It’s never too late to serve

Sent from Opawa Baptist Church, in partnership with Pioneers, Judy More is a qualified teacher of the deaf, with many years’ teaching experience at the vanAsch deaf education centre in Christchurch.

The Evangelical School for the Deaf (ESD) in Puerto Rico started serving deaf students as early as 1959 and remains the only English language school for the deaf in Puerto Rico. A friend gave Judy More a newsletter from the school in 2005. She glanced at it and found it mildly interesting… that is, until she couldn’t get it out of her mind! The sense of call grew so strong that Judy decided to visit the school early in 2006 for a month, then a longer stint in 2007, and she finally returned long term as a staff teacher in September 2008, unable to shake the sense that this was where she was “meant to be”. Judy now has a visa enabling her to stay until 2012.

Working amidst temperatures in the 30s and humidity as high as 90%, Judy says, “it takes a lot of energy just to live in this environment but the rewards are great. Seeing children that had no way of communicating suddenly light up with understanding opens whole new realms of possibilities for them…”

Betsy is one such child who has flourished under the care of the school, picking up ‘words’ quickly through her classes and the early reading series. With passion Judy remarks, “When you see how quickly Betsy is learning you can’t help but feel angry that she has been let down by the [mainstream education] system for all these years.” Seeing deaf children released from the burden of not being able to communicate and learning they are valuable, gives Judy a tremendous sense of fulfilment.

Selena (13) is another example of the fruit God is growing through the school. Selena is the third generation of her family that is deaf. She is in foster care, as are all her siblings. When she first arrived at the school she stole from and lied to both teachers and students, however she has since undergone a radical transformation. She invited Jesus into her heart in April of this year and it’s like she’s a different person. This is thrilling for Judy. Seeing her students respond to the gospel further confirms her call and the investment of her life in Puerto Rico.

If you were to ask if there was a “cut off” age for mission, you’d hear Judy saying “It’s never too late”. All the life experience she has gained over the years is being poured into children like Betsy and Selena, and she hopes to be able to continue doing so for many more children for the foreseeable future. Sure there are costs, she misses her own family, grandchildren and friends greatly at times but for now, Puerto Rico is home.