Himalayas Outreach

Hello, Family and Friends!   I feel so good to be back in Jamaica! I am excited to share with you all about how my team and I were doing in the Himalayans. First off, we are all healthy! No one tested positive for Covid during our travels. It was amazing! Praise be to God! Thank you very much for all of your prayers!

Adventures with Jesus in Himalayas

Remember...

...a few newsletters ago, I shared about why we chose the topic “Exodus” for our DTS team? Well, it was all related to faith. Remember my short story about the Red Sea? The Israelites left Egypt under Moses leadings. They reached the Red Sea and they thought they were done for because the Pharaoh’s entire army was coming after them and crossing the river was the only way out! They were in great fear! But Moses said don’t be afraid but have faith in the Lord that he will take care of us. Then Moses lifted up his staff and stretched up his hand over the Red Sea, and the sea parted to make a way for them to escape Egypt successfully. That story applies to our experience in the Himalayas. We experienced a lot of barriers during our trip. On several occasions, we faced many obstacles that were being thrown in our path and didn’t know what to do. But we remembered that story to trust God and have faith that He will make a way for us.

Testimonies

Encounter the Deaf Group on the Street   Before we went to the Himalayans, honestly we didn’t have any real plan of how we would connect with the Deaf people there. We did reach out to the Y base there to see if they knew the whereabouts of the Deaf people in the area and they said they had no idea. They commented that they had never seen any Deaf people around the area they were in. We knew we had to trust that God had a plan for us and our mission to reach the Deaf people there even though we wouldn’t know where to find them. We went ahead with our travels but we were required to quarantine for a period of time upon arrival. After we were finished, that very day we would be allowed to processed with our trip we had our first encounter with a Deaf person at a local restaurant we stopped to eat at. We were so excited! We took that opportunity to ask him to teach us his signed language. After that, we were about to go back to where we were staying the same way we had gotten to the restaurant in the first place. The leaders got together decided to go back a different way because we were really feeling the Holy Spirit leading us in a different direction. Walking back a different path we saw a group of Deaf people chatting on the street and we were amazed that God once again put more Deaf people right in front of us to meet and reach out to! They told us that there was a building close by where many Deaf people hung out. This organization helps people with disabilities find jobs. Little did we know that this place was a 3-minute walk from the Y base we were staying at during our trip! For 8 years, these two organizations neighbored each other and yet the staff members at this Y base had yet to identify the Deaf community so close by until we came along! Wow! Thank God for making a way to connect us to them! Through that initial connection to that Deaf group we met that very first day out of quarantine led to so many different opportunities to share the gospel. They led us around to Deaf schools and different social events where we were able to meet even more Deaf people and continue our ministry and purpose there to spread. God made a way for us having the connections with the Deaf community there!   (Pictured above: We met the Deaf Group on the street and learned their sign language in Himalayas.)

Share the Gospel on the Boat   We arrived in a different Y base outside of the country. This gave us the opportunity to explore a different environment and go on adventures along the countryside. One day we decided to hike a mountain, and on the way back down we spotted a Deaf man on a motorcycle and we’re able to connect with him! We exchanged phone numbers and a few days later he volunteered to show us around the area. Through him, we met another Deaf man who works on boats at lake. We decided to go out on the water and rented two boats, and both the Deaf men joined us. This gave us a great opportunity to share the gospel with them! We really felt like God put these two men in our paths for a reason and felt prompted to tell them that God loves them and cares about them! Deaf boat worker expressed that he really recognized that God has been pursuing him for a while. He had had a few different encounters with missionaries trying to share the gospel with him, and it was really getting him thinking about things. We prayed for him on the spot that God would come into his heart. During our time with a Deaf motorcycle man, he became more and more enthusiastic and eager to learn about the gospel and the Bible stories we shared with him. He was like a child asking questions with great curiosity and openness, ready to learn more and more! We’re continuing to pray that his hunger for God’s word grows stronger and stronger! We also ask you to join with us in praying that both men accept Christ into their life. Due to COVID, a few days later airports and borders started shutting down and we couldn’t get out. But we were still believing that God would continue to move in both those Deaf men’s hearts.   (Pictured above: We listened to a Deaf worker on the boat.)

Thank You For Everything   One day, we weren’t sure where to go or what to do so we asked God and prayed about it. One of the staff members felt like God was prompting us to go visit an old woman and her Deaf daughter. A person had told us that they lived near a bridge, but the problem was we didn’t know where to find this bridge. We went on quite an adventure until God eventually led us to this bridge. We spotted a woman crawling on the ground because she could not walk and once she saw us and used hand gesturing “come, come over” with the full of joy. We realized that she was Deaf and then back at her gesturing that we were Deaf too. We were so excited to meet her and we instantly formed a connection with her! She did not have any formal education nor did she know Himalayan sign language. We were able to interact and communicate with her by gesturing and she was eager to introduce us to her mother who was very old. We have noticed that their house was small with few furnishings. Yet, the Deaf woman was very skilled with crocheting and was excited to show us how to do it. We learned a good lesson on how to be thankful for what we have and everyone has something to share. They were so joyful and happy and we realized that God brought us there as a blessing to encourage their faith. We realized they were already Christians! They showed us pictures of a missionary family that used to visit their area, and they knew the ASL sign for ‘Jesus’ and lovingly put their hands on their hearts. What a blessing it was to be able to pray with them! Unfortunately, because of COVID we only visited them once.   (Pictured above: Deaf woman showed my two students how to crochet.)

God Removed Obstacles in Our Ways   So far, I have shared with you 3 testimonies. COVID played a big role in the challenges we faced on our trip. Because of the tremendous impact the virus had across India it really influenced the Himalayas too which was the reason behind sudden airport and border shut downs. Just when we would enter a new area and make connections, develop a new relationship with people and start to share the gospel, COVID limitations would pop up. Nonetheless, God still made a way for us to spread His word!   Getting back home to Jamaica wasn’t an easy task. The airport had shut down on several occasions; however, the government was still allowing tourists to travel on chartered planes. At that time there were about 7,000 tourists in the country but the airplanes only allowed for 200 passengers at a time. This is when Dan went to work for us trying his best to secure tickets but the first go around could only get one seat. He ended up using that ticket because he needed to go home to his family. Dan assigned me to take over the lead role in his absence, and myself along with two other staff workers continued to try and get tickets home. We soon realized that we would not be able to get a group reservation and would need to split up. Luckily, we were able to get everyone tickets despite having to fly in three separate groups. Praise God we all made it back safe and sound! Throughout the entire outreach trip God made a way for us even when we experienced consecutive obstacles God was with us all the way! As a group, we exercised faith by trusting in His plan no matter what came about. God helped us to overcome so many unexpected situations, and we are so grateful for his guidance and faithfulness. I could really go on and on about all the testimonies and experiences from our trip but I will share them later when I arrive back in America.   (Pictured above: The last group of 6 arrived in New York and visited Esther for a night before we arrived back in Jamaica. She was on our DTS team but she was unable to join the outreach trip with us due to her medical reason. It was so good seeing her again!)

Prayer Requests   My team and I are very appreciative of your prayers and support. Please feel free to share your prayer requests so that I can pray for you. If you want to know more testimonies, please contact me so I can schedule a time to share with you via a video or in person. I will be in the USA for a break in August and September.   Have a blessed month!   Love,   Kevlasha Humphrey

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