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Sharing Jesus at Deaf Expos
Bruce and Dana Edmondson flew to St. Paul, MN from St. Louis on September 19, 2008. We spent all afternoon preparing our booth and stuffing Deaf Messenger samples, Deaf Bible School enrollment forms, three different pamphlets, and copies of a DVD called "Signs of God's Love" in three hours. All 200 plastic bags were stuffed with these items and were ready go be given away to people at the ASL Expo to reach out to the Deaf community in the St. Paul area. It is believed that this was the first Deaf expo in the Minnesota area. ADM wanted the gospel to touch the Deaf people there with God's love.
When the expo opened its doors on Saturday morning, September 20, lots of Deaf people rushed to our booth to pick up gospel packets. We met a young hearing couple named Cesar Garcia and Esmeraldo Cortes at our booth. They go to a Spanish speaking SDA church and they know some ASL. Cesar was looking to establish a Deaf mission church in the Minneapolis area. He is able to interpret Spanish into ASL! Later in the morning, we met Amanda Colgan, a young Deaf lady who just moved to Minnesota this fall. SHe was baptized at the Western Deaf camp meeting at Milo last July, 2007 with her husband, Kevin. We welcomed Amanda to work in our booth with us. It was a blessing to have her working with us.
People who stopped at our booth were drawn to the DVD playing "Signs of God's Love" on our machine and therewas another DVD machine playing a sample of Francisca Trexler's Amazing Bible Truths. Some people wanted to order the Amazing Bible Truths DVD sets and they were given copies of ADM order forms. Some peopel were surprised to find out the gospel packets were free to take. We thank the donors to ADM that made it possible for those packets to be given away freely to Deaf people. Many people wore smiles on their faces as they walked away happily with their packets.
By early afternoon things began to slow down but we were able to talk to a few people and encouraged them to keep their eyes on God. One Deaf man poured his heart out to me about his problems and asked me to pray for him. I prayed with him and told him to keep his faith in God and read his Bible daily and read the tracts we gave him and pray to God for wisdom in his life. He thanked me for helping him.
At the end of the day, there were 30 packets left which is not bad after a slow afternoon. The Spirit of God is working on some people that we talked with at our booth and they are still thirsting for God's Word. God has blessed us as we worked in our booth knowing that what we did will bless other people's lives.
There was a good turn out at the expo. People from Illinois, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Michigan, Indiana, and Missouri came to this expo.
Then in October 11, 2008, we went to the ASL Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana. Bruce Buzzell traveled to Indianapolis from St. Louis carrying all the different things to give away. Another 200 plastic bags were stuffed and made ready to be given away.
Bill and Rhonda Gropp, a deaf couple who lives in the Indianapolis area, came to help me in our booth during the day. It was a blessing to have them working with us. People who stopped at our booth were drawn to the DVD "Signs of God's Love" and asked how much it costs. We told them it was free and gave them packets with the DVD along with the other materials in them. They walked away happily.
All afternoon was slow going with few packets being picked up but the Spirit of God is working. One Deaf lady came toour booth and related her experience in other religions that gave her a bad experience. We encouraged her to keep her focus on Jesus Christ and strive to build a relationship with God.
We praise the Lord for His goodness and guidance in allowing ADM to be a part of this expo event to spread God's Word to hungry souls. People still need to know God's Word and the booth ministry makes it possible to reach out to more Deaf people and adding souls to Jesus' kingdom.
By Bruce Buzzell
Adventist Deaf Ministries, Chairperson