How God used a hearing loss to make a missionary

Growing up with a hearing loss, Nathaniel (Than) Veltman didn’t know that God would use that loss to lead him to Ethiopia as a PC(USA) mission co-worker and give him an unusual perspective on cross cultural differences.

“As an outsider in an audio-normative society,” Nathaniel says, “I have been forced to communicate cross-culturally. I see the restoration of my hearing [he has two cochlear implants] as a glimpse of what God is doing in the world: God is at work restoring it and making it whole, healing broken relationships and broken bodies. I have come to understand that my experiences growing up with hearing loss were the ‘refining fire’ that has made me who I am today, equipping me with the skills I need to serve Him in the area of international development and ministry.”

In Ethiopia, Nathaniel works as a development consultant with the five synods of long-time PC(USA) partner church, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (meaning “home of Jesus”). The church is challenged by the ethnic struggles of Ethiopia, as well as the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Twenty percent of people of child-rearing age are infected.

Nathaniel holds a master’s degree in international development from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

MBF is committed to providing salary support for Nathaniel Veltman.

 Photo: Nathaniel with his teacher, Yissema, after completing the first two phases of learning the Amheric language.