Author: deafmgecko

Burundi DOT Workshop

/ deafmgecko / 2 Comments

Greetings! We just completed DOT workshop in Burundi last Friday (January 28th). It went very well. The translators did a great job to translate God’s Word into their Burundian sign language. We also trained 2 translators for editing videos. Pray for them to continue their translation work in Burundi. See pictures below. Some pics were taken by Sammy Ropp.

Bujumbura, Burundi – Great hotel (King’s Conference Centre)

A day after I arrived in Burundi, we went to deaf church. We enjoyed the service!

We taught them how to translate God’s Word into their sign language. We did a devotion every morning.

Fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ

We went to deaf church again, this time Sammy and I shared our testimonies and God’s Word. It was amazing!

They did checking process of their drafting translation work with others. They corrected their drafting before goes to final filming.

They did editing the videos on completed 12 chapters of Mark. We did give them certificates on the last day. May God bless them all!

I’m staying one more week in Burundi for another workshop. It’s for SUN (symbols for deaf illiterate, it helps them to understand God’s Word). I will update soon. Blessings!

Upcoming trip: Burundi

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! I’m exciting for this trip to Burundi for DOT and SUN workshops. I will leave on January 14th and will stay there for 3 weeks. Here are my prayer requests below…

  • All my flights will be on time.  No cancellations.
  • Protect from COVID for all of us in workshops.
  • Help them to understand God’s Word in Bible translation.
  • Wisdom and guidance needed for workshops.

I will share any update regarding Burundi workshops. Thank you for your continuing support!

Blessings!

St Petersburg, Russia

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! I forgot to post it on my blog before my Russia trip. I just arrived safely in St Petersburg today. So far, it’s great. On Monday, I will have a meeting with leaders for deaf church in St Petersburg. Pray that everything will go smooth and hopefully the workshop will happen in Russia next year. I will update my blog soon. Blessings!

Namibia workshop for Deaf illiterate

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! I came back from Namibia for training deaf people in SUN workshop. It was a great week for all of us! I pray for them to understand God’s Word through symbols. You may ask what is a SUN?

SUN (Symbolic Universal Notation) is a program that brings Scripture to the illiterate deaf as well as the deaf-blind. Using a symbolic system of writing, the illiterate deaf who may not educated in sign language as well as the deaf-blind can read God’s word for themselves.

It would take years and years for illiterate Deaf to learn alphabet and words. With these symbols, they can learn much more quicker. In a week, they learned over 150 symbols!

We went to Centre Communications for Deaf Studies in Windhoek for a workshop. It was a great place for deaf people go to.

We worship God at beginning of the workshop.

We taught symbols and used pictures to help them understand symbols.

They continue to learn symbols for 5 days.

We trained the facilitators so they continue to train others in Namibia. We split them into groups so each group has their facilitator to train deaf illiterate.

After we trained them for symbols, they did write symbols into sentences. We also used symbols for verses from Book of Mark to help them understand God’s Word.

They were celebrating for receiving their certificates and SUN Book of Mark. Those 6 facilitators were given new backpacks with SUN tools and instructions so they can go and train Deaf illiterate.

I pray for them to continue to learn symbols and they will go to different places in Namibia where deaf illiterate can learn God’s Word by reading symbols.

Thank you for your support! Keep pressing on! God bless you all!

Bolivia workshop

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! Just want to say that workshop in Bolivia was awesome! All 6 translators worked hard to translate their chapter assignments and did complete chapters in final filming. I’m very proud of them. Translation work can be difficult and challenging but they did it in 2 weeks. I want to say many thanks to Fortaleza Church in La Paz for being a gracious host and allow us to use your facility for a workshop.

I had an opportunity to see spectacular views of La Paz and other places on weekend break. It’s truly amazing to see God’s creation. Check out pictures below. Enjoy!

The church was located in La Paz. The window views were great. It can be distracting for translators but they were focusing on their tasks of their translation work assignment. They all worked together on understanding of God’s Word and put them into their Bolivian sign language.

They’re having a discussion with their drafting and sign language. They completed final filming and then did some editing on videos.

We did some sightseeing in Bolivia (Sorata area). We also did a tour inside of cave. It has spring water in it. It was an amazing experience to explore!

We went on aerial cable cars (public transport system) in La Paz. The views were breathtaking especially at night!

Pray for them to continue their translation work in Bolivia. It was a blessing to work with them!

My next mission will be on October 18th for 1 week workshop in Namibia, Africa. I’m looking forward to what God plans for us in Namibia. Pray for me to arrive there safely and guide me there to help deaf people. Thank you for your time and support!

La Unión es la Fuerza

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! La Unión es la Fuerza is a national motto for Bolivia. It means unity of strength. We have been waiting for this opportunity for Bolivia deaf Bible translation project after 2 long years, we are finally going to Bolivia. We will go to La Paz on Saturday (September 18th). La Paz is highest capital city in the world at 12,000 feet. There will be 3 of us going to Bolivia and please pray for us to arrive there safely and deal with high altitude. We will have about 20 people including 7 deaf translators, 3 interpreters, etc. I’m looking forward to train them to translate God’s Word with their sign language. I will update more later. Thank you!

Congo DOT Workshop, a Great Success!

/ deafmgecko

Greetings! I’m happy to report that I got home last Friday (July 30th) after 3 weeks in Congo (DRC). It’s been a fantastic mission. There were 2 sign language groups (French and Swahili) – 24 deaf translators in all. Both groups have made good progress of translation work. They are motivated to continue to work on Bible translation after this workshop. I’m blessed to know brothers and sisters in Christ in DRC. Pray for them to continue their work of Bible translation and increase their understanding & knowledge of God’s Word. May God bless them abundantly!

We arrived in Goma and went on boat to Bukavu for workshop. The location where we slept and workshop held is beautiful.

We worshipped and did devotions. We trained deaf Christians to translate God’s Word into their heart sign languages.

They did final filming and edited videos.

We took a weekend break and went to Rwanda/DRC border. The scenery was beautiful.

Went to church. Did share God’s Word to deaf audience. It was a wonderful service.

Went to deaf school in Kavumu. My church in Orlando is supporting this school. The school just started last October. It was great to see deaf kids and their parents. We will continue to support a deaf school. Pray for more support for them.

Went to deaf school and church in Goma. Met a deaf pastor. The 2 bottom pictures are group of deaf facilitators and translators.

Pray continually for deaf people to understand God’s Word through their sign language. Also, for deaf people who are in need for Bible translation for other countries. Thank you for your support and prayers! God bless you all!

At last, Congo!

/ deafmgecko

Greetings to all! This is a moment I have been waiting for a long time. After contacting with leaders in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) for over 2 years, we finally have a chance to have a DOT (Deaf Owned Translation) workshop in DRC. We suppose to have a workshop in DRC last year but COVID came up. We had a workshop set up last month but volcanic eruptions happened. And finally we will start DOT workshop on July 12! This is very challenging time with COVID rising in Africa. I will have 4 members on my team to help out in the workshop. All 4 members are from 4 different countries in Africa. Please pray for us so we all can arrive there in DRC safely without any COVID or other issues come up. Thank you very much for your support! I will update when I can. Blessings!

Financial Support

/ deafmgecko

Hello all, I just post a video about raising support. I still haven’t meet my goal of full monthly amount. This video has subtitles for hearing people. See a video below. If you’re interested to support me whether one-time or monthly, please contact me for information. Also, you can donate it to my ministry account online. Link – DONATE

Workshop completed!

/ deafmgecko / 1 Comment

Greetings! I’m happy to report that workshop in Sierra Leone is completed for 2 weeks. Last time I went on mission was March 2020. It’s so nice to get back on mission field after being on sidelines at home so long. As for workshop, it’s been a challenge for deaf translators. Most of them are struggling to understand the passages due to lack of education for deaf people in Sierra Leone but we all encouraged them and helped them to understand the passages. They have completed few chapters of Book of Mark. Pray for them to continue their project of translation in Sierra Leone.

We taught them to translate God’s Word into Sierra Leonean sign language.

The filming studio is setting up. The deaf pastor is translating God’s Word on filming.

We preached God’s Word at their deaf church. We shared and encouraged them. 5 deaf people were saved!

We gave them certificates for doing their good work for Bible translation.

My next mission will be in Democratic Republic of Congo on June. Please pray for this workshop will go well especially traveling and planning. Thank you very much for your support! God bless you!