Seeking the Presence of Jesus: Testimonies in Deaf Lives

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Within the 40 days of David's Tent, through worshipping and seeking the presence of Jesus, we have seen so much breakthrough in the lives of our Deaf friends and the Deaf community.  We have seen a dream come true, chains broken, people finding their voice, Deaf worship leaders birthed and more! Here are some testimonies as I have seen them through David's Tent.  

Giovanna . . . A dream come true

 Giovanna leading worship, picture of her signing forever. 

One night at David's Tent after the 7 to 9 set, she shared "I have always dreamed of worshipping Jesus in American Sign Language (ASL) on a stage."  I immediately said it is possible! And encouraged the girls that were there to request to led a 2 hour worship set for David's Tent.  All who were there was more then interested.  Less than a week later, 6 amazing Deaf women, Giovanna one of them, praise Jesus in ASL on a stage! Giovanna had a dream come true through David's Tent. 

Mariah . . . Chains are broken 

Mariah leading worship, picture of her signing cross. 

Mariah shared as we were talking and preparing for the 1st worship set that she might not lead any songs because she does not like to be up in front or leading anything.  Throughout the two hours, she led more than 2 songs and at the end of the 2 hours was eager to led another song.  There was chains broken in Mariah's life through worshipping Jesus. 

Esther . . . Steps into her calling 

Esther leading worship (first) and Esther leading the group in communion (second). 

Esther has had a strong calling to leadership her whole life.  However discussing the first set she said she might not led a song but would support others in leading.  Like Mariah, by the end of the first two hour set she had led 2 or 3 songs.  She shared that there was so much breakthrough that first night in her personal life! And God continued to do marvelous things in her life.  Within a couple weeks, by the third set, Esther was co-leading a 2 hour set with Kari (mentioned below).  At the end of the third set as we were all heading out the door, Esther got the group together and led all of us (hearing and Deaf) in communion to remember it is all about Jesus.  Through David's Tent, Esther stepped into her calling as a leader! 

Heather . . . Finds her voice 

Heather is the one in purple on the right.  She invited and brought her three deaf friends.

Growing up Heather, a hearing graduate student at Gallaudet University, was told that she was tone deaf and can not do music.  It was something that she just started believing about herself.  During the second ASL worship set, she asked God how to connect the Deaf worship for the hearing people sitting in David's Tent.  God told her to start singing what the Deaf worshippers were signing.  So she did.  And it was SOO beautiful and brought Jesus so much glory! Heather finds her voice during a Deaf worship set. I love Jesus and his marvelous plan!

Kari . . . A Deaf worshipper leader birthed 

Kari leading worship, picture of her signing we lift our voices to you.

Kari has always had the heart for worship and prayer for Jesus.  She was regularly coming to the Washington House of Prayer worship/prayer nights and actively seeking Jesus with us.  Through David's Tent, Kari was given the opportunity to not only seek Jesus herself but soar into making a path for other Deaf people to seek the presence of Jesus through worship by scheduling the first Deaf Worship set and encouraging people to come.  After the first one, she was hungry for more of His presence and signed up for 3 more 2 hour worship sets, making it a total of 4.  With each set, Kari grew in worship leading and allowing phrases from her heart sink in with repetition. As well as she made the way for 8 other Deaf lives to be touched and changed through her pioneering.  God through Kari made a path for intimacy with Jesus for hearing and Deaf alike through Deaf worship! 

Laura . . .  a Faithful flower buds

Laura at the Washington House of Prayer for the first time as the first Deaf worshipper (first), 

and Laura in the front row engaged in Deaf worship during David's Tent (second). 

Laura was the first Deaf person that attended Washington House of Prayer. She came one time, felt the presence of Jesus and just never stopped coming. Not only that but she started to invite others to encounter Jesus through worship.  Just like Andrew, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, recognized Jesus as the Messiah and went and got his brother Peter and brought him to Jesus, she recognized Jesus and brought others to him so they too can get to know him.  Also like Andrew I have seen the gift of faith in her and her faithfulness to Jesus.  She was sick and had a group project the opening night of David's tent but still stopped by the tent on a borrowed bike.  She was there many times during the 40 days, and the closing night starting at 5 pm to 9 pm in the freezing cold to just be with her God.  Like God is faithful to the end and will finish what he started, Laura and her faithfulness budded like a beautiful flower during David's Tent. 

Renca . . . a Bridge Builder 

Renca leading worship, picture of her signing fill us. 

Renca has an anointing of worship, as she worships in spirit and in truth.  She naturally can take the English words of a worship song and translate them in her head in the matter of seconds and produce a beautiful clear ASL phrase that represents the English words.  She has helped me interpret many times at David's Tent with a clearer ASL interpretation.  During the Deaf worship sets, I saw Renca become a mediator between the Deaf worship leaders and the hearing people seeking Jesus at the tent.  As she would ask for a song to be sung and then sign it in ASL.  Many times, hearing people would recongize the song and then start to pick up on the signs for the songs they knew.  She also encouraged the hearing people get up and worship through ASL with her.  God used Renca build a bridge for the Deaf and hearing people at the tent to walk across and be united in Christ. 

Jonathan and Justin . . . New identity and Made alive in Christ

Justin and Jonathan playing keeping the rhythm for worship.

Jonathan and Justin, are twin brothers and are Deaf drummers! Kari invited them to come alongside of the Deaf worship and drum.  They were able to come and drum for the last two sets of Deaf worship.  During the last set, there hands became tired from drumming, which was Jesus's plan to get them up and using their hands for worship through ASL.  As both of them lead worship, something in them was   lit anew.  Through it, I saw Jonathan gain a true understanding of who he really is.  His eyes were opened to a new identity through worshipping in ASL.  Justin was made alive in Jesus Christ.  It was like God restarted his heart to beat to the heartbeat of God through worshipping at David's Tent. 

During the 40 days of worship, God has created a group of community of Deaf believers who desire to seek the presence of Jesus through worship.  Dan and I are blessed to be a part of what God is creating in the lives of people here in D.C. and so excited to see what He is going to do next!

David's Tent Group Pictures: 

1st Deaf Worship Set at the White House Ellipse 

October 13th, Saturday morning 1 am to 3 am 

Left to Right: Dan, Carole, Giovanna, Mariah, Renca, Kari, Esther, Laura

2nd Deaf Worship Set at Faith Tabernacle Church (location due to Hurricane Sandy)

October 28th, Sunday night 11 pm to 1 am 

Leading: Kari and Renca

Playing musical worship: Time, John Mark, Dan 

Participating: Laura, Elizabeth, Renca's mom 

3rd Deaf Worship Set at Faith Tabernacle Church (location due to Hurricane Sandy)

October 30th, Tuesday night 9 pm to 11 pm 

Left to Right: Dan, Carole, Kari, Esther, Arlene, Justin, Jonathan, David 

Back Row: Tim

Middle Row: Justin, David, Jonathan, Jason, Dan, Esther, John Mark

Front Row: Kari, Elizabeth, Carole, Arlene

4th Deaf Worship Set at the White House Ellipse

November 1st, Thursday night, 9 pm to 11 pm 

Kari, Renca, Justin and Jonathan 

Family and Friends visit David's Tent

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David's Tent has been going on for over 30 days . . . we have been blessed to have family and friends come to the White House Ellipse and worship Jesus with us!  We are grateful that they made the trip and I know Jesus met with them as they came to pour themselves out to him through worship. 

Above: An amazing group of people from Mercer and Grove City, PA!  Dan's parents, a good friend Liz and the Augspurger's and Mach's, two couples from a Sunday School class at Grove City Alliance Church, a class who have been supporters of us for the last two years.  They drove on a Friday after work and spend the whole day Saturday with us and then drove back Saturday night! What troppers! When they arrived they had a great surprise and were able to take a tour of the White House garden lawns (which only happens once or twice a year)!  We had a great time at the tent worshipping Jesus as well as fellowshipping and share about what God is doing in DC.  It was a amazing how in a short amount of time we were able to really connect with each one of them.  Thank you for your love and prayers!

It was a joy for us to see our friends from the Covenant Life Church Deaf Group/Bible Study in DC as the group meets on Wednesday in MD.  This was the first Deaf bible study that we were able to connect with when we moved to DC.  It was through God's guidance and blessing that we were connected which encouraged us greatly that DC was the place where we were supposed to be and a place where God is moving in the Deaf community.  It was an overwhelming presence of almost everyone and plus some friends and family! Thank you for making the trip and praying for our nation and president from the White House Ellipse!  

Tom from Florida was one of the first Deaf people Laura (in the picture as well) brought to the House of Prayer when we first moved to DC.  Tom was visiting from FL and had to stop by the tent! It was so good to worship with him again in person! 

Kelby, Dan's brother who lives in NC also made a trip up with his daughter Kaelyn.  Kelby spend the night watch, 7 pm to 1 am, at the tent with Dan and joined in the worship!  Kaelyn got to spend time with Titi Carole and make four new friends, the Hershey children.  They warmed up to Kaelyn very fast and were sad when she had to leave! 

It was a blessing to see each one of you! Thank you for coming and worshipping Jesus from the nation's capitol with us! 

*David's Tent Random Fun Fact*

 As of DAY 25, we had a group, individual or family from each one of the 50 days here to worship Jesus with us! America loves Jesus! 

ASL Worship Video

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Davids Tent ASL Worship Set Video

Here is the link to a video made by a friend, Kari, from the pictures and videos that we took during the 2 hour ASL worship set for David's Tent.  Since this night, the girls have led two more two hour sets of worship through ASL.  It has brought breakthrough in their lives, the lives of the people there during the set as well as in the spirit of worship in DC!

We love what God is doing through David's Tent and in the Deaf community here in DC and being a part of it!

The Joys of being a Nanny!

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I was praying about my role within the team at the Washington House of Prayer, God opened my eyes to how much I have enjoyed spending time with the Hersey kids, the family that Dan and I live with right now.  Jason and Kimberlee are the founders of the Washington House of Prayer and have been living and praying for the nation for 7 years. They have a huge heart to see the end of abortion in America and revival here in America.  They are a son and daughter of God that talk with him through prayer and have a huge heart of worship.  They have four children. Cadance is 7, Blaze is 5, Avella is 3 and Anthem is 7 months old.  As I came here 4 months ago, I felt called to stay at home and serve with Kimberlee and help out with the house work and pouring life into her children.  The last four months has been a great learning time for me about children and how God sees us and his amazing character towards us always.  He always loves and is patient and wants to spend time with us! I have grown in my desire to reflect his character during the day with the kids that God has given me the opportunity to invest in.  Below are some pictures of what we do! 

I am teaching them American Sign Language throughout the day, which they love! They are signing the first letter for their names! They are children full of life and joy as reflected in this picture! They love to laugh!

Being silly and drinking when Carole is taking a picture!

They love stories, which is great because I love reading stories! We read stories from the bible or other books everyday! 

In the picture above, Cadance and Blaze heard Rev. 4 and 5, a picture of worship in heaven at the HOuse of Prayer read aloud and they wanted to hear it again and again.  During our bible school in Costa Rica one of our assignments was to draw a picture of the description in Rev. 4 and 5 so one night I brought them out and read Rev 4 adn 5 to them and they found all the people (24 elders, 4 living creatures, angels, lamb who was slain and more) in our pictures! Then they drew their own pictures of worship in heaven! It is so awesome how much they love hearing the Word of God!

Here the kids where playing and Cadance made signs for Sign Language Classes for 1 dollar! Instead of lemonade they were selling ASL classes! With themselves as the teachers! They went outside to see if anyone wanted to learn the signs for fruits and vegetables.  It was so adorable!

Children are a blessing from the Lord!

Psalm 127:3-5  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate
.

A typical day at Washington House of Prayer

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 So we have been in DC serving with YWAM at the Washington House of Prayer for about 5 weeks now! It has been a great amazing experience and God is growing us so much! I wanted to write a blog explaining what we do here so you know what kinds of things we do! So I am just going to go through a normal (although flexibility is the key because everyday has changes) day for us! 

For the last four weeks, our team has met at 6:00 AM at the White House Ellipse, the park right behind the White House, to pray fro 6 to 7 for an event called David's tent, 40 days and nights of continual worship to Jesus enthroning him as Lord over America.  The 40 days before the November 2012 election.  The event will be at this park, thus we come every morning preparing for the event by praying at the place. For more information go to http://dchop.org/.  I plan to write another blog about this event!  

We also host teams that come to DC for mission trips from around the United States.  So when a team is with us, they will join us in the morning for praying for David's tent and for Jesus to be Lord over America.  When I took this picture there was a youth group from Georgia with us! 

After the Ellipse, we dropped off Dan at the metro and he rode public transportation to Gallaudet University everyday were he was taking ASL 1 and ASL 2 language classes! He had classes from 9 to 2 everyday!  He learned a ton and his confidence in using ASL has greatly increased! He just completed his 4 weeks of ASL classes last week Friday! So this week is the first week that Dan will be joining the team for the full day!  It is a great week to start we as have a team of 60 youths from a church in VA here on a mission trip!

Then our team meets together from 730 to 10 for a devotional, worship and prayer.  These times are amazing to develop unity among our team and pray for breakthrough in our own lives as a community before leading others into intimacy with Jesus.  Everyday looks different.  We all take turns leading the devotional about a characteristic of God and then worship/pray together.  One day there is a bunch of worship other days more prayer.  We allow the Holy Spirit to led us in what to do for that day. 

         

   After our set of worship and prayer, the team splits up and works on their role for David's tent, such as scheduling the worship teams or researching about the housing options.  As I prayed about where God wanted me to serve, I felt a strong call to help the leaders, Jason and Kimberlee, at home with their four kids and help around the house.  Kimberlee does homeschooling, cleans, cooks and does                  it all with four kids! She is amazing and I get to help her at home.  I am writing another blog about the fun things that I do with the kids at home! 

Then on Tuesday and Friday nights, we have a worship/prayer set open for the public. Dan plays on the worship team and I interpret for our Deaf friends that come.  This time is a time for people in DC to worship Jesus and then pray for specific things on His heart.  We have a worship leader that leads us in worship as well as a prayer leader that seeks God's heart for that night on what we should pray for.  We have prayed for peace in Israel, the end of abortion, strengthening of traditional marriage in America, breakthrough in America and many other things! The picture below is of the YWAM DC team!  There is a group of about 16 of us, a few are not in the picture!  

Currently, Dan and I are visiting churches on Sundays to see where God would like us to get plugged into and serve while we are here in DC.  On our free time, we also go out with some of the friends that we have been meeting or reconnecting with here in DC and Gallaudet University.  One Sunday, we visited our friends Laura church and then spend the day with Laura and her friend Tom, who is doing a summer internship at Gallaudet University.  Later that week, Dan had the opportunity to have lunch with Tom at Gallaudet. 

Here is another day, where after Dan's classes and my interpreter workshop, we had the opportunity to go to the DC zoo and met up with friends.  Here Dan is explaining in American Sign Language how we met in New Mexico! 

Divine Appointments in Washington DC

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We have been in Washington DC in for only 4 short weeks, and already God has moved in such mighty ways! Below are a few of the divine appointments that God has set up for us!

Above is Laura Penrod, she was a camper at Camp Lions of IL when I worked at a summer camp for the Deaf when I was in college.  She was one of the campers that I got really close with and developed a friendship with.  We keep in touch for a few years after camp but then lost touch with each other.  Three months ago, two months before moving to DC, I receive a FB message from her with the pictures above.  She was going through things and found this pictures and shared that she missed me.  In this email she explained that she was a senior at Gallaudet university this year.  And she was doing well but it was hard to be a christian at Gallaudet.  I quickly emailed back stating that we were moving to DC and would be there for her senior year.  The first time Dan and I were on campus, I walked by the computer lab and guess who was working, YEP Laura was!  It was a divine appointment!  Laura was the first our a handful of Deaf friends to come to the Washington House of Prayer and comes regularly to the worship/prayer times!  She loves it so much she always invites a friend!  I am so blessed by her eagerness to know God more and grow in relationship with him!  

Laura than invited Dan and I to a Deaf bible study that she goes to and so we went! The leader of the bible study (the guy with blond hair with his hand up in the picture below), Rusty, was a friend of mine when I went to Gallaudet.  When he saw me he recognized me right away and quickly gave me a hug! 

As I went I meet many Deaf people as well as interpreters for the Deaf at the bible study.  It was a great connection point and we plan to continue to go to the bible study throughout the year.  But God had so much more than this.  The women who has her arm up in the corner of the women was the interpreter for the night, as two hearing adults attend the bible study as well.  Loriel is her name and she is a staff interpreter at Gallaudet University and little did I know but she was the coordinator for the Interpreter Week that I attended at Gallaudet university last week!  

Above are the two coordinators for the Interpreter Training Week that I attended this last week at Gallaudet.  Loriel is on the left and Phyllis is on the right.  Both are strong christians and amazing interpreters!  God planned that I would learn from them the whole week of my workshop at Gallaudet! 

Divine Appointments in Washington DC, Part 2

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So there were just so many divine appointments and open doors 

that I needed to add a part 2 to the blog so here it is! 

In the picture below is Kari and her mom Diana.  Kari was an undergrad student at Gallaudet when I attended school there.  We were friends and knew that each other were strong Christians.  As I knew that were were moving to DC I emailed her on FB asking if she was still a student and living in DC.  She wrote back explaining that she graduate but was still living in DC as an independent full-time missionary! And the she knew of YWAM as her mother, who is Deaf did a DTS in Kona Hawaii through an interpreter in 1982 and went to Philippains and Twain for outreach.  Kari and her brother were kids at the time their partners did their DTS thus spend the 3 months on the Kona base and then went on outreach with them!  I was so excited to see Kari!  The same week we arrived in DC, Kari's mother was visiting DC!  So that week I had the chance to go out to lunch with Kari and her mom.  We  chatted for 4 hours about what God was doing in our lives and had done as well as her experience doing a DTS through an interpreter and any suggestions that she had for us as we desire to set one up in ASL for Deaf people to do!  It was such an amazing connection! 

Kari also attends the YWAM House of Prayer and Laura Penrod's (the girl I wrote the last blog about) happen to just move in with Kari as her roommate! Small world! Well, a week ago Kari shared that she was having some friends come into town that she would like me to meet who were christians and asked if I could go out on Thursday night!  I said I would love to.  Well, during the first day of interpreter workshop at Gallaudet, I met another interpreter who was christian named Abby (picture below).  She shared she was excited to meet another christian who was in the Deaf community as she has not met any and really wanted to get more involved in ways that she can use her gift of signing to bring Deaf people into a deeper relationship with Jesus.  We talked and got along great.  Well, a couple days later God laid it on my heart to invite Abby to Thursday night outing as well so she could meet some Deaf people that love Jesus! So we came too! 

Dan, Abby and I meet Kari and her friends at the zoo!  One of her friends was a Deaf missionary that serves in Honduras at a Deaf school named Azael!  I had met Azael in Honduras in Dan and I's first DTS outreach that we staffed when we were in Honduras.  A good friend Alissa was on a missionary trip in Tegucigalpa, Honduras that same week that Dan and I were in Tegucigalpa for our outreach! So I joined my friend Alissa for a day at the Deaf school that she was working at and met Azael.  It was the same guy! It was so cool to see him again and hear about what God was doing in the Deaf community in Honduras.  

The other friend that Kari had was a girl named Jenna, who was Azael's girlfriend.  We got to talking and she shared that she was involved in CRU and every summer interpreters for the Summer Project for CRU for people who are Deaf but just last year realized that she needs more interpreters due to the increased amount of Deaf people that want to attend as well the need to interpret all day long.  She was not even gone finished explaining when Abby started asking questions and shared that she wanted to become one of the interpreters next summer for the summer project!  That is why I knew I had to invite Abby, God wanted her to connect with Jenna! They exchanged emails and plan to keep in touch.  Abby got motivated to get involved with CRU in her city in Houston TX. 

It was such an amazing night! We glorified God by sharing what He was doing in our lives and then spend some time praying for God's will to happen in the Deaf community as it is in heaven! We praised Him for what He is already doing and asked Him for MORE!!! What divine appointments! 

Thank you Jesus!

Below are some pictures of the socialization after the worship/prayer sets at the House of Prayer.  We have had 6 different Deaf friends come within the last 3 weeks! The YWAM staff are so interested in learning ASL and the Deaf people are so excited to teach that we end up staying at least an hour after the worship just hanging out!  It is so beautiful and fun to be a part of! 

Laura is teaching Kate and Rachel, YWAM staff, the ABCs in American Sign Language! (above) 

Dan is using his ASL skills to get to know Tom, Laura's friend, better!  By the way, Tom is another divine appointment! Alissa my friend who went to Honduras is Tom's interpreter at his college in Florida! Tom was in DC at Gallaudet for the summer for an internship!  Small world! He was able to come to the House of Prayer two times before leaving for the summer! We miss you Tom!

Kari using her sense of humor and God given gifts to communicate with hearing people to teach ASL as well as make everyone laugh really hard! 

We are so excited about what God is doing and what more He has planned for us in Washington, DC!