Co~mission 129

Hello Friends,

I've embarked on a new adventure. It's been a desire of mine for a while to attend AFCOE. I feel God leading me in that direction this fall, so I'm doing my part. You can read the full story at Co~mission 129 by clicking here. I covet your prayers. Feel free to pass this on to your friends as well.

Thank you in advance and many blessings to you! :)

I love surprises!

My brother, John, was cast as Jesus in the annual Union College Passion play this year. Interestingly, our father played as Jesus in the UC Passion play when John was just a baby. Anyway, our brother, Dale, decided to surprise John and drive over from Denver for that weekend. After some thought we concluded it would be wise to let John know Dale was there before he saw him in the crowd of spectators and forgot his lines. It was a lot of fun to see John's reaction! Though it took him a while to figure out Dale was there. He was only a little preoccupied with preparations. ;)

Enjoy!

Proudly introducing...

I am proud to introduce to you...

"Garden Loom"

...the blog of my dear mother, Diane Marie. It has already been graced with her insights and there is promise of many more gems to come. If you didn't know, God has made her a gifted poet. She has blessed and cheered many a heart with her tapestries of words, and now her blog will hold her collection of poems.

Come join me and watch her weave...

One question...

Why are you a Christian?

The "interpreter"

I visited my aunt's church last weekend and arrived there the same time as two deaf guys. My family has been friends with them since I was little. I never talked to them much. I was too shy. But now that I'm learning sign language I have been practicing when I see them. They love it!

So last Sabbath they sat with me. I asked if they were expecting an interpreter. They said no. So basically they came to sit in church and hear nothing and participate in nothing and not know what was going on until potluck where they would hope that someone would pass notes back and forth with them. It makes me sad. It's not that the people in the church are rude or won't talk to them, it's just like visiting a church that speaks another language and people aren't sure how to get across the language barrier. So often the communication consists of a wave hello and a smile. Ron, the older gentleman, can lip-read and speak quite well (I always joke that I don't learn anything from him), Jorge is pretty dependent on sign language though so I sign with him the most probably. :) But in the church service the lip-reading doesn't help. The people who are talking are too far away.

Ron and Jorge sat with me during church, and I couldn't just sit there and enjoy church knowing they were be "excluded". So I began doing my best to interpret what was being said. For the songs Ron asked me to hold the hymnal and point to each word as we sang it, and they signed along. The special music thankfully was a song that I knew and had simple words. But I was so limited in my signing vocabulary that I finally text my mom and asked her to bring in her iPad when she got there so I could type and they could read. That got more across, but I got a good taste of how hard it is to listen to the next thing while your typing (or interpreting) what was just said. Inevitably Ron would ask me a question or comment on something or clarify something and I would stop listening to the sermon and miss the first part of the next point or illustration. I ended up summarizing a lot of the sermon. It was I'm sure a comical sight. Me typing, Ron translating it in to ASL and signing it for Jorge. *laughs* But we did it! And Jorge said, "Thank you so much!" It's a lot more than they usually get I'm sure. It made me feel good. And it strengthened my desire to learn ASL. It also wore me out! I was exhausted by the time we left after potluck. :) At the beginning of church we commented that it was a little chilly. after the first 15 min of signing I took my sweater off and was sweating. Jorge laughed and said, "It's all the signing."

The experience got me thinking...my education towards Sign Language Interpreting has been kind of derailed, and I've questioned if I'll ever be able to do it. It would require something I'm not sure I want to do. So I've thought about just taking more ASL classes and trying to just become fluent in sign. But I struggle with self-motivation. And I learn best by doing. Abstract book learning takes awhile to sink in with me. I'm an experiential learner. I've also already forgot a lot of what I learned in my first ASL class last fall becuase I haven't been able to practice. It's hard to practice with yourself or with your family who doesn't have a clue what your saying and can't "talk back". Jorge has been trying to introduce me to a deaf girl in CO over his videophone, but we keep missing each other. My dad and I finally went to his house last Sabbath afternoon. We couldn't get a hold of the girl, but I got to meet and sign with a sweet couple, also from CO, for at least and hour. It was so much fun!! I'm going to sign with the wife, Julia (the husband's name is Don), again sometime over Skype. I can't wait!! She may even give me a sign name. Oh I would love that! You're not supposed to ask for one. But they asked if I had one last Sabbath and I said no, so they tried to "name me" but could come up with one. Unless you want the generic one (your initials signed at your left shoulder) it has to come from something in your personality. So they'll have to get to know me more. :)

So anyway, I got to thinking...maybe I should just start going to that church regularly and tell Ron and Jorge I will "interpret" for them when they're there. It will definitely give me practice (and a list of words to look up through the week). It can't hurt. I'll just jump in with both feet and learn as I go. Deaf people are so patient and such great teachers. The funny thing is so far they don't all teach me the same thing. One will tell me, "Always do it this way." So I do it that way and another one tells me, "Oh no, that's not how you do it, do it this way." But I'm getting used to it. It's pretty much the same as ascents, you have the Texan accent, the Boston accent, and the Michigan accent, just in a different way. I haven't figured out how to categorize the signs to know where they come from and where to use them. lol But as long as your a willing learner they'll put up with your blunders (and believe you me, I have plenty of them.)

So we'll see what unfolds. I just had to share my excitement for those who know my dreams. :) Perhaps soon I'll post a video...