Inside Story: Mexico ~ First Deaf Theology Student
First Deaf Theology Student
By Jose Rodrigo Martinez Patron
My Seventh-day Adventist mother noticed that I, as a baby, did not respond in our home in Merida, Mexico. She would call my name, and I did not notice.
Image © Pacific Press
Mother sought help when I was about 2. She sent me to a special needs school that taught me sign language and how to speak. My teacher taught the sounds of letters and words. I put my hand to her throat when she spoke and then tried to replicate the sound with my own throat.
My mother cried because her son couldn’t hear her voice. “Don’t worry,” the teacher said. “Have patience. Everything will work out fine.”
I attended the special needs school for two hours every day. I also studied at an Adventist school for two hours daily. The church school taught me how to read and write and, most important, it taught me about God.
I attended the Adventist school up to the age of 8. But the school didn’t have teachers who knew sign language, so Mother ended up sending me to a public school with teachers who could communicate with me.
The first time that I met other Adventist young people with hearing impairments was at a church-organized conference at Linda Vista Adventist University. It was wonderful to mingle with other Adventist young people with the same needs as me. I was invited to attend the annual conference again the next two years. Then the Inter-America Division organized its first special needs conference and held the event at Montemorelos University in Monterrey, Mexico. At the conference, a desire grew in me to serve God as a pastor. But how? I could never afford the tuition.
As the conference concluded, university president Ismael Castillo made a surprising announcement. “Do any of you want to study here?” he asked.
He offered a full scholarship for the tuition. I understood then that God was calling me to be a pastor, and I stood up.
I am the first deaf theology student at Montemorelos University. This is my second year at the university. It is difficult because no one knows sign language. I concentrate hard and try to read the teachers’ lips. I failed several classes my first year, and I have to retake those classes.
I have led several evangelistic meetings for the hearing impaired, including in Mexico City. Churches with deaf people invite me to preach.
I have a huge desire in my heart to graduate and serve as a pastor. I dream about going to the mission field, perhaps to Spain as a missionary to the hearing impaired.
Please pray for the hearing impaired. We all have dreams. We are willing to do big things for the Lord.
This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a missionary training center at Montemorelos University.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
🙏 Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
Our Father can do anything, remember: 2 Corinthians 8:12KJV: For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath….I pray that Jose’s dream to serve will come to fruition.
My wife was born legally deaf. She has only about 3% of her hearing. She and our church interpreter tell me and others, not to use “hearing-impaired”, but say “deaf”. My wife reads in the Bible, “deaf and dumb”. She feels an insult because the term used, is understood by her, to mean, “stupid”. I have explained the “old” saying from unable to speak, was “dumb”. I am very happy for you, Jose and I believe God has picked you personally to help the deaf understand God’s love for them.
This is wonderful. He can teach Sign Language to the lecturers, too — someone should suggest it to him.