May 2011

Dear Friends of the deaf ministry:

It’s about time to get another newsletter out to each of you.  Each day continues to be busy one way or another in the deaf ministry.  Incidentally, this is the 40th year that I have been working with the deaf and our 20^th year since we started Christian Deaf Ministries.  So I thank God for the many miracles He has done through the years, just to get us to Jamaica, back here and then the work with CDM.  It is amazing as I look back over the years to see what God has done.  There is no way we could come up with some of the things that God had prearranged in the ministry.

Sign language classes continue all year except for winter months and summer when everyone is busy.  We have quite a group who wanted to learn for various reasons and have done very well with their learning.  The choir did one concert lately too.

I have been to several mission conferences this spring.  The last one was in Atlanta and then I went on to graduation for Sheldon and Rachel Burkett at Harvest Deaf Bible College.  That was a joy since we have been supporting them for the past four years with tuition and paying their rent, car insurance, etc.  They will be returning to Jamaica after they raise some support.  He will be pasturing a deaf church, working as an intern in the ministry. It was an exciting trip for another reason.  That week there were terrible tornadoes in the south, and one passed right over the college just days before graduation, uprooting 13 trees.  The town of Ringgold nearby was destroyed!  My motel where I had reservations was flattened.  But God preserved the college!

Sheldon and Rachel Burkett are fruit of the deaf ministry.  We had Sheldon in school at CCCD many years ago, and after we left, he continued in the school, graduated and then while working, felt God calling him to be a pastor to the deaf.  In the meantime we had started a camp in the Eastern Caribbean with Donville and Phyllis Jones who were missionaries in St. Vincent at the time.  Rachel Burkett was saved at the first camp and attended the deaf ministry in Grenada.  Later when Sheldon went to preach at the camp, he met Rachel they corresponded for a year, fell in love and eventually were married.  Then God led them to Bible College, and they are here now, ready to go back to Jamaica to serve the Lord.  Their eventual goal is to start a deaf church in Grenada where there is a little being done for the deaf. 

Deaf retreat is coming up in two weeks.  Sheldon Burkett will be the speaker for retreat accompanied by his wife who will teach the Sunday School lesson on Sunday morning.  We will also have a time for mission reports.  We have several who are involved in deaf ministry so it is an exciting time to see what God is doing with the deaf in so many places.  We will probably have 30 or so at the deaf retreat.  It is a good time for many who don’t have interpreters at their churches.  Some are faithful to go even not knowing what is being said!  Would we do that?

I am working at 4 Special Friends camps this summer, starting in May.  We have Downs Syndrome people who use signs because they cannot speak and one deaf man, plus autistic people.  I do the morning chapel service plus the music for the evening along with some others.  During the day we all have to help with the campers.  Then I will be at camp this summer interpreting for a deaf lady and also playing piano for the meetings.

I still have CDs for sale and the money will continue to go to help support the deaf couple going back to Jamaica.  I appreciate all who had a part in the support over the past few years.  May the Lord continue to bless each one of you.

                                                      Yours for the deaf,

                                                                                                         Lois Dungan

                                                                                                               Lois Dungan

 dunganlois@verizon.net