Update July 09 - Branching out

I recently gave the tree in our front garden a No. 1 haircut guided by our experienced and grateful tree-fella neighbour, Phil. That tree has given me much food for thought over the years. And it did so again recently because we are, in another way also branching out.

Our neighbour, "T'reesa" (honest - but not "T'reesa Green", she insisted) opposite volunteered her son to collect fallen branches and within 10 minutes there were 10 kids enthusiastically echoing my shouts of "timber" from up the tree and filling empty green waste wheelie bins that our other neighbour, Mick, had requisitioned! The amount of insect life astounded me, and itched me, - for days after!

Many passers-by watched and commented at me perched at the top of the tree, offering either encouragement, concern for my safety, shock at my apparent cruelty and thanks for reminding them to do theirs too! Best of all was an offer of paid work of a similar nature nearby.. Most crucial of all was remembering I can no longer rely on its foliage to give me privacy when I change in our bedroom... The kids criterion was checking they could still clamber up into it!

To me that tree has seemed to symbolise my life quite closely in that me, like the tree, needs more maintenance than I first realised and that I have to keep this up, for mine and everyone else's sake. Pruning my own life has not always been my top proirity, nor easy for others who have tried to help. I am grateful for their persistence..

We are also having to heavily prune our involvement in our neighbourhood, and thats not been easy to let go of.

Blessings Adam & helen

I am the Real vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing He prunes back so that it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

John 15 v.1

Good News -We want to say "thankyou" for:
· The loan of a motorbike (125cc), from now till September. - thanks to Dave& Joyce(R.I.P.) featured in our June newsletter ·

· Financial provision for:
-flights; a voice-recorder;
-sports equipment for use at Arua deaf School
·
· Several new deaf connections partners offering prayer support or financial support, or both;

two further invitations to make deafconnections presentations;
·
· Gaining the commitment of a very experienced and wise accountant to support our financial accountability and tax affairs.



THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT ..
We have just sent the voice-recorder to Arua Association for the Deaf to help them record the lyrics of the traditional stories and songs of a remote village with numerous isolated deaf people.

Thanks too, to one of our partners for delivering this on his travels and helping progress our accomodation needs.

More thanks to Peggy, my deafblind friend, who has taught me more about hands-on signing.

Wimbledon: Signs and Wonders

Tennis rage caught up with me recently as I Iost my cool whilst playing tennis with my son Jerome (above) recently. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady trundling her son’s push chair behind my baseline. My opponent, Jerome, was keeping me pinned to my base-line with his long forehands. If the score had been “love-all” I might have reacted differently, but it wasn’t and I clearly couldn’t!

Wondering how to re-compose myself to face my more youthful opponent, I realised I had to find the lady afterwards and apologise for my over-reaction and gladly she did too.

Both of us admitted we were struggling to cope with the situation we were in and had lashed out indiscriminately. We both moved on having smiled, shaken hands, with one less opponent and plank in the eye.

Shortly after I also realised that I deep down I know that I don’t hear some of the day–to-day warning sounds that would alert me to a hazard – in this case a passing mother and child. I could easily have clouted her with my racket unintentionally. This issue is even greater for people with severe/profound deafness, of which there are many in Arua

My Maker keeps signing to me in the marvels and challenges of my days. I know that if I wonder upon them more his smile and mine will be broader and longer.

Lots of good news - especially about possible accomodation (see above.)

THANK YOU to the many of you who have supported in many different ways.


Blessings, Adam

This is how God showed his love among us:
He sent his one and only Son into the world
that we might live through him.1 John 4:9

Good News – June 2009

Our met needs
· Suitable accomodation for us on YWAM Arua base ..moved a step nearer with a neighbour offering to rent us her half-complete house, and an offer to pay for its completion!
· Interest from other potential partners in the Midlands and beyond
· A good friend has offered to help format and collate and duplicate the text-free USL booklet
· Passing our motorbike CBT

Our Needs
· Unity of mind and spirit in our family and on the YWAM base.
· God’s protection for health/travel.
· Wisdom regarding our planning for going and childrens’ 2011next steps.
· More partners in Midlands + beyond
· Financial provision for:
-Flights, coaches, visas, medical ins.
-Laptops(2), Internet access
-Two motorbikes plus one to borrow (125cc), from now till September.
-Resources to develop and duplicate a text-free Ugandan Sign Language manual and other teaching aids
-Transport to and refreshments for sign workshops in remote villages
-Sports equipment and transport for deaf boarding school children
-Resources for leadership/vocational training for unemployed deaf youth -Transport/accommodation to enable Uganda’s deaf to convene yearly and to enable a small group to visit the UK 2011

Deaf/Uganda Culture Evenings/Presentations

…have sprouted elsewhere thanks to family and friends in Otley, W. Yorkshire, Grace Academy Coventry, Nottingham and East Grinstead, West Sussex. More are planned in Wokingham, Berkshire and Farnborough, Hampshire (the town where Helen and I met). Thank you Marjorie and Ray(above), Janine, Andy and Tim (below), Joanne, Julia and Dave, Jenny, Jayne and Geff, and Paulette, who hosted /co-organised these.

We are experiencing a real desire amongst those we have met at these events to partner us in our vision and mission. This has been through one-off donations, promises of regular prayer and financial support, and further links to follow up.
Meeting and hearing about old class-mates has been a lovely surprise. A.

Go-SIGN Deaf Bible Weekend

was a great time of learning with, and through, old and new deaf friends from across the U.K. We looked at what Jesus modelled at the Last Supper.

Action for Deafness - Hearing Aid Clinics

Chair of Trustees, Jenny Fielder gave my uncle Leon’s hearing aids a wash, cut and blow-dry when I visited him and my aunt recently.

The service is voluntary and just one of many the charity provides deaf and hard of hearing with in West Sussex.

BATOD update: Causes of children hearing loss.

... was the subject of a British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BAToD) meeting I attended recently. The speaker, a specialist in this field, observed that currently the causes of hearing loss in children she saw was split almost equally between environmentally (e.g.infections, perinatal factors, ototoxic drugs, head trauma and noise induced hearing loss) and genetic causes.

Can sign-language help people with speech difficulties?

I remember meeting a man in his 20’s who’d lost most of the use of his voice box as a result of a car crash. He was learning sign fast! So when I met Joyce, pictured here with her son David recently, this question arose again. She has had a tracheotomy and is the third person we have met who has speech difficulties and for whom sign-language could make communication easier. Thanks to Janine at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and Grace Academy’s Auction of Promises, for their student’s Africa trip, we were able to take Joyce and Dave to a signed performance of ‘Allo Allo’.