One of the most beautiful things we have been able to be a part of in this last season is a small group that has sprung up from a local Thai church, under a bridge where we know many homeless people. A homeless church small group is special and uncommon in and of itself but this one is extra special – every single one of the dozen plus (always growing) participants is a brand new Christian (the first person made a commitment to Christ less than six months ago) and every single one of them is deaf. The first night our team was invited to attend this weekly small group we joined the circle of about 15 people and the woman who leads the group translated the sign-language into Thai for us. Iven shared a short parable that Jesus taught  (speaking in Thai, translated to simple sign language – many of the deaf people there don’t speak sign language and only one of them can read and write) and our teammate Sam shared about his love for his natural children and how much God’s fatherly love cares for us regardless of our family backgrounds. All but two of the participants had been thrown out by their families when they were children and this newfound Christian family under the bridge is of great significance to them. Izayla loves when we visit with our deaf friends. She is completely enamored by their expressive gestures and faces. That night she crawled around the circle and sat transfixed in front of several people who were speaking in sign language. They taught us some simple sign language for various animals and foods, and we “told” some of them about how we have been trying to teach Izayla “baby signs” (which she thinks is really funny but hasn’t really learned to do it herself yet).