Joyce and Olen Smith at Glorieta, New Mexico


        Olen and Joyce Smith are ministering to the deaf and serving the Lord volunteering as Mission Service Corps Missionaries with the North American Mission Board and the New Mexico Baptist Convention. While they enjoyed a three-month stay in New Mexico in 1999, they had the privilege of meeting key deaf leadership in the state in anticipation of starting deaf ministries in the northern part of New Mexico from Santa Fe and Taos to Las Vegas, New Mexico, and all places between these locations. God chose First Baptist Church of Santa Fe to begin the deaf ministry for the northern area of the state in March of 2000. On June 15, 2003, Olen and Joyce, with God’s guidance, were instrumental in beginning a deaf ministry at the First Baptist Church in Taos, New Mexico. Joyce says, “One of our favorite passages, Jeremiah 29:11, is a testimony to what God is doing in our life. How I praise Him!” 
      As Olen and Joyce reach deaf persons, one on one, and the deaf come to know Christ, they see that the deaf are eager to learn and have Bible study. Joyce and Olen look forward to having different people come from across the United States to help teach, visit, and minister to the deaf with them. During 2003, they continued to work faithfully, teaching Bible study, training the deaf for leadership, and equipping them to take leadership roles with assurance. 
      In December, 2003, Olen and Joyce returned to Asheville, North Carolina for the Christmas holidays and time to spend with family. On December 6, they attended a Christmas luncheon at Ridgecrest for the Tri-State School of Theology for the Deaf. Joyce served as Director of the Seminary Extension for seven years. They enjoyed the visit with all the deaf students and their spouses, faculty, and friends. After returning to their apartment, Joyce slipped on black ice on the second step from the top of an eighteen-step flight of stairs. God had placed a Christian surgeon on duty that night to take care of the three-and one-half hour surgery. But after three months of being off her leg, with God’s help, Joyce was recuperating slowly, but surely, and anxious to be back on the road again returning to Glorieta and the work in northern New Mexico. While she was recuperating, they continued to lead the deaf ministries in Santa Fe and Taos through the phone, voice-relay, and with helpers to follow through on weekly plans. God allowed Olen and Joyce to see what a great job had been done training the deaf for leadership roles. Many of the deaf took leadership teaching Sunday School, continuing visitation among the deaf, planning pot luck luncheons for deaf fellowship, and faithful to attend church worship. God provided a young woman to interpret for Joyce while she was recuperating in North Carolina. 

                    
                            Joyce signing for the deaf.


        Before returning to Glorieta in May, 2004, the Smiths had the opportunity to share with several different church groups of their experiences, challenges, and blessings in the deaf ministries in New Mexico. 
        On May 2, 2004, Olen and Joyce shared in the evening service at Arial Baptist Church in Easley, South Carolina. Olen said, “I’m happy to be home. I can truly say that, because what we are involved in today really began here at Arial Baptist Church some 40 years ago.” Joyce agreed, “It is good to be home. I roamed these hills of Arial growing up and loved the people here. What a joy it was to grow up in a deaf family here at Arial. What a joy it was to grow up in this community, a community where I heard the Gospel presented at Arial, a place where so many of you nurtured, loved, and taught us as we were growing up. What a joy! And we tell the world about you and what God has done.” 
        Joyce continued to speak to the congregation at Arial. “What does it look like to be on mission with God? To put missions in perspective, let’s look to God, our Creator, because this is the core that keeps us focused on what we are doing in the work. The God of all creation, the God of all peoples, the God of all life has consistently demonstrated His loving intentions that all people may know Him. God sent Jesus, His Son, to show the message of salvation to everyone. Then Jesus commissioned believers. His last words before His ascension were, ‘Take the message of salvation to people everywhere, even to the end of the earth.’ God continues to keep calling out people like you, and like me, a little Arial Mill Hill girl born to deaf parents. I wasn’t a lovely little girl, and I had a lot to learn. But, God continues to call us out, and those of us who respond to His call, He is ever sending people to us and around us to teach, equip, and train for the ministry. He wants us to take the good news of salvation and His love to people everywhere. 
      “So, with God’s plan in mind, what does it look like to be on mission with God? All of us who have chosen Jesus as our Lord and Savior know that there’s more than just being saved. There’s a mission that we’ve been called to be involved in.
      “For 20 years, my husband and I gave a week of vacation time each year to go on mission with God. That took us to many different places serving the deaf. And the passion is still as strong and on fire within us today as it was in the very beginning of our journey with Christ. As retirees, it was natural for us to just keep going, to stay on mission, and to follow Christ. The call came for us to go to New Mexico, a place filled with ethnic and cultural diversity. The people are not like us at all. As a matter of fact, we, as Anglos, are in the minority. No one knew us or about our background, and they wondered why we were there. When they found out why we were there, some were not very happy about it. We are there to share Jesus’ love, and tell them how they can come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. We keep going, because the call is strong and the passion to share Christ is real. 
      “The North American Mission Board has a goal to reach one million volunteers to be out in the field by the year 2020, to begin 100,000 Bible Study Groups, and to start 2,500 new churches. Of course, we know there are more than 5,000 NAMB career missionaries in the field. As Christians, we have a responsibility to go and tell the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus commands us to be on mission wherever we are. God has called us to New Mexico, and we can’t even speak Spanish. But, the beautiful thing about it is deaf people in Mexico were educated at the state school for the deaf in Santa Fe, and they speak American Sign Language. So, we do speak the same language. God knows what He is doing. He’s called us to a place and to a people group to accomplish His purpose. 
      “What does it look like to be on mission with God arriving at a place with no Christian work at all where deaf people number 5,000 to 6,000? What does it look like to be on mission with God living in a 27-foot camper in a campground? We are learning the culture, making friends among the deaf, and beginning a Bible Study as we meet the deaf and invite them to come in and visit. We were told there is a city ordinance in Santa Fe that you cannot go door to door knocking on doors and inviting people to church or passing out tracts. But, sometime later we learned that was not the case. So, we prayed, ‘Oh, God, how do we find these people?’ And you know what, there they are…they are in line behind us at Wal-Mart, or they are at the laundromat, or they are sitting at the restaurants when we walk in. We sit right down with them and get their names and addresses. 
      “Everywhere we look, we find deaf people either in front of us or behind us or beside of us. God sends them to us. Then, from them, we find other deaf people. Oh, my! How wonderful God is! He just has it all together. As we gather information and meet with Pastors in churches to see where God wants to start these deaf ministries, we realize that we wait for His time. As we wait, we pass out tracts to every deaf person we meet, and we hand out Jesus videos, which are captioned, to every deaf person we meet. We stay busy doing whatever it is we can do, as we meet them one on one. God prepared a place for us to have housing at Glorieta. And to have that housing meant Olen and I would have to work as volunteers 30 hours a week on campus. Then, we could stay on campus and work out in the field from our home base, and do 20 additional hours a week working with the deaf in northern New Mexico. When we came back home after serving there five years, we came home weary in body but not weary in heart. While I was recuperating from the injury, I received a telephone call just after the Passion of the Christ movie came out. There were seven or eight new deaf people, who had been to the Passion movie, came to the First Church in Santa Fe. They were looking for a church that had a deaf ministry. There were a total of 21 deaf people who sat in the sanctuary that morning. 
      “Deaf people are being saved in Taos because of God’s Word. We took several deaf people with us from Santa Fe on mission to Taos. They go with us to Taos to witness to the deaf and participate in the work there. 
      “How wonderful it is when we wait on God, wait on His time, be prepared, and be working and praying as we wait. In His time, he leads deaf people to us or us to them. We never cease to be amazed. 
      “What does it look like to be on mission with God? Olen and I sensed a couple of years ago that God was saying to us, ‘Give your heirlooms, give your treasures, and whatever you have. Give them away.’ So we asked our children to come and get whatever they wanted. We emptied the house and auctioned off everything else. We kept our bed, an armoire, and a sewing machine, the necessities. We leased the house, and we left. And, that’s the way we are living today, by faith.
      “When I broke my leg December 6, 2003 while visiting in North Carolina, the Pastor at Merrimon Avenue Baptist Church announced to the congregation that this had happened, and that we needed an apartment that had easy accessibility with no steps. Two families in the church came forward immediately to my husband, and said, ‘We have exactly what you need. God has spoken to us to give this to you.’ Another family came and said, ‘We have what you need.’ We had three or four offers, and God provided everything we needed. Is it easy? No, honestly it is not easy. But is it worth it? Absolutely! To be in the center of God’s will is the best place to be. He will provide everything you need. Everything! We do have challenges. There are personality challenges with the people we work with. There are those challenges of being rejected. There are those challenges of knowing that you are in a place where people don’t want you. But, you know what, you just love Jesus, love the people, keep your focus on who He is and on what He has called you to do, and you just move on quietly doing the work He called you to do. 
      “We miss our children. Pam is in Billings, Montana. Dee and Mike are in Columbia, South Carolina and their son, Jason, is a student at Winthrop University. Jon, our son, is in Concord, North Carolina, and our granddaughter, Ashley, and her mother are in Black Mountain. Yes, we miss our children, but we call them weekly. We talk to them. We send packages, pictures, and e-mail. We do all those things. Some say, ‘Do you know how long you are going to stay in New Mexico?’ No, we don’t know, but when God is through with us where we are, we will know it. There is a way that the Holy Spirit lets you know that the work is finished, and it is time to be sent somewhere else. We answered God’s call to be on mission with Him in the place where He wants us to be for His purposes to do what He wants to accomplish for His glory. And it’s all about His glory. We believe this is God’s will for us at this time. Time and again, deaf persons will say to us, ‘God sent you here in answer to prayer.’ It’s really a joy to hear them say that. Once they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, they realize what it’s all about, and they begin praying for other deaf people to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. 
      “We thank God for your prayers and for your love for us. Thank you so much. Please continue to pray for us as we go.” 
      When the Smiths arrived back in New Mexico on May 13, 2004, there was a poster on their door, “Welcome Home.” They received a warm welcome with an outpouring of love. 
      Joyce shares, “Olen and I are so grateful for the privilege to serve God here in New Mexico. We have the privilege to follow Him into areas where the needs of deaf people are so great. We have the beginning of the fourth church plant, deaf ministries in the northern part of New Mexico and one in the southern part.” 
      In July, 2004, Joyce had the opportunity to attend the first World Congress of Baptist Deaf at the Southern Baptist Conference for the Deaf at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. A young deaf pastor from the Ukraine preached in Ukraine sign language, and another pastor translated for him into American Sign Language. A young woman from the Ukraine voiced for the deaf pastor, and another voice interpreter for the American Sign Language. Joyce said, “It was beautiful to listen to and watch. We had 800 deaf, missionaries to the deaf, pastors to the deaf and church members, and Southern Baptist interpreters, who were attending training conferences. So it was wonderful. I had not planned to go, but a missionary friend and three other deaf friends of 40 years from Florida, Arkansas, and Colorado asked me to come and stay at a condo with them. Thank God I did go. What a blessing! Thankfully, God arranged for me to be there.” Since 1963, Joyce has missed only two years attending the Southern Baptist Conference for the Deaf. 
      During the conference in Nashville, Carter Bearden taught the Southern Baptist Interpreter’s Training Seminar. Joyce recalls, “On the last day, he pointed his finger to more than 50 of us and asked, ‘Why are you a Christian?’ It is a simple but profound statement. Some said, ‘Because I grew up with Christian parents.’ Others said, ‘My friend became a Christian, and I wanted to be a Christian.’ Carter said, ‘That is the wrong answer!’ If we can answer why we are a Christian, it can be our testimony to someone else within five minutes. He went on to say, ‘I am a Christian because I asked Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sins, to come into my heart and take control. I have changed my mind about the way I am living and turned from my sinful ways to follow my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me on a cross, and was resurrected from the dead on the third day and lives in Heaven with God. I believe when I die I will go to heaven to live with Him forever. While I am living here on earth, I will study God’s Word, pray, and love others. I will witness to others of His saving power and give to support others who are called to share the Gospel of Christ. I believe the Bible is the Word of God, and I will show you what God says to you and how you can be saved.’” Joyce continued, “All of us realized that we need to be specific, intentional, and share our testimony with someone every day. It was a tearful moment of truth to the group.”
      Prayer, love, and witnessing are essential to be On Mission with God. 
      Two deaf women from the Navajo Indian Reservation sent word to their deaf friends in Taos, “We heard you have become a Christian. We heard your lives are changed. Come talk with us about your new life.” So, Veronica and Liz drove four hours to Shiprock, New Mexico Navajo Indian Reservation to see their deaf friends and to share Christ with them. The two deaf women in Shiprock did not receive Jesus on that visit but wanted to know more. 
      On August 27, 2004, Olen, Joyce, Veronica, and Liz visited 30 miles north of Taos, and located three deaf persons who were unchurched. They came to church the next day in Taos, and one lady received Christ as her Savior and Lord. 
      There are more than 20 deaf people who have been located in one area on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Shiprock, where there is no Christian witness to them at all. Olen and Joyce are planning a return mission trip there with some of the deaf Christians from Taos and Santa Fe. It will be a mission trip for the deaf Christians from Santa Fe and Taos to go share Christ with those on the reservation. 
      On October 25-27, 2004, Olen and Joyce attended the Baptist Convention of New Mexico. Some 400 people were in attendance there. On Monday, they attended the mission’s celebration banquet. As they entered the room, Larry Haslam, President of the Convention, met them at the door and asked them to sit at his table. Joyce recalls, “Two women who were seated to my left were from Farmington, New Mexico, near Shiprock. We began to share the need among the deaf there. Laurel, the younger of the two women, is a biochemist research analyst, and has worked in cultural and medical research among the Navajos for the past 30 years. She said, ‘I will send you a report of the life on the reservation.’ She and her mother invited us to stay with them in their home when we visit Shiprock. See what God is doing! God is totally awesome! He is ever leading and providing for every need He calls us to do.” Olen and Joyce also participated in a skit with the state staff on Tuesday evening. Also, on Wednesday morning during the state convention, Joyce read scripture, prayed, and showed a Power Point presentation of the work among the deaf in northern New Mexico. 

  
    Joyce Smith and Pastor Lee Herring of First Baptist Church Santa Fe with deaf young men who were saved in Sunday School.


      Olen and Joyce are active in the First Baptist Church of Santa Fe. They work closely with their Pastor, Rev. Lee Herring; the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Taos, Rev. James Nickell; and with the New Mexico Baptist State Director of Missions. 
      As of 2004, 17 deaf persons in this northern New Mexico area have come to know Christ as Savior and Lord and many hearing family members, also. Many deaf Christians in New Mexico are willing to be obedient to God’s call on their lives and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their circle of friends who are lost or are involved with other religions. Because all are deaf, and communication is the key to bringing them together, the new deaf Christians are boldly standing up for the truth of Jesus Christ.
      The Athletic Director at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe, who also attends First Baptist Church of Santa Fe Deaf Mission, left December 26, 2004, for the Deaf World Olympics in Australia. He will be one of the coaches for the deaf football and basketball teams. He took tracts with him to hand out as the Spirit leads. 
      For six years, Olen and Joyce have tried to get into the New Mexico School for the Deaf to teach Bible Study to the high school teens. Three new Christians, Eli, Jorge, and A.G., went to the Superintendent of the school and requested a Bible Study. After discussion with the authorities, it was approved. 

       
           Sister and brother Moriah and Elias of Taos attend the 
           New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe. 


     North America is the third largest mission field in the world. There are more than 200 countries in the world, and we in America are in the top number of unchurched. Starting at home, in our community, in our state, nation and world, we must share God’s love and compassion for the lost. Olen and Joyce pray that Christians will leave their places of comfort and go share God’s message of love and salvation with those around them and to other places where God calls them to go. 
      Joyce shares, “The passion God has put into our hearts to share God’s love here in New Mexico compels us to go into the hard places and face hardships for the cause of Christ. In John 20:21, Jesus said, As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 
      The Smiths are part of a group of 100 plus volunteers at Glorieta, and among 500,000 volunteers serving God through the North American Mission Board. They continue visiting the deaf, teaching, training, interpreting, planning meetings, preparing Bible Studies and writing Bible Lessons. For 20 years, Joyce has been writing for Bible Lessons for the Deaf, a quarterly printed by LifeWay Christian Resources. Joyce received her Seminary Diploma in Christian Education from the Sunday School Board of SBC, now LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee. 
      Pray for the two new works, Bible Study for high school teens at New Mexico School for the Deaf, and new work at the Navajo Indian Reservation. Bibles, other supplies, and financial support for the work are needed.


    

     Joyce and Olen Smith at the Tiwa Indian Reservation.


     Olen continues to volunteer at Glorieta so they can stay on campus, but Joyce has been relieved from the 30-hour volunteer work week to spend the time she needs with the growing deaf ministry in 2005. As of 2005, God has allowed Joyce and Olen to start 40 Deaf Ministries. This included teaching and mentoring closely until the work was strong enough with leadership ready to take responsibility. However, for some of the ministries, they continue to support and mentor. 
      As Mission Service Corps Missionaries, volunteers in the field, they raise their own support for the work among the deaf in northern New Mexico. The Smiths request your prayers for them and their family. Anyone who would like to join with Olen and Joyce to share God’s love to reach deaf persons and their families for Christ in New Mexico may do so by sending a check, made payable to OJoySmith Deaf Ministries, to PO Box 304, Glorieta, New Mexico 87535. A receipt may be requested for tax purposes. 


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