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BY PEGGY JOHNSON

The beauty of the United Methodist connection is its ability to cross international lines and create bonds of peace between people.

I was reminded of this fact when the Rev. Thomas Hudspeth, pastor of Deaf ministry at the Lovers Lane UMC in Dallas, Texas, contacted me about a year ago and told me about his mission trip to Honduras.

He said, 'You won?t believe this amazing woman there named Aura. She is deaf and blind and runs the only Deaf school in that country.'

I began corresponding with this amazing young woman through e-mail and before long plans were in the works to fly her to the 2007 Deaf Blind Camp at the West River Camping Center.

Aura Diaz was born deaf and until the age of 10 this bright, precocious child was not able to attend school because there was no Deaf education available in Honduras. An American missionary from 'New Life Deaf Ministry' brought her to the United States where she was welcomed by a family with several children and a mother, Barbara Northup. Barbara was hearing, but fluent in American Sign Language because she had Deaf parents.

The Northup family saw that Diaz received a full education at a Deaf school in Arkansas. She blossomed and excelled in her studies in the United States but began to notice a problem with her eyes. She was bumping into things and had a hard time seeing in the dark.

Her adopted mother knew exactly what was wrong. Her own deaf mother had the same problem: it is a disease known as Ushers Syndrome. People with this genetic condition are born deaf and then slowly become blind from retinitis pigmatosa, which is commonly referred to as 'night blindness and tunnel vision.' It is progressive and in time people with Ushers Syndrome become fully blind.

When Diaz found out she would become blind she was naturally concerned and frightened. But she saw how well Barbara?s mother handled life with Ushers Syndrome and she was greatly encouraged by the hope and accomplishments of deaf-blind people that she met in the United States.

Upon her graduation from the Arkansas School for the Deaf, Diaz returned to her home country, where she and her missionary friends, who first brought her to America, helped her to establish the first Deaf School in Honduras.

This enormous accomplishment was possible because of her training and experience in America, and because of her love for Jesus Christ, whom she accepted as her Savior while living with her adoptive family.

Diaz married, had a daughter and continues to direct this large school, to which many families come with their Deaf children seeking education and Christian nurture. Her physical vision continues to deteriorate but her spiritual vision for the school is renewed each day by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Indeed the power of God was with this young woman as she stepped off the plane at the BWI airport and came to our Deaf-Blind camp during the week of June 10-15.

She amazed and blessed the 38 campers there with her stories of resourcefulness and victory in the midst of the overwhelming poverty in her country.

Diaz is fluent in American Sign Language, Honduran Sign Language, English and Spanish.

She preached at one of the camp?s morning worship services and taught us a song from her country, using Honduran Sign Language. Also she presented an evening program with a slide show of her Deaf School in Tegucigalpa, the capital city. Following her talk she allowed campers to touch and see close-up a display table full of artwork, carved wooden crafts and artifacts from Honduras.

Many Deaf-Blind people from the United States feel that their life and the services they receive are limited and confining. When they saw Diaz, with so much less, doing so much more, through the strength of God, it was a witness that rocked the room.

'God can make a difference in your life. You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you,' Aura said. She said these words with the authenticity and authority that only a Deaf-Blind person can say to another Deaf-Blind person. The camp was deeply touched and blessed by her witness.

We sent her home with funds to help run her own camp in Honduras. We thank God for the partnership we can have with our sisters and brothers in Honduras and the spiritual blessing it brought to all of us.

We thank God for the connection that enabled Christ UMC of the Deaf and Lovers Lane UMC (both United Methodist churches with Deaf ministries) to partner together to pay for her and her interpreter/gbwc_superusere to come to the United States. And we thank God for the future good work that can be done in the name of the Lord at the Deaf-Blind camp at the West River Camping Center.

For more information about Aura Diaz de Rivas and her school in Tegucigalpa contact Rev. Peggy Johnson at or (443) 756-5078.

The Rev. Peggy A. Johnson is pastor of Christ UMC of the Deaf.