Meet Moises, a 5 year old Ngobe boy living in the comarca in Panama. Moises was born deaf into a community where people with special needs are considered curses. Far too often, children born this way are abandoned and left to die. Those who aren’t are prime targets for abuse because of their inability to tell people what happened. Deaf people in this community are often excluded from daily activities, education, love, and the opportunity to have fulfilling lives. It’s the way things have always been, until now. Moises was both abandoned and abused, but God has a powerful plan for this child: He is using him to open a door in this place–because of Moises, deaf people are being given a chance. When he was taken in by his grandmother, missionaries Danny and Heather Nelson began teaching sign language in his village to make it possible for him to communicate. They also use this opportunity to share the Gospel with these people who might never hear it otherwise. Through this process, the people living there are learning acceptance for people who are deaf. They are realizing that these people have a different way of communicating but can indeed communicate and participate in life… that it’s simply a difference and not a curse. In the future, the people of this village will be able to carry the sign language they’ve learned into other parts of Panama and share it there. God is using Moises to not only transform his village but to reach the deaf population in all of Panama. He is using Moises to show the power of His love: God’s love knows no limits, no boundaries, and no conditions… He loves all people, all the time, exactly the way they are. And God can take terrible circumstances and use them to build His Kingdom.
Eryn & Andrea
