October Newsletter

We returned yesterday afternoon from our weekend trip to Tepic with lots of information and a deeper desire to know more. Tepic (tāpēk'), Nayarit (näyärēt') is a neat little city (we have lived in the BIG city for 25 years) with a warmth and a colonial feeling that we used to have here in Guadalajara. Here in Guadalajara, you are completely surrounded by mountains, but because Guadalajara is so big, you never see them. Tepic, is about one hundred miles northwest of Guadalajara in the very heart of the Sierra Madre mountain range. I have read many different figures, but the official census figures show almost 300,000 residents in the city and almost 400,000 total in the neighboring areas. Number keeping here is not always an exact science ("We are from the government and want to know how many people live here? answer =2; real answer 10"). I read one article that said up to 1 million live in the metropolitan area of Tepic.

In Tepic, the mountains are literally on the very edge of town and so they are very visible at almost any point in town. It gives the city a feeling of being cozy in the mountains which probably led the early Indians to give it a name that means "between the mountains." It is a valley floor in a split in the Sierra Madres that allows room for a nice place to live. All around the city on the south are fresh green fields of sugar cane, corn, tobacco and several other crops reaching out several miles. As the city extends northward and westward, it begins climbing the foothills of the next ridge. One half of the city is basically flat and the other is quite hilly. Its physical limits are basically the walls of the next mountain.

Our goal on this trip was to find the deaf and learn more about the deaf population. That did not happen. We met a friend that we knew before almost immediately upon arriving. Diego runs a parking lot by himself. His language skills are basic, but he is a really nice guy. When we talked before (2004), he told us his sister went to a "Bible" church but that he did not go. After much investigation and chatting with his sister by phone text messaging, we discovered that her church is Jehovah's Witness. Diego does not seem to be interested in her church, but talks freely with us and allowed me to witness to him without protest. Diego seems totally open to the Word, but needs a little more instruction to understand the concepts of salvation. We have only been able to chat with him WHILE he was working. We would love to sit down with him without interruption and share with him the Gospel.



Saturday was devoted to trying to get around town. We knew of two schools that work with some deaf because they are specialized schools for children with special needs. We were given a map of Tepic (presently not in print) with four street names on it. It was drawn expertly with every little street and dirt road, but only the four main avenues through town had names. We were looking for schools and agencies that were often located off of those little dirt streets. Amazingly, we found them all relatively easy and even discovered another one by accident. NONE of them work with the deaf in sign language. Their basic help is with speech training. We did learn a lot about cartography and now have the names of a handful of streets.

Since before we left Guadalajara, we learned that the deaf meet at mid-day in the main plaza of town. Usually there are about 20 deaf who congregate there to sit and chat along with many of the folks in town. About 1 PM two fellows sitting on a bench stopped us and ask if we were deaf.We were shocked beyond belief because that is usually our modus operandi. These two fellows, both very low educational level caught something that made them wonder if we were deaf. Anselmo (L) and Silvestre (R) are more vocal than manual in communication, but their educational level puts them more in the mime category. They also were looking for the deaf, but said those that sign really well often ignore them. A nun helped them get their voter's registration card and other ID. We chatted with them for a while and realized that getting information from them or to them was going to be a lengthy process. We said goodbye and continued to move around the square looking for deaf. We later found another lady who signed "ear" and mouthed "nada." We got the idea that she could hear nothing. However, she knew or used nothing of sign language. She sat alone for a good time and avoided looking at us. As we were leaving, she half spoke "Bye." For some reason, the deaf did not show up on Sunday (party, meeting, etc.). Even the vendors said the deaf are normally there chatting all afternoon.

So, we felt the trip was definitely worth it. We learned so very much about the city and the need for a deaf ministry. There is only one solid church in town that we know of, so no one is reaching the deaf. There are a fair number of deaf (exact number unknown) and a good number of them have little education. The three schools only help them in extra matters such as speech training. No school or church is presently reaching them with education or spiritual training. There are supposedly "many" who sign well and are part of a separate society. That group appears to have learned and continue to practice "good" sign language.

Problems: We (and apparently others) have no idea how many total deaf are there. Our concern is if there would be enough to sustain a deaf ministry.
We must find a way into the deaf community where we can get to know someone who can give us some answers. We have several names but few addresses (however, we have been in this position before in our 38 years of deaf minstry).
We are presently investigating to see if anyone presently in Tepic would be interested in a spiritual deaf ministry since it would require a long term involvement.

Overall outlook: We are very encouraged in the possibility of again being involved in a "pioneer" work. We never approached the deaf ministry as something where we would always be the first to do something, but our years at Community Baptist in Andalusia helped us learn how to start from scratch. Several other times we have found ourselves starting a work where no one else has ever been. Interesting to say the least.
Please pray for us as we seek the Lord's will in this matter and as we look into all possibilities. It is not a given that we will go to Tepic, but we are still interested, definitely. Thank you all for praying and being involved with what the Lord is doing here. May God bless you.