Who We Are
Missionary work in the Dominican Republic

Our missionary work to the Dominican Republic began in November 2009.  After several months of praying for guidance from the Lord to use us in mission work with the deaf, we got an invitation from a long lost friend doing missionary work to the deaf in Hato Mayor.  We spent a week giving workshops on how to teach speech and reading to the deaf.  We also delivered materials donated to the school. During that time we visited homes of students and we realized the great need for academic and religious programs for the deaf in the country.

Our second trip was in April 2010 (one week).  We spent two days in Hato Mayor handing out materials that had been donated to the school in Hato Mayor and other Christian schools of the MISVEC ministry, which were given to Vivian Spencer (missionary from Canada) for distribution.  We went with a pastor of the deaf Carlos Reyes to El Seibo where we met with another pastor and members of the Assemblies of God church, interested in starting a ministry for the deaf.  Upon completing the training we gave in El Seibo; to a group of about 20 perspective teachers of the deaf we departed for the capital.  There we offered a series of workshops (over two days) at the Bible College of the Assemblies of God.  The workshops were aimed at teachers and volunteer teachers; the classes covered: anatomy of the ear, deafness and the teaching of language and vocabulary to the deaf.
In July 2010 we spent the entire month giving workshops in areas such as: teaching of speech, language, literacy, basic sign language, preparing materials, inclusion and interpretation to the deaf. T hese workshops were held in Boca Chica, El Seibo, Santiago, Barahona, Santo Domingo.  The intensive sign language workshops were held at a church in El Seibo and at Centro de Asistencia al Sordo San Andrés (CASSA) in Boca Chica. In El Seibo school district offices, we also offered workshops for teachers, principals, and special education technicians.  In addition we participated in a camp for deaf at the Casa Abraham; where we held workshops offered to teachers who attended.  In all of the places we visited we experienced and saw a great number of people (adults, youth and children) with hearing loss, the lack of services for them in all these places create a challenge in terms of education and religion.  On this trip we also delivered donated materials such as sets of sign language flashcards, books in Spanish and sign language.

We returned to the Dominican Republic for the fourth time in November 2010.  This time we visited a church in Los Alcarrizos in Santo Domingo where we found a large population of deaf and from there we went to Ingénio Consuelo where we stayed for the rest of the week.  This town did not have any services for the deaf; educational or otherwise.  We learned that Consuelo had a population of about 102 deaf of different ages who went unnoticed.  There were no churches for them and the school system failed to provide those services.  There, we offered workshops to teachers in the mornings and mothers/guardians of deaf in the evenings 3-6:00p.m. and intensive sign language at the church.