4th Annual Mission Madness and the Future of the Blog

 As everyone has by now surmised the team has been back in America safely since July 24th, Praise God, and have as busy as ever. I hope that you were all able to enjoy the pictures that we posted from the trip.

As everyone in the Kansas City Area should know by now, tomorrow, Sunday, August 19th, we will be having our 4th Annual Mission Madness. This is a time to thank all of our supporters for their dedication to Deaf International’s ministry. However, anyone is welcome! At 5:30 we will be having a dinner called “On The Table of Our Father,” which will feature dishes from several countries around the world. At 6:30 we will have a program featuring testimonies from the team’s missionaries, songs in different sign languages, a presentation of the trip, and a preview of next summer’s missions. Mission Madness will be hosted at First Baptist Church of Olathe at 2024 E. 151st St. in Olathe.

We understand that our suppporters are from all over the country, and I apologize that many will not be able to make it to the program. However, we do appreciate all of your support and prayer. We will be posting the video of our trip that we will be using at the program in Kansas City on this blog. Also, Jacob will be organizing a presentation of the trip this fall at Harvard for our supporters in the Boston area.

Finally, this blog will continue to be used to post additional pictures, and the videotapes that we promised. Noah has been busy all week downloading them to his computer and putting together a video clip for Mission Madness. That video and others will be placed on the blog. We will also be posting any speaking engagements that Deaf International has so that people can attend if they are in the area. So feel free to subscribe to the blog so that you can get an e-mail reminder whenver we post, or simply check-in occassionaly for any new material.

God Bless,

The Romania/Moldova Team

Romania 2007: Pictures

The Romania Team
Left to Right: Matt Keller (Deaf Missions), Stacie Filley, Beti Keller (Deaf Missions), Jacob Buchholz, Maleah Eubanks (Not Pictured: Pastor Noah)

The Deaf Club in Bucharest, Romania
See the Day 14 post for the stories.

At the Deaf Club
Angela (right), a Romanian Sign Language interpreter, talking with a deaf man. Angela has always been a tremendous help for us with interpreting English/Romanian/Romanian Sign Language, guiding us through the cities in Romania, and so much more.

At the Deaf Club
Jacob Buchholz talking with a deaf man.

Jacob
Jacob sharing a story about a martyr.

Matt
Matt (Deaf Missions) drawing the parable of the four soils. Praise the Lord for his remarkable talent of drawing. He can really bring God’s Word alive to the Deaf, which is especially important because most of the Deaf can’t read or write becasue of the improper education they recieve.

Pastor Noah
Pastor Noah preaching… something about being scared by a bear?

The Team on the Train
Left to Right: Beti Keller (Deaf Missions), Matt Keller (Deaf Missions), Maleah Eubanks, Stacie Filley, Jacob Buchholz (Not Pictured: Once again, Pastor Noah (one of the disadvatages of being the photographer))

Ploesti Deaf Singing
Avramescu (the man who wants to be a pastor, but is struggling with reading the Bible in Romanian) is the one on the left.
See the Day 16 post for the stories about the worship service in Polesti and Day 22 post for a story about Avramescu.

The Deaf Congregation in Polesti
See the Day 16 post

Avramescu
See Day 22 for his story. By the way, he is trying on hats and gloves that were knitted by First Baptist Church of Olathe members… thank you so much!

The Deaf Congregation in Bucharest

That is… Romania!

…in green pastures

Community Worship Service in Cluj
Members of the deaf church in Cluj singing praises. See the Day 19-21 posts for the stories.

Pastor Torok Ioan
A deaf pastor at the deaf church in Cluj happily showing a hat for one of his daughters. More than one hundred hats were generously knitted by First Baptist Church of Olathe members and gloves were also donated by them.
See the Day 22 post for a story about Pastor Torok.

Hats and Gloves
Two kids trying on hats and gloves that were donated by First Baptist Church of Olathe.
See Day 21 post.

Marcela and Oana
Marcela (Deaf) and Oana (Romanian Sign Language interpreter) were such a huge help with traveling around the City of Cluj and interpreting.

Selfless Love
This picture reflects the common behavior of Romanian hosts when Americans stay at their homes. They spend quality time cooking delicous food for Americans, keeping a small amount of food for themselves. That night Jacob and I had one of the most amazing soups, green pepper (with meat inside) and sour cream, while Pastor Laszlo, our host, and Avramescu treat themselves to only breads, butter, sausages, and tomatoes.

Bible Translation Meeting
Pastor Noah led a successful Romanian Sign Language Bible Translation meeting. He is hoping to return to Romania again before offically starting the Bible translation procedures in Romania.
See the Day 22 post for more information.

Bible Translation Meeting Attendance
Even though all of the Romanian leaders were not able to attend the meeting, their ideas and discussions helped the Romanian Sign Language Bible Translation team to succeed in their essential first step.
See the Day 22 post for more information.

Team Devotion
We had a team devotion every morning and a team meeting every night. We took turns leading the devotions everyday.

Moldova 2007: Pictures

A Deaf Missionary from Ukraine
Please remember to pray for him (see Day 2 for more information).

Victoria (Russian Sign Language interpreter)
She has helped Deaf International in many amazing ways, especially with communicating with the deaf leaders and churches in Moldova.

Only Cold Meat for the Deaf
Please see Day 2 for the story about this.

Pastor Vasea’s Family
Please see the Day 4 post to learn more about Vasea and his family.

Visiting Deaf Shut-ins
See Day 10 post.

Bible Translation and Deaf Christian Association Meeting
Pastor Noah discussing the establishment of a Moldovan Deaf Christian Associaton (See Day 3 post).

Bible Translation and Deaf Christian Association Meeting
Nadea (in the blue shirt) is the bi-lingual counstlant for the translation team.
Vica (in the orange shirt) is the on-camera translator of Ruth, the book that they completed last year, and will be signing the book of 1 John.

One of Our Newest Sisters in Christ
See the Day 3 post for the story.

Noah’s Box
Helpers packing supplies (toothbrushes, shampoos, soaps, etc.) into bags to give to the Deaf Moldovans (see Day 9 post).

Drama
We did four different dramas for every worship service we conducted. This drama highlights how worry can weigh our life down. (Left to right: Jacob (devil), Stacie (non-believer), Pastor Noah (believer))

The Proverbs 31 Wife
See the Day 9 post.

Day 23: Short & Sweet

Thanks for all your prayers! We’ve made it safely to Bucharest! : )

God bless, The Romanian Team – Phil. 4:19

Day 22: Goodbye Cluj

Praise God for everyone’s prayers last night! God was faithful & powerful to make today’s meeting a huge success. Several people who we did not know were coming showed up for the meeting, including a leader from Oradea.

We focused our meeting on making substantial progress with Bible translation work. The book of Mark & Genesis chapters 1-10 have already been completed for Romanian Sign Language. However, because of Satan’s work, the translation team here has fallen part twice. We started the meeting by discussing the current problems the team is facing, & then outlined the solutions to make sure this work continues. We currently have the same plan of action in place for the Moldovan Bible Translation work. We will be working with a video production studio in Timisoeara, Romania, called Alfa Omega. The teams will film there two times a year. There will be four signers who are working on their individual books. Each signer will be responsible for 200 verses each filming period. For both teams the four books that we will be working on are Luke, John, Acts, & 1 John.

The discussion was very productive. We were able to cover expectations for team members, & everyone there brainstormed a collection of skilled signers that represent all of the Romanian cities where there are deaf churches. We are now contacting all of the leaders in Romania to come to a meeting in March 2008. At this meeting, all of the plans will be finalized, & the translation work will be done so that the first four singers can start practising for filming shortly thereafter. As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done before the meeting. Please pray that this meeting will be well attended & that all of the necessary preparation can be completed accordingly. Please also pray that God will bless this team with perseverance so that the work may be sustained even in the face of the devil’s temptations.

Late on Wednesday night, Pastor Noah & Jacob had a discussion with the leader from Ploesti. He desperately wants to be a pastor, but because he was never taught how to read, he thinks his illiteracy stands in the way of him becoming a pastor. Pastor Noah & Jacob were able to visit a deaf pastor (Pastor Torok) who faces similar problems. They were accompanied by Pastor Lazlo, another deaf pastor from Cluj. While they were there, Pastor Torok had some business mail from the government that he didn’t understand, so he asked Pastor Lazlo to read the mail for him. This really struck bother Pastor Noah & Jacob because they have seen their deaf grandfather doing the same thing. So often, he receives important mail that he isn’t able to read, so he has to take it to other people to help him understand the text. It’s sad how behind deaf education & deaf rights are in America. Please pray that despite this enormous difference, we can cut down how long it will take to catch the Romanian deaf up with American deaf people, allowing development of rights to increase exponentially. Pastor Noah & Jacob were discussing with Pastor Lazlo last night about deaf education in Romania. Almost every single deaf school in Romania still uses the oral method (teaching speech), while only a few use simultaneous communication (signing & speaking simultaneously). America also tried simultaneous communication in deaf schools, but it failed miserably in the attempt to educate deaf children. This is because it is scientifically proven that when speaking two languages, one will lull into the native language & only sign two out of every five words in the native language. So whether under oral programs or simultaneous communication programs, the deaf in Romania simply aren’t learning. We know that God has a plan for the deaf people in Romania, so please pray that God guides us with His divine discernment every step of the way. Also pray for deaf educators here in Romania to realize how beneficial it is to teach sign language to deaf children as a foundational, native language.

Tonight is our last night in Cluj. Our host families presented us with gifts this evening as it is our last night in Cluj. We were really surprised at their thoughtful gesture of generosity! The deaf people here are such a delight to be with & such humble people. Pray the Body of Christ here in Cluj continues to grow through God’s might & love.

Tomorrow we’re off to Bucharest again. Please pray for our train ride tomorrow. We’ll be on the tracks for eight hours, so pray that we wisely use the time God has given us. On the way to Cluj, we talked with two deaf peddlers. Pray that God orchestrates more divine appointments with deaf people tomorrow as we travel. Thank you for lifting us up in prayer. We appreciate your support!

God bless, The Romanian Team – Matthew 28:19-20

Day 21: God of the Possible

Today we finished our last worship service in Cluj. The focus of today’s message was Jesus as our Friend, with John 11 & the story of Lazarus for the main Biblical text. Tonight we also distributed toiletry supplies, along with hats & gloves. Once again they were elated to receive everything. ToSue Koning, Bonnie Perkins, & the ladies at First Baptist of Olathe, Jacob made a promise to some deaf ladies here that he would tell you this: “God Bless You.” God made this hat-&-glove project possible through you all!They were thrilled to learn that the hats were personally knitted for them. A seven-year-old girl has been staying with one of the families that is hosting us this week. Her grandparents, aunts, & mother are all deaf, & she is a superb signer. She has been a hand-full all week, & we learned that she has absolutely no toys to play with. So in addition to the toiletry supplies, we were also able to spend some extra money to buy her some toys.

Plus, we also wanted to confirm that the leader from Ploesti did indeed arrive for the worship services here in Cluj.

*Note: this post was longer than this when originally posted. The internet must have eaten it up somehow. Hopefully some of you had the opportunity to read the entire post.

God bless, The Romanian Team – Isaiah 43:1-3

Day 20: Beautiful Masterpiece

Hope you all are doing well! Today we had the opportunity to do a little sightseeing here in Cluj. We visited the botanical gardens with two woman who attend the deaf church. One of them told us some really exciting news! In December 2006, the university in Cluj officially recognized Romanian sign language as a foreign language. Students are required to take a second language like French or English, & then sign language can count as an optional third foreign language. The university said they are willing to make Romanian sign language available as an option for the second language requirements, but right now they cannot. This is due to the fact that as a second language, you need to take 10 or 12 credit hours of that language. The university is blessed with two deaf professors who can teach Romanian sign language, but that only provides students with six credit hours right now. When more Deaf people can be trained & hired as professors, more classes can be added & it will be available to be offered as a second language. This is encouraging, especially for the woman who was sharing with us. She just returned from a international interpreter conference in Spain where she was really inspired to continue advocating for deaf people’s rights. She explained that since Romania is part of the EU now, Romania is now under the law that deaf people have the right to interpreter services. Please pray that a team can be established to form a program to effectively train qualified interpreters.

After that, we prepared for the evening worship service, which was once again, fantastic! The deaf people are captivated by the dramas, because that brings life to Bible stories & Biblical principles. Tonight we focused on the theme that Jesus is Lord of our life. Among the dramas we did tonight, one that really stood out to me was Jesus calming the storm in Luke 8:22-25. After we acted this out, Pastor Noah pointed out that just as Jesus was in the boat during the storm, He is in our lives during our hardships. Instead of being frightened & upset by the problems in our lives, we can look to Jesus, because He is right there.

After the service, something truly valuable always occurs: we fellowship with everyone! We’ve heard several theories from deaf people regarding the causes of their deafness. Some of them know their cause of deafness is from a childhood sickness. Some of them, though, believe that they are deaf for superstititious reasons. One woman we talked with in Moldova believes the cause of her deafness is due to the fact that while she was still in her mother’s womb, her mom saw a black cat, got scared, and so this woman we talked with became deaf from then on. Another man told us that when his mom was pregnant with him, she was frightened by a person with a horrible skin disease, so he became deaf while still in the womb. It is sad that these people feel so abnormal to the extreme degree that they still blame deafness on superstitition. Pray that God can transform their thinking so that they no longer see themselves as misfits in society. Instead of viewing themselves as products of scary encounters, pray we can help them see themselves as a beautiful masterpiece of God’s creation, for that is what they truly are.

Pray for God to give us wisdom as we purchase supplies tomorrow to give out at our last worship service tomorrow at 5pm our time. Pray that deaf people in Cluj will come to the services & find solace in God.

God bless, The Romanian Team – Isaiah 43:1-2

Day 19: Reflections

Wow! We are in so awe of God. This afternoon’s service was amazing! Thank you praying for us! The skits & message were definitely orchestrated by the Lord! Our title for this week’s worship services is E.L.F. (Jesus is our Example, our Lord, & our Friend). Today, we did a couple of skits about from the Bible about following Jesus’ example. The first example was the feeding of the 5,000. Pastor Noah encouraged us to follow Jesus’ example of trusting in God to provide & also to set aside alone time to commune with our heavenly Father, because the first thing Jesus did after teaching & feeding the 5,000 was withdraw to a secluded place to pray. The other Biblical example Pastor Noah taught about was Jesus’ willingness to forgive. We acted out the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant as well Jesus’ statement on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We then acted out how Stephen followed Jesus’ example because right before his murder, he echoed Jesus’ words, “Lord, do not hold this against them.” Both Jesus & Stephen did not hold bitterness against the very people who killed them. What a powerful example of how we should live.

We are all settled in Cluj now. Matt & Beti are staying with one of the families from the deaf church, Jacob & Noah are staying with the deaf pastor, & Maleah & Stacie are staying with another family who attend the deaf church. We’ve talked quite a bit with the mom, dad, & daughter who Maleah & Stacie are staying with. The mom & dad are deaf; the daughter can hear. The dad has an older deaf brother who is also a member of the deaf church; their testimony is remarkable! Their hearing father was a pastor; when their parents found out that both of their sons were deaf, they thought they would never get saved. The sons didn’t understand what church was all about as the church they went to was geared toward those who can hear. However, they faithfully prayed for their two sons for 30 years. When the boys were adolescents, they received a Bible with pictures & really enjoyed this visual aid! They both accepted the Lord & are serving Him in mighty ways. The older brother travels around to different cities & evangelizes. The younger brother, the one Maleah & Stacie are staying with, is an exquisite carpenter. Their home is full of furniture he has crafted from old wood he has restored.

Maleah & Stacie had the opportunity to talk with younger brother’s hearing daughter tonight. She will turn 15 on July 31st & is looking forward to going on a trip around Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.) with a hearing church. However, the trip is in August & doesn’t end until September 5th. Here in Romania, the kids have to take very important tests to determine which high schools they can go to. The tests are on September 4th. She has a meeting tomorrow with the school personnel to determine whether or not she can take the tests separately on September 6th. If not, she will either have to go to a high school concentrated in math, which she has no interest in, or she will have to miss the trip. She wants to stay in the high school where she can concentrate on studying different languages because she wants to start her own business that eventually networks with various countries around Europe. She aspires to be a lawyer who specializes in deaf clients. What a blessing she is to the Deaf World! Please pray that God’s will is accomplished tomorrow during the meeting & that the Lord is glorified in this decision.

Speaking of a lawyer who specializes in deaf clients here in Romania, she commented on how there are no services here for the deaf. Legal firms don’t take the time here to communicate with the deaf Romanians, so their service is not equal to that of the hearing population. Praise the Lord for opening this young woman’s eyes to this injustice. A couple other members of our team discussed with a hearing woman who goes to the deaf church the lack of interpreter services for the deaf. If a deaf person needs to go to the hospital, appear in court, etc., they have no interpreter services. The hearing daughter we talked with said she’s gone many times with her parents to translate between her deaf parents & hearing people. The fact that there are no interpreter services established for deaf Romanians has huge reprucussions in their lives. A communication breakdown in an emergency situation can mean life or death for deaf people (for example, even in America, deaf people have been wrongly convicted & sent to prison because of poor or no available interpreter services). This deeply touches our hearts, because deaf people deserve to have interpreters just as much as any other person who speaks a different language than the people around them. Please pray that this need will be recognized more & more so that deaf Romanians can be empowered here!

Tomorrow we will be visiting a few sites here in Cluj before planning & then conducting the next worship service at 5pm our time. Please pray that the word about the worship services spreads! The deaf Romanians live in all kinds of different housing (unlike the deaf Moldovans, who live together in the deaf hostels), so door to door evangelism is quite a challenge. Pray that God gives us opportunities to invite deaf Romanians to the service tomorrow! Thank you & God bless you!

God bless, The Romanian Team - Proverbs 4:18 

Day 18: Divine intervention

Today has been another amazing day with God at work to control our trip and make sure that everything comes out according to his plans.

Last night was our last worship service in Bucharest. There were some non-Christians there, and our dramas were really effective in conveying the Gospel message. A lot of deaf in Moldova and Romania whenever they are told about Jesus will use the excuse “Oh, I’m already Orthodox,” but their faith actually means nothing to them, nor do they have any relationship with Jesus. This was the case with someone in attendance, and the message of Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life hopefully hit home.

Today we woke up at 5:00am for our eight hour train ride to Cluj. We will be here through Sunday staying with local families. Noah and Jacob are staying with one of the pastors of the Cluj deaf church, and when we arrived we wondered why they were staying with this specific pastor, when it seemed the other one was more influential in the Christian community and could help us achieve our work. On top of that, the condition of the apartment was pretty shoddy.

However, tonight we saw God’s hand at work. All the team members settled into their sleeping accommodations and then gathered at a deaf woman’s apartment to meet together. While we were both of the pastors of the Deaf Cluj church came to visit.

For a couple of hours the discussion focused mainly on theological issues, but then the discussion of evangelism came up, and the pastors started expressing their frustration. This Saturday during the day, there is going to be a big meeting with deaf leaders from Cluj and nearby cities such as Oradea and Timisoara. We will be discussing how to continue Bible Translation work as well as the future of mission work in Romania. Noah had been planning to start the Romanian Deaf Christian Association at this meeting with all of the leaders. When the discussion of evangelism came up, God led Noah to go ahead and tell the two deaf pastor’s about the vision of the organization. Praise the Lord, because one of them didn’t know about the meeting and actually can’t be there, but would be crucial to setting up the organization.

Both pastors loved the idea. They are so passionate about the organization and the future of evangelism and Christian work in Romania. They said they were so frustrated with organizations who would promise them money to do evangelism and then never follow through with their promises. These organizations would pledge money, but would have no plan on how to provide the money, or what should be done with it. Noah used this opportunity to thoroughly explain to them how the Romanian Deaf Christian Association would work. They loved the idea of a round table made up of representatives from all of the deaf churches, and the associations vision of financial accountability so that charitable contributions can be made to the association with full knowledge of how the money is being spent and by whom. They actually already had ideas of people who could fill some of the non-voting member roles of the organization. Praise God that already on our first day in Cluj when we were supposed to be getting settled in after our long train ride He is already working. That conversation needed to happen tonight because of circumstances preventing one of the pastors from attending Saturday’s meeting. Plus, it will allow support for the idea when it is presented to all of the other leaders.

To add to God’s goodness, it turns out that our original understanding of the Romanian Deaf church as a whole was wrong. The pastor with whom Noah and Jacob are staying is actually in charge of Romanian ministry, and is the leader that everyone else turns to for guidance. Please pray for our conversations with this pastor during the week.

Prayer Requests:
1. That God will continue to work in conversations leading up to Saturday’s meeting, and that the meeting itself will be Spirit-filled and God-led.
2. Pray for rest for the entire team after little sleep last night.
3. Pray for our worship services in Cluj that many can be reached with the Gospel.

Praise God for his goodness tonight!

 God Bless,

The Romanian Team-James 5:17-18

Day 17: Great conversations

Hello again everyone! Yesterday was a great Sunday. We had a really good time and were able to have a lot of great fellowship with the deaf in Bucharest.

The deaf church started at 10:00. We showed up at about 9:50 and were the first ones there. We were surprised when by 10:05 there were only two people and the pastor hadn’t even shown up. Little did we know that this congregation is used to showing up extremely late. There were still tons of people filing in even an hour and a half after the service started. We had more people at the church yesterday then we have had any day this week which was a blessing. The deaf pastor of the church gave a sermon, and when he was done he invited Noah to preach, which was about the time most everyone had come.

After church we spent a few hours fellowshipping with the deaf. It seemed that a lot of the conversations we had were a lot like conversations we’ve had with other deaf over the past three weeks. It’s the same story over and over again, but it’s a true story. And the sad part is that the only reason it’s true is because of discrimination. We talked to so many people who expressed to us how horribly the deaf were treated. They kept telling us how hearing people think they are stupid and will push them down. That leaves them with no money and a hard life. Many of the deaf Christians expressed their frustrations with family members who are alcoholics. If you remember us talking about one of the women who accepted Christ in Moldova, she struggled with an alcoholic husband who could be abusive to her and her son. They truly do live in a silent world, because it’s a world of silent oppression. No one realizes that it’s going on, or stops to think it’s a bad thing. That’s part of why we’re in this ministry, because we have a heart for this cultural group, and want equality. It’s hard to tell the same story again and again but it’s one that needs to be told, and one that needs to be rewritten.

I’m sure many of you know the joke about the man stuck on his roof during a flood. A man in a paddle boat, a man in a motor boat, then a man in a helicoptor come by to save him, and the drowning man brushes them aside saying God will help him. When he dies he goes to heaven and asks God why he didn’t save him, and God tells him that he sent a paddle boat, a motor boat, and a helicoptor, what more could he ask for! We acted out this joke as a drama for the deaf in Romania and two people now have come up to us asking us where in the Bible that story was, saying they had forgotten where. This really struck us hard because the deaf really have no complete knowledge of the Bible, and thought that this joke was in the Bible. One of these people who asked us was a leader. The Bible Translation work is so important so that the deaf can understand the Bible and be able to read all of it instead of trying to make sense of the bits and pieces that they can read.

It’s also amazing how the deaf are taught that some things are taboo. We talked to several adults who expressed frustration that they were never able to go to college because there is no deaf college in Romania. It would be extremely difficult to get deaf people into hearing colleges though. Everyone is always surprised when they find out that Noah went to a hearing high school and is going to go to a hearing college. They can’t believe it. They also can’t believe that there are couples where one spouse is deaf and the other is hearing. They don’t know why a hearing person would ever want to do that.

Also, one important lesson learned: Never tuck in your shirt near an embassy. We were about to go into another church we visited during the evening, and Jacob wanted to tuck in his shirt. He went down the street behind a trailer and started tucking in his shirt, but he was right next to the Israeli embassy. The security guard at the gate saw him and started looking at him very suspiciously. He watched him the whole time, walked away for a few seconds, and then came back and started talking to Jacob in a foreign language. Jacob put his hands in the air and said “I’m just tucking in my shirt”, and that seemed to appease the guard. Praise the Lord that we didn’t start an international incident.

Prayer Requests:

1. Safe travel to Cluj tomorrow. We’ll be traveling eight hours by train.
2. The ability to plan well for our time there.
3. That a lot of deaf in Cluj and surrounding areas will hear about us and come.
4. For good planning for any meetings we may have with leaders.

 God Bless,

The Romanian Team-John 15:15/Jeremiah 33:3