Three months. Just three. That is what I believed wholeheartedly to be true and exactly what I wrote in my letter to Pastor Ragsdale at Christ’s Church back in 2002.
I had just graduated from Ozark Christian College. In my mind, grad school would be the next step toward my goal of counseling Deaf teens back home in Ohio. During my time at Ozark, my church home had quickly become Christ’s Church of Oronogo. I found connection, stability, and a variety of ways I could learn how to serve others.
During my senior year at Ozark Christian College, I went on my very first mission trip. I was part of a group of Ozark students visiting a few Deaf kids on the Mexican side of the TX/MX border. After seeing how Deaf kids were living just south of the border, I wrote God a single sentence on a little card:
“God, one day I hope I can come back.”
I had NO idea what God had already prepared.
Soon after graduation, I was asked by a mission organization to consider a 3-month internship back to the same area at the border to help Deaf kids. In the short time since our small team visited, the only Christian ministry for Deaf kids had closed and I wondered what had happened to those kids and how many more were like them.
I was NOT a missionary. But the real missionaries were on their way. While they were busy preparing all the things that only real missionaries knew how to do, all that was needed was a little help to scout out the area and report to the incoming professional missionaries some ideas on how they could best minister to Deaf kids in Northeast Mexico.
I didn’t know how to raise support for a mission trip. So, I did the only thing I knew to do.
I wrote one letter, to Christ’s Church of Oronogo, my adopted church home, to ask if they would consider funding this crazy idea.
If the pastor responded with a yes, I would go. If the response was a no, I would accept that as clarity to close the topic of returning to Mexico.
Christ’s Church agreed to sponsor me. After recovering from the shock, I called the missions organization and set my start date of February 2003.
The professional missionaries never came. They canceled their plans. I was so confused. Why did God send me to Matamoros to help prepare for a ministry if there was no one coming to do the actual ministry?
After three months, I returned as planned to Christ’s Church of Oronogo to share a report with the mission’s team.
Nearly at the same time, Christ’s Church missions members said, “We saw before you went that God was doing something. We did not tell you at the time because we did not want to overwhelm you. But if you are wanting to return to Matamoros to start that mission, Christ’s Church of Oronogo is committed to making you a living link missionary.”
The ministry of Con Mis Manos was born. I accidentally became a missionary, and I had no idea what to do. But God.
Over the last 22 years, Christ’s Church has been a constant partner in supporting this idea of a ministry reaching Deaf people in Mexico. In 2023, Con Mis Manos came to Christ’s Church with a need to build a space that would provide safe housing for Deaf young men in need, space for the first Deaf-led church in the region, and space to expand the ministry’s job training programs. The response was overwhelming. Now two years later we are working hard to complete that construction, with move-in slated for the end of this summer.
Also in the past two years, an idea from a Christ’s Church member has transformed into reality. God is using Christ’s Church to partner with Con Mis Manos to effect change for Deaf kids throughout Mexico, far beyond the gates of Con Mis Manos. A short film addressing the injustice of discrimination faced daily by Deaf kids and adults throughout much of Mexico is slated for production this fall.
This will be an enduring resource to advocate for the acceptance of Deaf kids and adults as members of society and members of the body of Christ.
One letter and three months. But God…
Written by Michelle Zuniga, founder and leader of Con Mis Manos
Con Mis Manos
Con Mis Manos is a ministry that reaches out to the deaf in Matamoros, Mexico. Chuy & Michelle Zuniga, founders and leaders of Con Mis Manos, provide a safe place where the deaf can live, learn valuable skills, and experience the family of Christ.
