A Year Gone By

I will keep this short.
It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. so here I will catch you up a bit.
I have been putting in a lot of time and effort into the drama group Dorothy and I attend. We've had several performances and recently held a Beauty competition for Miss Deaf Hungary.

The new media Equipment has arrived! This is great because when I landed in Budapest the filming equipment, editing PC and software were just awful. Now we have brand new equipment for filming. Unfortunately, our co-worker has ended her term leaving us without a filming organizer.  So...no new filming is planned for the foreseeable future. On a positive note, those who come after me, will have the proper equipment and can hit the ground running.

Our close friend David is attending college classes in Budapest each week. So we have the pleasure of having him stay with us on Friday evenings.

We went to visit him in Veszprém. Where we saw him perform in a highly successful children's opera.  The costumes were amazing as was the performance. 

David has been our close friend since just after we arrived in Hungary.  He has also been super helpful in some areas that need a little... assistance, from the natives.






At Christmas time, the Deaf Church group took a trip to an orphanage. They told the Christmas story. Below is a video I made of that trip.  Recently the group returned to tell the children the Easter story.


Orphanage from Ryan Merrill on Vimeo.

More updates from the last year to come.

One Moment at a Time

Now that I have the opportunity to be Father, I am amazed at the things I am learning from my child.

All my life I have known little patience for all things and especially people. But as I hold my daughter in my arms and feel her breathing my World stops, and I no longer care about whats next. My only concern is that moment. In that moment all things are happening in the present, there is no tomorrow and no yesterday. And in that "Present" I find peace. Yet, now there is a sadness...no, not sadness, but sorrow in my heart. Sorrow for my Creator. He longs for me to be present with Him and simply acknowledge the moment. Through my daughter I believe God is showing me His desire to see me choose to dwell in this moment with Him.

Vectors, Jpegs and Headaches

Many times I am asked what I actually do for my job. So I thought I would simply show you some of the work I have been doing. These are image samples of icons I have created for use on an all Deaf web site. The site will cater to Deaf from all around the Globe. Icon are being created and discussed in order to replace text. We are seeking to assemble a batch of icons that can be easily recognized by Deaf. each icon will serve as functional navigation buttons linking the user to various areas of the site where videos are hosted in the Sign Language of the users choice.


The goal of the site is to provide an online resourse where Deaf can view videos "spoken" in their own language as well as learn about Deaf in other countries. It is essentially a "Story" site for the Deaf. they will be able to learn about culture, get to know Deaf nationals as they tell their stories and find Bible Stories signed in their own language right from their computer desk. Comments and video feedback are also being developed. The icons you see are not finalized images, but prototypes made during this research and development stage.

Becoming Daddy

I have been asked countless times since I've been married,"so, when are you going to have kids?" The answer has always been,"I don't know." Never really been the type of person who strives towards a conventional lifestyle. Many people I know began having children right away, and for them I am glad. As for myself, I needed some time to do some growing up of my own before raising a child, to experience life with Dorothy without making decisions around a child's needs. Some may say that is a selfish attitude to have...and that is OK; but in my own opinion it was a wise decision.

The reason being is that a child will become the adult that the parents shape that child to be. It doesn't take much to see the influences of parents in the lives of their children. Sure the child will grow up to make his/her own decisions, but at the root lies the foundations laid down by those who raised him/her. My ideas about how I will influence my child/children has drastically changed since I was married at age 20... and for the better I do believe. Because now I understand how a father should love. I have experienced it in my relationship with Christ. All of the horrible offences I have and continue to make toward Him are overshadowed by His willingness to accept me as I am. There is nothing I can do; no deed good enough, no prayer long enough and no sacrifice large enough to ever make Him love me more than He does right now in this moment. All I can do is accept that love. And that is All I ever want from my child/children, to accept and know that he/she is loved in that same way. And I know how to love like that, because that kind of love resides in me.

Drama Rama

Last Summer We went to a festival across the river from Visegrád Castle in Nagymaros. At this Festival a Deaf drama group preformed Romeo and Juliet, with a slight twist. Romeo's family was Deaf, Juliet's hearing. After the play we left and went sight seeing at the Castle.

Sometime later, We spent a week at Lake Balaton in a Camp for the Deaf, where we got to meet some of the actors we had seen in the play a few weeks before. In fact Dorothy and I were being taught some basic Hungarian sign in a small group of hearing folks taught by one of the Drama Club's leaders. Her name is Erica. Erica gave us each an assignment for the week, we were to each read one of the children's story books she had handed out, and act out the story at the end of the week in Camp.




As it turned out, Erica liked us enough, and thought we were decent enough at acting, she invite us to join the Drama group that we had seen preform at Nagymaros.
Now It's kind of a big deal for a hearing people, especially Ameican hearing people who have almost no knowledge of the local spoken language(this was before we studied spoken Hungarian),to be invited into a Deaf weekly event. Did I mention that We were clueless as to how to sign in Hungarian as well, and I had (and still have) no idea how to even sign in American Sign Language. My God was placing an opportunity for us to be a real part of the Hungarian Deaf Culture, and have some fun at the same time!






So now we meet with this group every week to practice. We are soon to be preforming a drama based loosely upon the film "Playing By Heart". We have made friendships in this group and are picking up the sign language much quicker now, thanks to the One an Only who always meets us at our point of need.

Click here to see photos of my Terminator 2 pantomime from Deaf Camp 2009.

The Czech Deaf...10 years later

About 10 years ago a Deaf woman from the states felt The Lord burdening her heart to travel to the Czech Republic to share the freedom and uncontainable love of Jesus with the Deaf...she was 90 years old.
From the seed of that visit, several Deaf house churches have sprouted. Where there once were dying souls, bitter and complacent, there is now life and hope and joy beyond anything that was ever thought possible. A spiritual healing has taken place among these Deaf Czech peoples, and I can only watch and be inspired by what Christ has done in there lives.


I was in the Czech Republic for 7 days working along side an excellent media team from the US. They are now in the process of editing the story of how God used one bitter, angry and resentful Deaf woman living in Czech, to reach other Deaf of the Czech Republic with a radical message of Love and Forgiveness. God spoke through a 90 year old American and reached the Deaf of Czech.
How?

Well, with God you must expect miracles, or why bother believing in an all powerful, omnipresent being...Right? I will not go into the story of how the Word spread in the Deaf communities of the Czech Republic, the media team I was with will do an excellent job of telling you the story later this year. But, I want to say that seeing the community and family these new believers have become is awe-inspiring. And the most awe-inspiring thing about it, is their willingness to to die to themselves and live for Christ.

Click for More Photos