Opening a Door to an Unreached People

Elva has worked with every mission team HGBC has sent to Peru. She is an extroverted teacher who never lacks a plan to share the gospel. I met her for the first time when she showed up at our first clinic in Pedregal during the 2013 mission trip. Suddenly there was this woman fluent in both English and Spanish helping us translate, she even found someone to translate Spanish to Kechua when a tribal lady showed up. Everyone on the 2013 team loved Elva and those of us who returned in 2014 were excited when we heard she would be part of the 2014 Peruvian team.

Shari Davis joined our team knowing the Lord wanted her there, but uncertain how she could be used. During team meetings we all introduced ourselves to the group and shared testimonies. Some people had medical connections: Cynthia and Judy were nurses, David Kwon, a dentist; others were teachers who could teach lessons or witness: Cindy, Sandra, Ginger, and Kurt; Robert came prepared to do whatever and he did a lot of heavy lifting, and assisting the dentists; David Millsaps brought organizational skills and Spanish fluency (not to mention his singing ability, which he didn't use on this trip); the kids knew they would be singing and working with children and youth. Shari never doubted that she had a part, but she wasn't clear on what it would be. When she introduced herself she told us she had served as a sign language interpreter in the past. David communicated her skill to Pastor Pablo and soon we were talking about a Christian lady who was deaf who lived in Arequipa.

We were all excited to see what the Lord would do, but never imagined how greatly He would use Shari's involvement in the mission trip. We had come in from Chivay Monday afternoon. David Kwon was seen off at the airport by David Millsaps and Pastor Pablo. We all got a shower and rested that night. On Tuesday morning we were getting ready to go minister at the men's alcohol and drug rehabilitation center when we heard that the deaf lady, Rosamarie, had come to meet Shari. The team watched from a third story window as Shari went out to meet Rosamarie and Elva. Immediately, we saw all three of them signing to each other. Shari's american sign language was close enough to her Spanish sign language that they could communicate very well, but the surprise was that Elva was in on the conversation as well. We all teared up as we eaves-dropped on this conversation, well we couldn't tell what they were saying, but we were watching from above.

Eaves-dropping on Shari, Elva, and the Deaf Lady.

Shari's participation in this mission trip opened a door to deaf ministry among Baptists in Peru. Later as we enjoyed some Starbucks Pastor Pablo and David spoke to Elva about the importance of deaf ministry. Previously, Pastor Pablo had no idea that Elva could sign. Elva said she knew some deaf people and wanted to talk to them so she just learned their language.

God moved in Shari's heart saying, "Follow Me." She obeyed. God was willing to fly an American with sign language skills to Peru for a week to let Christians in Peru in on a ministry opportunity He wanted them to pursue. David explained to Elva that deaf people make up the third largest unreached people group in the world. Pastor Pablo and Elva began making plans to put her skill to use. Isn't God amazing. He could make things like this happen without us, but He chooses to use us so He can bless us.