Our Journey with Christ: May 2022

CCCD Knockpatrick-4 people Accept Jesus, 15 Pray to be Bold

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CCCD Knockpatrick-4 Accept Jesus, 15 Pray to be Bold Witnesses

We were able to spend time at CCCD Knockpatrick Campus sharing all the things that God has done in our lives with them! Many of the students there knew our staff and students, as they attended CCCD and one graduated at Knockpatrick campus. It was amazing to see how powerful the DEAF testifying was in other DEAF peoples lives. And not only was it Deaf testifying but DEAF JAMAICANS! When our staff and students were sharing their testimonies, all the listeners' eyes were paying attention! The Knockpatrick staff really encouraged us by telling us that as rare as it was to have a signing team come to campus, they have never had a Deaf Jamaican team come and share the gospel in their heart language! It was the first time! Many Deaf people understood clearly for the first time about Jesus. Four people accepted Jesus, and about 15 people (including our YWAM team) prayed for more of Holy Spirit so they would become become Bold Witnesses for Jesus! It was a very powerful time!

We were able to lead 2 days of devotions, dividing our team into two groups. One group taught the older students while the other group taught the younger ones. We taught about the Trinity and creation.

The older students learned about how the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit work together and have perfect unity. We exemplified this teaching by having a student lie across three chairs, feeling the full support when all three chairs were there. But then, as one chair was pulled away, that student experienced the f feeling of not being as supported. The same is true with The Trinity, all three are one yet have different roles, but all three are important and work together.

The younger group learned about the Trinity through mangos and eggs.

Each one is one thing but has three parts!

In the evenings, we hosted two evangelistic services; sharing testimonies and the gospel presentation through drama and storytelling. I do not have many pictures, but wow, they were powerful nights! It was during these evenings 4 people: two students and two workers decided to accept Jesus for the first time. And one night, I felt led by Holy Spirit to ask people who already accepted Jesus if they wanted prayer to become bold witnesses to share the gospel here in Jamaica. I LOVE that all our YWAM staff and students were the first ones to jump out of their seats wanting more of Holy Spirit. Others joined them, and we had an amazing time praying for each one to become a bolder witness for Jesus.

All three Deaf Jamaicans with a former teacher

Girl fellowship time

Prayers as we left

We are definitely planning to continue to visit and pour into the Deaf community in Knockpatrick. The campus was so open to learning more about Jesus!

St. Elizabeth Deaf Church-Students Testify, One Rededicates her Life

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St. Elizabeth's Deaf Church-Students Testify, One Rededicates her Life

It was such a joy to partner with Deaf Bible Church in St. Elizabeth Parish of Jamaica, where most of the Deaf use Country Sign Language (CSL) and have little- to- zero years of formal education. We were able to serve the church by leading the church service on Sunday, with Pauline Bent, the leader of the church, interpreting into Country Sign Language. It was so fun being with them!

Adrian shared his testimony, we did a drama, Lorraine shared the gospel, and Natalie prayed. It was amazing to see our students grow in how to communicate what God has done in their lives! One woman decided to rededicate her life to Jesus. It was amazing to see God work through the students.

We had some great times of fellowship, praying for each other and playing games at night.

One thing that was said over and over was how our team loved each other. They saw our team praying for each other, encouraging each other, supporting each other and having fun with each other! It reminded me of John 13:35: If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.

Jamaican Deaf Village-Praying and Preaching the Gospel

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Jamaica Deaf Village-Praying and Preaching the Gospel

We went to the Jamaica Deaf Village for a day and just spent the day praying over people. I was partnered up with Lorraine and she prayed so powerfully for the people in the picture. Each one went home filled with LIFE!!!

We also practice preaching the gospel; deciding to be bold and unashamed of the gospel of Christ! A few workers passed then stopped by, and we even got two Deaf Jamaicans to practice preaching the gospel after us!

Jamaican Deaf Village-A Small Step of Obedience

One afternoon we were just hanging out (pictured above) and Caleb, one of our staff, asked Pastor Shelton if he wanted to play games and have fellowship with our team. In a moment, Pastor Shelton decided to invite others from the Jamaican Deaf Village and drive a large van to campus. It ended up being a large night of games, prayers and fellowship!

God divine appointments- Two Deaf people get jobs in MB

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God divine appointments- Two Deaf people get jobs in MB

God cares so deeply for me, a mother in missions! I do often fight lies related to feeling left out as I am juggling caring for my family and supporting my husband as he leads our community. Mother's Day was this month, and God broke all those lies and spoke truth that He cares deeply for me. He practically emphasized the truth that I am not missing out of His kingdom through this amazing testimony!

Please meet Davia. When we moved to Jamaica she was one of the students at CCCD vocational training program we met early on. Here is a picture of the very first Deaf gathering we had sharing about our heart to train Deaf missionaries. (You notice Kenroy and Clifton were there, too, that night in Jan 2019.) Well, Davia was there as the only girl!

After she graduated, she got a job at Progressive Food bagging groceries and had been working there since. I shop weekly at Progressive, and weekly I look for Deaf people who are working there. I get in their lines so they bag my groceries; giving me the opportunity to talk and sometimes pray with them. Here in Jamaica, the bagger walks the groceries directly to your car and loads them for you. Over the years, I usually get Davia and have times to listen to a brief update and pray for her. Recently, her conversation has been about her desire to get a new job where she is actually working in the kitchen with food prep, which is what she was trained for. She had been interviewing without luck for months, and I continued to encourage her that God has a plan. She has been so faithful at her current job and is a hard worker!

Well, one day when Grandma was here, she and I were going out on a date just to get some quality time in the middle of the move, and we planned to get Thai food, my favorite. Unfortunately, the restaurant was not opened, so we need to look for another place quickly to have enough time to pick up the kids. We walked and found a few places, going into each one to check out the menu, and we finally decided on DLE Cafe. We walked in for the first time and was about to order when Davia walked out! I quickly asked why she was there, and she explained she just finished an interview for a job there. I asked who she interviewed with and told her I would advocate for her! We hugged, and she left. Immediately, I introduced myself to John, the restaurant manager, and I told him what a great worker Davia was. As we talked, I found out John was a Christian. I gave him my contact information and told him our staff would help train his hearing staff for Deaf workers. He soon called me and said he was going to hire Davia and also wanted to hire a Deaf male! Kenroy and I went that Saturday and trained his staff on how to interact with the Deaf. A chance encounter? No way!!! God intervened on a lunch out to place me exactly where he wanted me! It was such an amazing moment for God confirming He loved me and was using me for His kingdom!

Kenroy Longrin, a Deaf Jamaican Missionary,

doing a Deaf culture/JSL training for two managers at DLE Cafe.

Kenroy did an amazing job sharing his story of losing his hearing at 10 years old over night and his journey into the Deaf world. He shared that he is thankful and believes it was a miracle of God for him to be able to be a bridge between hearing and Deaf communities and share the gospel with Deaf people!

Kenroy also taught the cafe staff about Deaf people and Deaf culture; Simple facts like we are a people group that uses sign languages as our main mode of communication with a "way of life, values and beliefs, based on "seeing" and visually receiving information. So we are just like Jamaicans in their culture or any another group of people with the same values. Kenroy and I also taught, through some basic Deaf culture pointers, how to honor Deaf people and gave communication tips! Some of our topics included: viewing us as normal people, communicating with writing on paper, text messages or using gestures and body language to communicate, the importance of eye contact, and how to get a Deaf person's attention by waving, tapping on the shoulder or pounding a table for vibrations! John, the head manager, videoed the workshop to share with his workers.

Lastly, Kenroy taught some Jamaican sign language to help give them a start for the first day with two Deaf workers. He taught the alphabet, greetings like "good morning" and "how are you", "my name is . . . "He also provided space in the training for them to learn common phrases they use daily in the cafe such as "kitchen" "juice bar" "can you help me?" and common fruits and vegetables the two Deaf workers will be cooking daily!

Both John and Suehan did an amazing job learning JSL and understanding how to welcome Deaf people! Kenroy was impressed with how quickly and eagerly they were learning the concepts he taught

and using signing with him after he taught it! DLE Cafe is going to be a great environment for Deaf people to work and come to for lunch or a smoothie!

They blessed us with smoothies after the training. We will definitely be going to this cafe more and telling more people about it! I love God and his connections and how He cares deeply about me too!

A visit after her first week of work!

Here is John, the manager's testimony of the encounter!

Grandma McClelland's Trip to Jamaica

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It was such a blessing to have Grandma McClelland here for the last 2 weeks! She was a blessing in so many ways!!!! Especially loving and giving so much attention to our children, during the transition of moving from the Christian Caribbean School for the Deaf to the YWAM base! She is also great with the camera so enjoy pictures from her eye here in Jamaica!

Moving Day! Olive and Valor helped with their room. Olive was on Easter break but Valor had school but he asked to stay home to be a part of the moving day so he did!

Our new house all set up! Grandma helped so much to help me start when I was not sure how to begin or where I wanted something. And she was amazing but I finally decided where I wanted it, often moving things two or three times. :) You can also see our book shelf is filled with books from both set of grandparents and friends sending us books here in Jamaica!