InterVarsity LSM

Just last Sunday I made a connection in the city with a group called "compa". They are young people who are Christians from all different churches and all different universities. They each, in their own schools, have opened Bible study/outreach groups to reach the students from their colleges/universities.
It is the same organization as InterVarsity.

(I actually just heard about this group while I was in California a few weeks back and I was amazed at all they were doing on the Channel Islands Campus.)

Well, last week God brought me to this Mexican group of young adults, that I didn't even know existed! FUN, isn't He?

They ended up asking me to teach them all LSM.

THAT IS a good good plan to me!

With each of them in different churches

each of them on different campuses...

that can help a whole lot of people.

I like that idea. Working together to reach the not yet reached.

The Deaf community here in the city is big and growing.

Many of them are in the universities and super smart. Thanks to a big Deaf community.

These new students of mine will reach and enter into places that I cant go. THAT is the point of the body.

So, today is the first time and I hope to not only share Deaf culture and LSM but also my history, love for this people group, and passion for them too to know Love.

A Patriarch Of Mexico - Missionary to the Deaf

Blessed + encouraged! Close to home. Awesome.

Check this article out!
http://www.bimi.org/worldMag/303A3.php

Have a great day!
-Moriah

Wrap it up.

It has been two solid years in Baja California serving at Rancho Sordo Mudo. I had no idea what I was getting myself into coming here and boy did I grow in every area of life. Honestly, I could stay comfortably watching these kids grow up and pouring into them. But God has called me to move. This step is pretty big... I am going to a place that I have never been. Stepping out on the water and going out to the unknown where I need to rely on God more than ever. I want to constantly be stepping out deeper,constantly into the unknown. Not on my own or all just about me, myself, and my own strength but about God and because He is so good, His grace is so sufficient and He never fails.


Long term vision
-Study Spanish (8 months at Roca Blanca in Oaxaca, Mexico)
New blog [Investigate more here]

Queretaro
-Teach sign to the church community
-Teach sign to the deaf in the community
-Establish deaf teachers
-Disciple the deaf
-Raise up leaders among the deaf
-Train the deaf to be pastors
-Establish a reproducing church among the deaf
-Remain until this is all done

I will be representing the unreached people group- the Deaf of Mexico. Let me be your bridge , it is my job to represent them to you. I would love to talk about this more with you. Would you help me by sending me?

Highlights

 After High school, when deciding to come to Rancho Sordo Mudo in 2011, I had no set plans for my future. I came to serve and never decided how long I would stay, I thought I'd stay here until God showed me otherwise. 

I came thinking they would find some work for me to do. Well they found work... I started team teaching with Olivia (another teacher) in October  and then had a class of my own the rest of that year.  Looking back remembering that CRAZY class, it was insane! So many emotions for us all. I had no clue what I was doing here, how to do the job, or how to love these kids. Lots of praying and lots of crying for both me and my students. That first year felt like everything was being thrown at me. But God did not stop guiding me and I because of Him I did not quit. 

It seems the first year God was breaking me and preparing me for the second year to come.  My students the second year were completely different little people with different personalities.  There was less anger and less fighting but more crazy and more exhaustion. My little guys (plus 3 big guys) were nuts the first few months and I had help most of that time. Only one student physically fought us almost daily and was a struggle this year but has improved in big ways. God has blessed him with so much joy, always laughing and I think God has used that boy to teach me, I never thought that could happen. I have been blessed this year to see so much improvement in my students. Kids that came here with little or no language, not yet communicating. Now they know their names, they are expressing  their feeling, and they are starting to understand that they are creation made by God who loves them. I have been blessed with students who love to pray and encourage me and remind me to pray.  I have been able to see so much confusion and anger change to more understanding and love.  It is amazing to to a part of this process, not easy and not always fun... at times very honest, raw, and ugly, but God is always so good.

I had the opportunity to go to Rosarito for 3 days with most of the kids here. It was such a great break from school and from most responsibilities.

This is Leticia, it was her first time seeing the ocean- this was her experience! 

 

Signing "Cold"

signing "cold" again

More photos from the trip.

Dinner with my gals.

hangin out with the goats and sheep!

Eddie

Isabel, Marisela, and Dayan with their giant kelp

boat ride in Ensenada!

& the seals! Monsters.

let worship be our song & our lives

ITS NOVEMBER!


What has been happening here at Rancho Sordo Mudo...
well this morning the Joshua Wilderness group left at 6:30am. They came here on Monday and we a great group of young people! I had the opportunity to really get to know them, learn about the students more this year than last year. They got down to business right away and started working... they worked hard everyday and Thursday went to the Baja 1000 in Ensenada (every year this giant race happens through Baja California and it is something to see!) It is really nice to have other people here that I can talk to and its even cooler when we are the same age! The kids LOVED them also! The staff helped the kids talk to the Joshua students and the Joshua students asked us to help them talk to the kids. Our kids wanted to talk to bad they would act things out, gesture, and write words or draw in the sand. Friday night all of us together in the auditorium worshiped our God. Amber interpreted into Mexican Sign Language and two students from the Joshua group vocally lead worship and then we said our goodbyes.

Every evening the group had a meeting, time together, devotionals, a game, or hear Luke speak. One of the nights they met together the De La Rosa's gathered the group... they talked about how God has been working in their lives and told how they came to the ranch. Robin asked me to share a little bit about how God is providing for me, she also asked Olivia, Johnny/Amber, and Jason to share. Some of the students are really interested and I had an opportunity at a different time that night to talk with a few of the students more about life here and what they could be praying for.

Something cool, yesterday evening (Friday) I was surprised at dinner Daniel Griffes walked into the chow hall. For three years in high school at The Bridge church Daniel led us students on trips to Mexico, trips down the street to our neighbors, or in cities close by. Whether we were in our country or in another he taught us how to serve, how to love others before ourselves, how to work as a team and encourage one another following Jesus's example. I was so excited to see him and He was excited because he saw both me and Stephen Burns, who was here with the group from the Joshua program. So today we got a chance to talk all about what he is doing in Tijuana at Radius and I shared more about my class here. So good to see friends again and really get to talk and know what each person is doing and how God is using them.


Well, God is providing the money I need to be here this year. I have no reason to doubt or worry because He is faithful! Last night during the worship I started to pray and give thanks... I put my hands into my coat pockets and felt more than just my chap stick... I pulled out a $20 dollar bill wrapped in a piece of paper that said "Moriah God will  provide" and I put it back in my pocket and started to laugh. He is so good.
 ----
As I am writing this in my classroom God is showing me His faithfulness again, right this minute. Two minutes ago Daniel came back to say goodbye and passed me money... I did not expect that at all and am so blessed by people again and again. Just when I think I am doomed and that people will not reach out and help with money I am proved wrong. All my beliefs and judgments are thrown out the window. Instead I see so much love.

Prayer
I am praying that my life is lived for God, totally surrendered to Him. I want to live in His Presence, know Him, & know his voice.