DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We hope and pray you and your family had an amazing time celebrating the birth of Jesus. We loved getting to celebrate with our brothers and sisters across the pond, and in much warmer weather! (There's just something about celebrating Christmas in mid 90 degree weather)
I'm sure each one of you has heard the Christmas song "Do You Hear What I Hear". As Christmas time came and went, how many of you stopped and thanked God for the gift of hearing? To be able to hear the sound of laughter, of Christmas carols, bells, etc. is a gift many people don't have. But it's more than that. Thousands and millions of people have never heard about Jesus, because no one has ever told them! As hearing people, the gospel is presented to us from an early age. We hear the Gospel in a variety of ways, on the radio, TV, Church, or a conversation we overhear. However, many Deaf people never get that opportunity. Even if they want to go to church and learn, many churches are not prepared (and some even are unwilling) to reach out to the Deaf community. This is one of the main reasons we wanted to go to Ghana for a Deaf Outreach. Because there was so much that happened over a short period of time, I'll give a rough outline of our time there, and then share some highlights.
Dec 17: Arrived in Ghana and stayed with friends in Tema
Dec 19-22: Deaf Outreach in Bodada
Dec 23-25: Nyame Dua Orphanage
Dec 26: Christmas Outreach
Dec 28: Market
Dec 29: GMI Orphanage and travel home

The Deaf Outreach in Bodada was definitely the biggest part of our trip to Ghana. Both physically and emotionally it was an amazing, but exhausting outreach. We had an average of about 50 Deaf people each day, where we split them into two groups: those who knew sign language and those who didn't. With the group who knew some form of sign language, we jumped right in with teaching an overview of the Bible and some discipleship. While Mom and Dad taught, I (Bekah) interpreted. Making sure we all knew the same signs proved to be a challenge. Thankfully we had a few Deaf teachers in attendance that helped me convey the message appropriately. It was a very eye opening and shocking experience the first day, when Mom told our group to open their Bibles (which we handed out at the beginning of the outreach to each person in attendance) and none of them knew how to find the passage she was talking about. Many of the group knew the Bible stories, but they had never owned their own copy of a Bible, or been taught how to correctly look it up. Here in America, that is something we are taught at a very young age. We gave them lots of practice on finding different verses, and by the end of the conference it was encouraging to see them being able to find references on their own.
We had a handful of hearing people in attendance, including parents and pastors from the area. We encouraged them to join the group that didn't know sign language to learn as much as they could. This group of "teachers" definitely had the harder job. They worked with a group of around 30 people, the majority of which had no language. (Meaning they could not hear, could not speak, and could not read.) These students ranged from ages of 4 to 70. After the first day, our teaching group finished greatly discouraged. This group of students didn't seem to understand any of the information they were being taught, things like the alphabet, and simple signs such as please, thank you, water, etc. The second day we went back with games and a new strategy and were blown away as the group began to grasp basic signs! It was so cool to see them finally have something to communicate with, and they loved having us review the different signs with them. One of the little deaf girls, Ruby, was around five years old and is from an all hearing family. She was able to connect the sign "mom" with her own mother for the first time, and this gesture brought tears to her mother's eyes.
We were very encouraged that one of the local pastors came up to us at the end of the outreach, ashamed that his own church had neglected and overlooked the Deaf community for so long. He vowed to do all he could to reach out to them and help them. We also were able to identify and challenge a family of Deaf Believers to take a lead role in helping other Deaf in their community grow in Christ. Between both of these, we are very hopeful that the Deaf community in this region will be affected, and actively growing in Jesus.

For Christmas Day we were at Nyame Dua orphanage, and enjoyed celebrating with them. On Christmas Eve we bought fireworks and shot them off in the front yard, something the kids had never gotten to see or do. Needless to say, there were a lot of oohs and ahhs in the crowd, and a few screams when one bottle rocket fell over and sailed into the group! On Christmas Day we all walked together to their church. After church, the kids greatly enjoyed eating a big lunch, which included the Christmas goat...I won't go into much detail, but let's just say they used every available piece and cooked it all together.
Monday, we partnered with Meaningful Life International ("MLI") to do a Christmas Outreach in a small village, very similar to the one we did the year we lived in Ghana. We went into the community, inviting the villagers to play games, eat, and hear a short Christmas message. MLI pulled out the big guns to get the kids involved, including a bounce house, face painting, and even a small cotton candy machine (which blew their minds). MLI's main focus for going to that village was to establish a church, so we hosted a big outreach to begin the relationship with them. It was a long day, but full of laughter, fellowship, and memories. We even surprised the Ghanaians when five of our team girls participated in the Tug-of-Peace, which we won! It was a great celebration, one which connected the Ghanaians and us in an amazing way. Not because we won, but I think because we were willing to participate alongside the people.

Tonight we'll drive to Atlanta to pick up Abby and Mom, who stayed a few extra days to help Feeding The Orphans work on a project with Esther's Hope (the ladies sewing ministry). After a cancelled flight, and uncertainly over when they would get to to travel, we are especially excited to be reunited with them.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. It is so encouraging to know we have an amazing family surrounding us, lifting us up in prayers while we are being the hands and feet of Jesus. Know that even if you never get to see Ghana with your own eyes or meet this group of wonderful people, you were a big part of their lives, and had eternal impact on them simply because you helped us get there.

Love,

The Ochs