In the Dulles, DC airport, as I was praying for the flight and trip, God told me to buy a bunch of DC postcards I left DC. So I walked around and found a store that sold DC postcards and brought 36 of them. When I arrived at the conference I knew what He wanted me to do with them. :) It was a brilliant idea, as all of God's ideas are. With in 3 days, I wrote 35 of the 36 postcards, with encouraging words of how God sees them and passed them all out!
I loved gesturing how a couple from Japan had the radiance of God just like Moses coming down from the mountain after meeting with God or just like Abraham Lincoln a couple had changed and have a calling to unify Korea or one from Hong Kong had the living water of God flowing in them directly from Heaven and flowing out of them to all who they come in contact with.
There were so many beautiful people I met at the conference, here a only a few of them. Below pictures of International Culture Night at the Conference!
Yamamoto Family: Japan
Kazuyuki and Akiko and their 4 year old son, Yuya are a family that I immediately connected with. Kazuyuki graduated from Gallaudet University in the early 90s thus was fluent in ASL and English and served as one of the ASL interpreters for the week.
I had breakfast with him and his family Wednesday morning and learned that they met, got engaged and got married months within Dan and I! And Akiko is 4 months pregnant just a month behind me. During breakfast I was struggling with my chopsticks but was not going to give up, Yuya, got out of his seat and came over and taught me how to use them and moved my fingers farther back on them.
The last day, they asked to pray together. So we had an amazing time of prayer, praying for Japan, Asia, our families and the children in our wombs. There was an overwhelming sense of peace and unity among us as we prayed.
Sim Kuo: Indonesia
God grabbed my heart for Indonesia through Sim Kuo. One night at dinner, I asked him to share about his country and any prayer requests. He shared two things: the needs for missionaries to come to his country for the Deaf and the research of the thousands of sign languages on all islands.
Indonesia has over 17,500 islands and around 6,000 are inhabited and 1,000 permanently settled. And Sim Kuo shared that almost each islands has its own sign language! On top of that, the country is also 85% Muslim so he shared a strong need for christian missionaries to come. He shared that many go to near by nations but few go to Indonesia due to the strong Islamic influence. But he said, I am there and living and fine so why don't others come. Honestly, my heart broke for Indonesia and after dinner had to intercede for the country before the next session! Jesus send your sons and daughters to Indonesia!
Roommates: Singapore group
I was roomed up with an amazing group of 7 people from Singapore! I had one roommate, Goh Yi Zhen, but then all the others roomed next to us. This group of youth were so welcoming! I arrived for dinner the first night and overwhelmed with the amount of people that I did not know and there in a back corner, was the Singapore group that I just met waving to me as they had saved a seat at their table! I was so blessed by this group. They truly love each other deeply and through it Jesus is so clearly shown.
This group of people are so hungry for discipleship in missions! They have started making trips to Cambodia, another country that has little to none missionaries for the Deaf there. Pauline, one of them who works at their church shared honestly the need for teaching about missions. She was familiar with YWAM and very interested in getting some training from us. This group brought so much life to the conference!
Kim Yong Ja: Korea
I met Kim Yong Ja outside of her hotel room on my same floor the first morning. She had forgotten her key and was locked out of her room. She was banging on the door but her roommate was completely Deaf like herself. I said a simple prayer for God to open the door and gave her a hug and went to breakfast. At breakfast, she ran to me and gestures that soon after I left her roommate had opened the door. She was so excited about the power of prayer. All week, when she saw me she just waved or smiled. The last day, I gave her a post card from DC with a one dollar bill and the packaging the postcards came in, she was trilled! And did not believe it was for her. :) She bowed many times and ran off to share with her friends. She was a woman filled with JOY!
International Culture Night Picture and More
Japan
Korea
Indonesia
Hong Kong
Taiwan
Japan
Korea
Singapore
Hong Kong
Taiwan
