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BY PEGGY JOHNSON
Special to the UMConnection

'If you ever go to the Dominican Republic please take me with you.' That one-line message was e-mailed to me over a year ago. It would become the beginning of the Deaf VIM Trip to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

The e-mail was sent to me by the Deaf brother of two Deaf women who attend Christ UMC of the Deaf in Baltimore. All three were born in the Dominican Republic.

The whole family came to the United States 15 years ago and had not been back since. The brother, Victor, did not attend church, but he longed to see his homeland again.

I dismissed this e-mailed request as an idle, somewhat extravagant thought; but some months later a sign-language interpreter put me in touch with the head teacher at a small struggling Deaf school in the Dominican Republic. The teacher's name was Peggy Blevins.

I had to meet Peggy, who worked with the Deaf children that the National Deaf School in the Dominican Republic would not teach because they had learning disabilities and behavior issues. She had made a life of giving hope, the power of language and the love of God to children that the educators of that country thought were not worth teaching.

The next thing I knew, both Peggys ? me in Baltimore and she in the Dominican Republic ? and both of whose favorite color is pink, struck up quite a conversation through the Internet. By fall, plans started to come together for a VIM trip.

She wanted me to bring the most valuable gift of all to her students ? not money, not supplies, not even Bibles, but a Deaf role model for the Dominican Republic. That is when that lone e-mail from Victor began to make sense.

Even though Victor rarely attended church, I felt God nudging me to invite him to come on this VIM trip to work with these children. He was thrilled and had his bags packed from the day I invited him to go.

God not only planned to have Victor on the team, but a 'dream team' of other talented hearing and Deaf people from conference churches and other churches volunteered to take part as well.

Together we planned a week of Bible School lessons for the Deaf children and scheduled visits with the various ministries of the Assembly of God Deaf Church of Santo Domingo.

There is no Deaf Methodist presence on the island. The Deaf ministries were mostly found in the Baptist and Assembly of God churches. The Dominican Republic Assembly of God pastor was Deaf and he assisted our team with street evangelism and Bible studies with the Deaf in the evenings.

It was a real surprise to find out that the Deaf pastor's wife was Victor?s long lost cousin. He did not know she had married a minister, as they had not seen each other in years. God's plan for this unlikely team member continued to unfold.

Throughout the week we taught the children a number of familiar stories of Jesus with costumes and drama and crafts and games. It was unusually easy because the Deaf people on the island use American Sign Language. Most other countries have a sign-language code that is different from ours. However, in the Dominican Republic they use ASL because missionaries brought it to the island from America years ago and it stuck.

Throughout the day as we taught the children, I would look up and there would be Victor seated on a tiny child's chair talking with the students, helping them with their crafts. The children's eyes were full of expression and curiosity, and their smiles would light up their tiny faces.

Each day we sent them home with supplies and treats that we had brought with us: school kits, health kits, stuffed bears, baseball gloves. The children were enthusiastically appreciative. They had so little.

The Sunday morning worship at the Assembly of God Deaf Church confirmed to me what I had seen many times before: this universal Deaf spirit transcends nationality, ethnicity, language or economic status. The Deaf worshippers signed and prayed and laughed and talked endlessly, just like the Deaf Church folks back in Baltimore.

Within that gathering, time meant nothing, community was precious, hugs and smiles and soul to soul communication ran like a river through the room. Heartwarming testimonies about the love of God were shared, but none touched me as much as Victor?s, when he rose to address the congregation. His signs were eloquent:

'I came here to visit my home country but I found out about God here and the love of Jesus. I accepted Christ as my Savior and I want to come back here and help this Deaf school again,' he said.

I hope that God has this plan in the works. God is always working for good in the world, the hearing world, the Deaf world ? it's all God's world. And God is always about the business of using everyone, even the people we don't expect, as bridge-builders of understanding and peace.

Attending the mission trip with me were: Rev. Chris Hughes (Assembly of God pastor) and his family: Jennifer, his wife, Jessica, Jacob and Joanna, their children; Diane Rehling (Fallston UMC and sign language interpreter at Hiss UMC); Koretta Scott (Metropolitan UMC); Dionne Dixon; and Ann Mason.

Rev. Peggy A. Johnson is pastor of Christ UMC of the Deaf. She led this Deaf VIM Trip to the Dominican Republic Feb. 27 to March 5.

SIDEBAR:
Providing support for the VIM trip through funding and prayers were:
? Baltimore-Washington Conference Deaf Ministries
? Christ UMC of the Deaf
? Peace with Justice grants
? UM Committee on Deaf, Late Deafened, Hard of Hearing and Deaf Blind,
? Magothy UMC of the Deaf and
? many friends and family members.