Silent Matters

It has been a week since the Pastor’s Retreat (and a very busy week) but I have an hour before I have to go out so I will try to post some pictures of the wonderful time we had together. Donnie and Irma Wiltshire were, again, wonderful, wonderful hosts (thanks to BSCNC as well) and it is always a blessing to gather, fellowship, pray, worship, and (thanks to the Marsha’s memory) sing together. This conference was also special because two deaf missionaries from Honduras were also with us, Melvin and Wendy.

let me post some pictures:

Kevin, Debbie, Glenda, and Bo

Donnie's Idea of Olympic Competition (Kinna)

Donnie, Irma, and Gena

Mmmm... lunch on Lake Lure

All play and no work makes Jack a difficult report

Melvin and Wendy

Go Fish

You will be missed!

Jerry and Leona Potter will be moving to a little Dutch town in Northern Washington. They will be greatly missed. It was a wonderful blessing to have had fellowship with them once again before they moved.

Hello, everyone! Jim Walterhouse here. I want to thank Dale for allowing me the privilege of posting on ‘Silent Matters’.

If you read the post that Dale made about me you will know that our family served as missionaries to the deaf in Mexico for nine years. Although I am now pastor of a deaf work in S. Texas, I am still involved in missions work in Mexico, and our oldest son and his family are now raising support to go to Mexico as missionaries to the deaf also. Missions is a subject that is very close to my heart, especially deaf missions. Without a doubt the greatest mission field in the world is the deaf community.

I want to encourage each of you to consider what your involvement should be in missions work. Not everyone can be a missionary in a foreign country, but everyone should have a part in foreign missions work. Let me share with you some ways that you can be involved in deaf missions:

1. The most important thing that you can do is PRAY FOR YOUR MISSIONARIES! Missionaries are not “SuperChristians”. They have the same aches and pains, the same worries, the same sin problems (!) and they even have to pay their bills like the rest of us do. Their cars break down, they have a ‘fit’ with the wife or husband once in a  while, they get discouraged, and they sometimes want to quit. Yes, missionaries need prayer!

2. Communicate with your missionaries! Get the e-mail or mailing addresses of some of the missionaries to the deaf and write to them. Let them know you are praying for them. Send them a ‘care package’ once in a while (Check with them first! Sometimes they have to pay heavy taxes on packages and it is better to just send them a special offering instead.) I cannot tell you how many times I felt alone and discouraged on the mission field and my day was brightened by one person who took time to write to me and tell me that they were praying for me.

3. Support your missionaries! Encourage your church to be involved in the Lottie Moon offering for missions. Consider special offerings for your missionaries from time to time.

4. Visit the mission field! Nothing will give you a ‘heart for missions’ like a visit to the mission field. Your life will be challenged and your viewpoint on life will be changed by a visit to the deaf missions and churches in other countries. Who knows, maybe God will call YOU to be a missionary to the deaf!

Let me close with this- the question is not ‘if’…, it is not ‘how’…, it is not ‘why’…, but it is WILL you be involved in deaf missions? Jesus said the field is ready for harvest, but the laborers are few. Let’s all do our part to share the Gospel with the deaf of the world.

On Saturday, our church was went to the JAARS (Jungle Aviation And Radio Service) Deaf Day and it made a wonderful impression on our members and other churches that attended. the JAARS encampment is locted an hour south of uptown Charlotte (where our church is located) in a beautiful dense forest.  This seems ideal for the training JAARS provides for missionaries. For a more thorough history of JAARS, visit this link. We met in the morning and were greeted by around 50 people from several Deaf churches around the city and and had several very interesting messages regarding why JAARS is in existence, but also Wycliffe Bible Translation as well.

The first presentation was on why it is important to use the ‘vernacular language” when ministering to different cultures and this was exactly the same message Aric Randolph gave at the SBCD. “Vernacular language” means “heart language” and I believe that the deaf hearing his (names forthcoming) presentation understood exactly what he meant having lived this everyday.

There was a wonderful skit that morning also demonstrating the burden that missionaries carry when they go to a far-off village and are pushed to quickly translate the Bible into the vernacular language. A young volunteer, Ron Caughman,  came up to act as the missionary called out to a obscure village in Northern Africa to translate the Bible, but he also found that, along with his work as a translator, he would also work as the carpenter, reading teacher, homeschooler, doctor, financer, editor, father of six, and husband. The point of the skit was to show the need for other volunteers to help ease the burden on many missionaries around the world. Ron did a good job in the skit and throughout all the burden he carried, kept copying the translation of the Bible.

Shawn Collins

After the skit, we moved to another building to listen to a presentation by Shawn Collins. This presentation was very interesting because in included a new concept of using technology to create 3D animation to translate the Bible. How the Technology works would take several years of college study, but Shawn explained to us laymen the goal of the program was to create a software that would allow the creation of signing in different sign languages around the world. He explained that there are around 300 to

Dee Collins

400 different signed languages around the world and that this software would provide a safe alternative to using locals on video. Often when locals who speak the vernacular language sign on video, opposing religions would hunt them down and kill them so it is often hard and dangerous using locals to create Bible videos using signs. Everyone really loved this concept and look forward to see the finished product. You can see an example of the work at Shawn’s blog. Shawn and his wife, Dee, are a wonderful asset to our Christian Deaf community in Charlotte and we are so blessed to know them.

After lunch, we all went down to the JAARS hangar to prepare to be boarded onto the helicopter for a thrilling ride (3 at a time). The heat and humidity that day was high, but it did not dampen our spirits. It was also a good time to fellowship. We did not have enough time to tour the museums, but will next time we visit.

From all us here at FBC Charlotte Deaf Mission, many thanks to JAARS, Shawn and Dee, and the interpreters who volunteered their time there. God bless you all.

Let me introduce you to a wonderful brother of mine, Jim Walterhouse. We met on the Baptist Board several years ago where Jim was a regular contributor and clicked right off. We have been prayer partners from afar over the few years and finally last month met at the SBCD in St. Louis. It was wonderful finally meeting him in person. I asked him if he would like to be a contributor to Silent Matters and he agreed. Let me me take his “About” information from his website Deaf4Christ.org:

The Walterhouses

About us – Let me begin by introducing you to our family. Jim (that’s me) is tall, dark, and handsome. Well, two out of three isn’t too bad- I’ll let you guess which two! I was born in Indiana and graduated from Tennessee Temple University in 1982. My wife Debbie is a Georgia peach. We met at Temple and got married in 1979. We have two sons, Jonathan and Joshua. Jonathan is married to Michelle and they currently reside in Tennessee while on deputation as missionaries to Mexico. They are also parents of our first grandchild- Jaiden Paul. Joshua is still living at home with us. He is in 12th grade in our home schooling program, and plans to attend Bible college next year.

About our ministry in Mexico – After working with the deaf (starting deaf ministries in churches) in the USA for 15 years, in November of 1997 the Lord saw fit to call us to work with the deaf in Mexico. In January of 1999, we arrived on the field to attend language school in Saltillo. In November of that same year, we moved to Tampico and began the ministry of Iglesia Bautista ‘El Faro’ para sordos (Lighthouse Baptist Church for the deaf). We also have a mission church to the deaf in the city of Ciudad Mante, teach a class on Mexican Sign Language (LSM) to the students in the Baptist Bible Institute in Mante, and direct a camp for the deaf every summer.

About our people – There are anywhere between 6-7 million deaf in Mexico. The majority of them have very little education, and thus very little hope for decent employment. Many live with family and are completely dependent upon others for their subsistence. But that is not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is the lack of knowledge of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. In all of Mexico there are very few Gospel preaching churches with an outreach to the deaf, only about 7 Baptist churches for the deaf, and less than 20 independent Baptist missionaries to the deaf (including their families). Truly this is a field ‘white unto the harvest.’

Jim was called a few months ago to pastor the Deaf Ministry at the McAllen Baptist Temple in McAllen, Texas but he still sneaks across the border to cast the gospel net whenever he has the chance. Last week he went to a camp there and reports 109 came with 7 accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior. Now he is hopping the Rio Grande once again to help start a new Deaf ministry in Reynosa, Mexico. Pray for his ministry and welcome him to Silent Matters!