About amanda
Mission Statement
Making the hope of the Gospel accessible to those who have limited or no language, the Deaf community in Peru, through education, interpretation, mentoring, and discipleship.
History
My interest in Sign Language began at a young age and grew as I learned it from a friend whose mother was deaf. As an adult I worked in the DC metro area for 8 years as a state-certified Sign Language interpreter before moving to Peru.
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On February 16, 2012, after much prayer and seeking the Lord's will, God called me to pursue Missionary service in Peru working with the Deaf Community. In early 2013, I began the process of answering the call to foreign missions among the deaf by spending two weeks in Peru that summer seeking exposure to Peruvian and deaf culture and community and exploring different service opportunities. I returned to Peru in May and June 2014 to attend Spanish language school and to volunteer at Refugio de Esperanza (The Refuge of Hope) in the Amazon Jungle of Pucallpa, Peru to see if that was where God wanted me to serve. Refugio is an Evangelical, Peruvian Association whose mission is to support and serve people with disabilities. While there the Lord confirmed that working with Refugio is indeed where He wanted me to serve.
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With the help of my church and many brothers and sisters in Christ, I moved to Peru in February 2016. My mission agency, South America Mission longs to see dynamic churches multiplied across South America that transform local communities and the world as they embody the Kingdom of God. With the overall goal to see that happen within the Deaf community, I serve and work with Refugio de Esperanza in a variety of ways:
- Help educate the Deaf students of the schools that function on Refugio's property praying for the day they are educated enough to understand the Gospel
- Mentor our High School students who have accepted Christ as their Savior
- Open my home to the deaf young adults to provide a safe space for fellowship, relationship-growing, counsel, discipleship, meals, etc.
- Teach Sign Language classes to community members to grow awareness of sign language and the deaf community as well as hopefully raise up local people who can work with and support the Deaf
- Interpret for my Deaf co-teacher and the deaf youth for all school activities
- Interpret occasionally in a variety of settings for Deaf community members including at our local church where we attend
- Minister to the girl boarders on the campus of Refugio
- Fill a variety of other functions.
Amanda says,
"My constant prayer is that the Lord continue to develop in me humility, discernment, and love for the people I'm working with and ministering to and continue revealing my ever evolving role with the ongoing mission work among the deaf in Pucallpa, Peru."