JEREMY AND STACY PARKS, both Texas natives, use sign language as they communicate with deaf children during crafts time at a camp for deaf children near Brno, Czech Republic. She was born deaf; he has an inherited hearing problem. They are leading Bible studies and starting churches among the Czech Republic's estimated 50,000 deaf people. (IMB photo by Mike Creswell)

Texas couple developing 'storying' technique for deaf
___PRAGUE, Czech Republic--Jeremy and Stacy Parks seem like any happy young couple as they play with their 2-year-old son, Preston.
___It's only when they begin communicating you realize there's a difference--she was born deaf, and he has an inherited problem that muddles his hearing. They communicate in signlanguage.
___Even at age 2, Preston looks closely at his mother as she signs to him, clearly understanding the quick hand movements.
___Jeremy Parks is a native of Dickinson, and Mrs. Parks grew up in Spring, both in the Houston area. They still have close ties to Pine Drive Baptist Church in Dickinson.
___Parks worked as an audiologist in North Carolina before they were appointed missionaries by the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. They served 10 months in Gaza, now the troubled land so much in the news, where they both worked in a Palestinian school for deaf children.
___As International Service Corps missionaries, the Parkses now are serving for two years in the Czech Republic. They live in Prague but teach Bible studies in both Prague and Plzen, a city in the western part of the country. They're close to getting a Bible study group in Plzen to "gel" into a new church. They also work in schools for the deaf, where they have opportunities to witness.
___A big part of their work also is developing narrative Bible stories to be used across Eastern Europe.
___The Parkses met while attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock. There both met others with hearing problems, and that led to a study of sign language. But a whole new world opened for them when they discovered that First Baptist Church of Beaumont had a deaf congregation affiliate.
___"For Stacy, all the Bible stories were new for her," Parks explained. "For the first time she really understood the simple Bible stories from the Old Testament."
___Now the Texans want to share their faith with other deaf people so they, too, can know the joy that comes with faith in Christ.
___After completing their service in the Czech Republic, the Parkses hope to minister in nearby Slovakia.
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