Leap of Faith

I am about to embark on what I hope will become a wild adventure! I am boarding a plane destined for Madagascar, with 6 other people who want to share the love of Jesus with a small group of Deaf Malagasy who are largely overlooked by the culture around them.

We are:
1.) Myself, who cannot speak a lick of sign language. But my hands speak the language of art, and I think that talent will find a call to service somewhere in the field.
2.) My Dad Jack, who also can’t speak any sign language. Today in church a woman was signing to him, and he was nodding his head “yes" continually. I was so impressed. I said, “Dad, did you understand that??” He said, “No. Not at all.” But his heart is in the right place. He has wisdom, strength of character, and experience, so we may need him to carry heavy things and herd cats.
3.) My step-mom Connie (not deaf) who speaks American Sign Language (ASL). She’s the one who will keep us smiling when we feel pinched between a rock and a hard place, and remind us that it’s our rock, and it is there for us, not against us.
4.) Coming in from North Carolina, a (born) Deaf Pastor named Phillip who has done work evangelizing to the Deaf around the world. He DOES speak Malagasy Sign Language... -PRAISE JESUS- he is surely the one who will get us through any locked doors… and bail us out of jail. Everyone needs a Pastor Phillip.
5 & 6.) Coming in from Pastor Phillip’s NC church are Desiree & Marilyn (both deaf). I don’t know much about them yet, but Im sure we will all get friendly fast.
7.) Coming in from Texas is Janice (not deaf), she will be my roommate, and like Connie, she speaks ASL and has a heart for the Deaf. She heard about Warren Baptist Church’s mission trip and asked if she could join us. When God calls you, you GO.

We will be inviting the deaf Malagasy to bible studies, visiting a couple of deaf businesses, filling needs as we see them, and we will be performing our own -renegade- "Operation Christmas Child” for about 55 children, at the Antananarivo Deaf School, and the Antsirabe Deaf School.
Our flight departs from Atlanta, connects in Paris, and then onto Madagascar. We return on Jan 13th.

Please pray for us. For our safety during travel, for our security during our 2 weeks in Madagascar, for our effectiveness in sharing the gospel and encouraging the Deaf to meet together and support each other, for them to share stories and life with each other, and for the prosperity of the deaf school children we will meet.

With all my heart, Thank You for your Prayers!
Jess