Bible Class

As in any culture, there is a problem here with Gossip. So we combined the Married Couples class as well as the Bible Class to teach on this subject. We taught using various skits showing how you can be bound into the slavery of sin (gossip being one of the things that tangles us), but how we can be set free from it as well. We also taught how to confront those who are in sin. Everyone enjoyed it, now we're praying that they begin to apply it to their lives.

TBLESSA TEAM

Here the TBLESSA team is trying to establish the spreadsheet for the Organization of our team, developing who will be in charge of what area, who will be a part of that area, etc.

Thanks Howard for showing us how to do this.

Visit from Howard

Since we are no longer meeting in my house we are setting up a new location in Iglesia Bautista Miramonte. Here, we are fixing the backdrop to begin video taping as well as taking more pictures for the Sign Language Book.

We had a gentleman, Howard, who is currently working in Colombia with their Sign Language Team. He came and gave a wonderful workshop on Organization of the team.

We've already begun putting the information we learned into practice. We also took him to the School for the Deaf here in San Salvador, he thoroughly enjoyed it.

He also did a lot of observing while he was here and gave us some useful tips that we can incorporate in our work. We're praying that he'll be able to come back and work with us again some day.

New Arrivals

Look what's come to El Salvador, Walmart and Sears! The prices aren't the same, but they do have more things for me to choose from. :-D

Wycliffe Bible Translators Video of TBLESSA

Last year Wycliffe Bible Translators came and visited TBLESSA and took videos of our work. The have posted it on their web page. Check it out, it turned out wonderfully. You can get a sense of the need for this project.

http://www.wycliffe.org/deaf.aspx

New Apt.

This is the view from my balcony fo the San Salvador Volcano


This is the beautiful flowers that I get to look at as I walk with Canela in my apartment complex.








This is Canela with her new haircut!

The pool, which I haven't even used yet. I've been tempted, but haven't had the time. First unpack and get organized, caught up on work, then I'll enjoy it.

My bedroom

Exercise room

Office

Living Room

Dining room

Kitchen






It wasn't easy finding a place, packing, having a garage sale and moving all within 2 weeks, but God gave me two wonderful ladies that came to help me out. I couldn't have done it without them.

Passed the baton

We celebrated birthdays; Claudia and Christian both had birthdays this past week (they're holding the cake).

Please pray for the translition from working in my house to working in the church. As always there will be glitches, but pray that we'll all be flexible in the new atmosphere.

The other changes that I made since I came back from vacation is that I've turned over the responsibility of leadership to the Deaf. It's exciting because one of my goals here was to train the Deaf to be leaders. So Grisel and José Eduardo are the leaders of TBLESSA and Edwin and Adela are the leaders of the Bible class. This will be a huge transition for them as they learn to take over as leader instead of just as helpers. But I have confidence in them that they'll do a wonderful job. I will still work along side of them to help in any way. But little by little I want them to completely take over.

Prayer request:

1. Flexibility in the transition from my house to the church.

2. For the new leaders: Grisel, José Eduardo, Edwin and Adela.

3. For the new interpreters that have joined the team and the other who's considering joining.

New Spaces

Friday afternoons will be divided between the Sign Language Project and the Bible Translation. here Eleana (interpreter) is helping the team with some of the difficult concepts in the Genesis story we're working on for translation. Saturday morning will be divided between the Sign Language Project and Bible Translation, but the afternoon is solely dedicated to Bible Translation. Sabrina (in the pink) is observing to see if she'd like to join the TBLESSA team or the Bible class on Sundays. She's a new interpreter. We were offered this space for Saturday morning and afteroon, however, there's been a scheduling problem and we can only use this area in the morning. In the afternoon there is another class here.

Until then we will be using the office space for our meetings. After 2 months the other class will be finished and we'll be able to go back to the other area. Either way we're grateful for the church offering us the space.

We have three new interpreters that have joined the TBLESSA team; Eleana who will work on Friday afternoons, Walter and Erika who will work on Saturday afternoons. This is an answer to my prayers because it was a lot of responsibility for me being the only hearing (who's Spanish is limited) to have others to join in this ministry.

March 2011

There have been some changes with TBLESSA. We are no longer meeting in my house, but the church has offered us some places where we can meet and work. This will be a process in getting established but it's going to be better for the team as well as for myself. One area is the Library of the church. There are three cubicles and we share one with others in the church. So I bring my laptop and set up at the desk to work. The other area is the long tables we have on Friday mornings. Three team members work on Friday mornings (Edwin, Adela and I) and Grisel joins us in the afternoon. We devote the morning to work on the Sign Language project.

February

We finally finished a huge project. The Teachers Sign Language Book, the Student Workbook and DVD set is also finished.

I made copies of the DVD's, 75 in all.

Edwin put the labels on and Adela put the student workbooks together.

Praise the Lord this project is finished, now to continue onto more books that need to be completed.

Training for TBLESSA

Last weekend our team was involved in a Evangelism Workshop and it´s main focus was for the Deaf (love it), not hearing folks. They received the training and the broke up into pairs to practice.

Medical Team

This is one of my favorite teams that come to El Salvador. Unfortunately I could only work with them one day. Next year I plan to clear my schedule so I can go with them each day. It´s incredible what they do and the amount of people they see each day.







While the doctors are with the adults, the other group takes the children for singing, dancing and piñatas. Over 500 people accepted Christ in the 4 days they were in the small towns of El Salvador.





This is my friend Beth from the team. She stayed with me one year and I really enjoyed it. I wish I could host someone again, but not being able to drive at night makes it impossible. I did enjoy her the year I could do it.

Wycliffe Bible Translators

Wycliffe Bible Translators had a meeting in El Salvador and so TBLESSA was asked to do the devotion and present our project. I´m so proud of the group, they did a wonderful job. I on the other hand, was having trouble interpreting into English, my own language. It was the simple words that tripped me up, like the book of Mark. Four different languages in my old brain is just too much. Overall I think it went well.

Sunday School

Praise the Lord, Edwin is back teaching Sunday school. He has made a decision to serve the Lord and I truly see a heart change. Grisel is happy for the help. Now they each teach two Sunday´s a month, although there´s a lot of team teaching going on as well.





Working with the Deaf you need to include pictures, dramas and explanations and Grisel and Edwin are doing an excellent job.









With the Deaf teaching Deaf, the clase is growing. Most of the time we are borrowing chairs from the other classrooms to seat them all. God is doing amazing work.








This past Sunday a new Deaf (black shirt) arrived to the class and after "seeing" God´s Word accepted Christ. The other, Violeta in the plaid shirt re-committed her life to God.

TBLESSA

We continue with our Bible Translation. The team has put the first part of the translation into their grammar and Grisel is signing the story to see if they are in agreement with the grammar and the signs. This is the first process and then we put it on video.


José Eduardo is working on the cutting and editing for our Sign Language Video. This is apart from the Bible Translation. There hasn´t been anything in print since 1996. We then ask some of the Deaf from the community to come in and make sure the Spanish and the signs are correct.