I have been called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as an American Sign Language sister. How excited I am to be able to serve the Lord in this calling. Since I was a young girl, I have always wanted to learn sign language. It was one of the many fascinations I had growing up. I took summer classes, picked up a bit from friends in high school, and finally took three years at BYU learning the language and culture. When finishing my college classes with Deaf Culture, I learned that it is difficult for a hearing person with no family/friend connection to the deaf world to be accepted into the culture. Although I longed to train and become an interpreter, I did not want to trespass into their culture and decided to pull from that dream. I lacked the confidence to seek after my dream, but I find the Lord has different plans for me, and with Him by my side, I am able to better believe in myself. Knowing it is His will for me to help the Deaf culture, I cannot doubt myself. It is now my turn to follow His directions and put my trust in His hands.
There are two experiences that stand out to me the most as it pertains to ASL in my life:
Southern France Ballroom Dance Fireside: One evening we had dinner and a fireside in a southern city in France. During dinner, we ran into a deaf couple. There were a few people in our group who had a basis in sign so we did a bit of communicating with them. Then, for the fireside, we asked if we could help them by trying to interpret. My co-worker Sarai and I don't have a lot of experience, but we wanted to help, so we did our best to interpret using ASL .... it wasn't until later that we both realize that we were in France signing with American Sign Language. Although many people in the hearing culture think that sign language is universal, there are many differences between different countries, states, and even cities. Therefore, American Sign Language is not the same as French Sign Language (although I want to put in that the first organized sign language came from a French man, Abbe Charles Michel De l'Epee in the mid-1700s). Even though French sign was the basis for American sign, I'm sure most of what we were interpreting was not understood - especially since we knew so little in religious sign we'd fingerspell (in English of course), but it didn't matter to this couple. It was the fact that we were willing to help spread the words of our fellow students to everyone in whatever skill we had. They would not welcome any help from those from their ward. They just wanted us girls to do what we could and the spirit could do the rest. We really didn't succeed well, for both of us have never done extensive interpreting. It is not an easy task, especially since we did not learn gospel vocabulary in our classes. This experience lead me to go to the distribution center and buy the ASL gospel vocabulary manual that the church publishes and get the DVD's of the Book of Mormon in ASL. In many ways, this experience is one of the most memorable religious experiences in my life. We were acting as missionaries, being in a new place, with little knowledge of the language, but depending on the Spirit to help me and Sarai communicate the fireside to this deaf couple. It was simply wonderful!
First Presidency Christmas Fireside 2007: For this fireside, I decided to watch it at the Marriott Center at BYU. When I entered into the arena, I looked around for seating and noticed the signing section relocated just off one of the section entrances. Usually they are located on the first few rows so the interpreter was on the floor. Since there were no speakers, but a video feed off the DiamondVision, they put the section up higher so they could watch the interpreter and still see the screen for any visuals. Since I was in my second year of taking ASL classes, I decided to sit in the ASL section. It was amazing! I quickly learned that I still have much more to learn from my classes, but hearing the voice over the speakers and watching the interpreters sign helped me appreciate ASL. My favorite moment was watching this specific interpreter with the musical numbers. His form and expression was beautiful. I simply love to watch the music of sign language. I especially remember him signing "Away in a Manger". It became a desire of mine to one day be able to sign music the way he did.
TENDER MERCY: I was born with a love for the Deaf culture. Although I doubted myself in how I could assist them, the Lord found a way for me to serve His children.
‘Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man’s souls.’ This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of these basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. ~Spencer W Kimball (1974)
