April Update

Earlier today, I was on the phone with a Jamaican man who is a friend of a friend. I had tried to explain to him who I was, but that never goes well. He then put together my white voice, with who our friend was, and it all became clear in his mind. His next words were, "Oh, you are with the dumb school." I knew he wasn't joking and so I saved the laughter and the tears. Keri and I have just begun looking further into the Christian call to justice. We know our God is just, but to what extent should that characteristic translate into our everyday lives.(Psalm 10:17-18, Psalm 12:5, Isaiah 1:17) The answer for us is that we don't know because we are just beginning to dive deeper into the issue, but we know there is something to be mined from these questions. We see, hear, and feel the injustice around us regarding the deaf. The reason I knew not to laugh at a ridiculous statement like the "dumb school" is because we hear those sentiments often. The lack of education regarding issues of deafness vs. literal dumbness vs. dumbness as ignorance is apparent. The thing that is even more frustrating is probably the lack of interest we see in Jamaica regarding deaf awareness. While we could right this issue of as a misunderstanding of words or just loose vernacular, but the we see the deaf treated as dumb too much of the time. In reality, this leaves our friends facing the uphill climb culturally to get jobs, have equal rights, and get a fair shake at life. So, we ask the questions and pursue God's heart for justice and what that means for our lives. Maybe I can report back to you next month on the findings of our look into the issues of justice, but for now I just ask you the questions of what God's heart is for the lack of justice that surrounds our daily lives.
April for us was characterized by transition and rest. After a torrid month of March, we were blessed with the opportunity to catch up on life and family. We are learning more and more about balance and how it works in real life. After a bunch of teams in Montego Bay, we took a few extra days to tie up loose ends and get some rest. We then headed up to Knockpatrick for a couple of weeks and spent a lot of time settling back into the flow of Knockpatrick. We then packed back up for a little more than a week with Keri's parents in Montego Bay. The week with Keri's parents was an official vacation for us. We went to a hotel and experienced the "other side" of Jamaica. It was very refreshing, we had sweet fellowship, and good family time. We are very thankful for the support of family.
While we don't have a lot to report this month, we have been working through some significant issues. There are some new opportunities opening up in front of us that will present a significant change to our work. I am sure we will share all of these developments with you as they develop, but for now we pray that we can be sensitive to the direction of our Father. We also continue to seek wisdom regarding whether to have the baby in the States or in Jamaica. We are thankful that all seems to be going well with the baby. We had a sonogram a couple of weeks ago and it appeared that all is on track. We tried to get conclusive evidence as to whether we are having a boy or a girl, but the umbilical cord was in the way. We are guessing that it is a girl and we are going to start preparing as if it is a girl. If it is a boy, I think we will be ready for that by default. All things considered, we remain thankful for His provision in spite of our evident confusion at times. The reality remains that we feel like we are in over our heads and needing His grace. There are often times that I feel like the top performing student at the "dumb school." We pray that we can continue to experience His strength in our weakness and that our eyes can continually be opened to His will and justice in our lives and in the lives the deaf community in Jamaica.

Love,
The Plattner Family