Hondurans...to enable them to earn steady salary to support themselves
...so, this is even bigger than my original dream...I now realized the importance of surrendering your dream to God...and that you will be given the Big Dream
You may recall from previous blog regarding the ministry called Links of Hope (LoH)...I joined LoH on the trip to Honduras last July...
Anyway...it happened that LoH has a personal contact with the directors of D.O.O.R.
Are you familiar with DOOR?
If not, then go ahead and check out the following link:
http://www.doorinternational.com/
DOOR stands for Deaf Opportunity Outreach...
You see, the mission of this organization (you could say it's a ministry) is to establish
a center that focus on Bible translation in each of the continent. The center will train Deaf people to translate the Bible into their own sign language rather than teaching them American Sign Language in order to understand the Bible.
For example, there are centers in India and Kenya, Africa. So, DOOR's mission is actually awesome.
Now, Beth, who is the founder and leader of LoH, has personal contact with DOOR directors...
DOOR directors looked for someone who was familiar with making bracelets...and LoH's mission is to train women who live in the third-world countries in making bracelets...in order to make an income to support their families by selling the bracelets...
It was totally the plan of God...you see, the DOOR directors came to Beth's church to give a talk about their organization, and Beth came to listen...
There, Beth and the directors made a connection...
Beth did teach one of the directors how to make a bracelets, and the directors returned to Africa to teach Deaf African women...
These Deaf women were supposed to make 50 bracelets, which would be sent to Beth...that way, Beth will signal to them whether or not they did it correctly...before these women make 500 bracelets BY CHRISTMAS!
I think that's neat that these women are able to provide themselves some financial support
However, I don't know what's the status of this process...
Furthermore, DOOR is now looking to Latin America to launch a satellite of Bible translation...Beth was informed of this...
Beth thought of me since I am relatively fluent in ASL, English, Honduran Sign Language (Lesho), and Spanish...
I have the ability to teach and leadership skill...
Oh, and I have linguistic skill as well...
It seemed that I'm qualified enough to be trained over there in Africa...to acquire of their philosophy and system of the centers...
When I become familiar with how DOOR may run, I might be able to go back to Honduras...even to a different country in Latin America...to launch the center there...
So...this is really awesome...
Yo use, only a week ago or so...I turned in my biography and resume to Beth and then Beth completed the cover letter...
She submitted these materials in addition to a Honduran video she created and another video about me through Campus Crusade for Christ
She submitted them to the directors on the day they left for their vacation!
Fortunately, they did respond and indicated that they are quite interested in discussing this...but they need vacation...so they will resume this upon arrival from the vacation
The directors even forwarded the materials, which Beth sent, to some Deaf people in Africa...and a particular Deaf person responded that she or he had goose bumps when seeing one of the videos...
That is cool!
Going to Africa wasn't part of my original dream, but is part of God's will.
In fact, I used to dream to go to Africa just to see what it was like there and to bring my influence on Deaf people over there...you know Africa has many needs...
For me, going to Africa has twofold purpose...first, to travel and, second, to make an impact on Africans...
At this moment, I'm currently waiting to hear from the directors...it is really up to the directors regards with the length of being trained over there and date of departure...
I am really anxious to know what might happen...
God is always wonderful...I encourage you to keep pursuing Him...to seek His face...God will bless you for earnestly seeking Him...
Also, you will discover His will that match your passions for something in the life...
So yahh...
Well, I will see you later!
Azael
