Another week has gone by, it seems ... We've been keeping busy driving all around the streets of the Orlando metropolitan area. We've been from Windermere (our apt) up to Sanford, Oviedo, Winter Park and down to Kissimmee and St. Cloud. Our strength of members is focused in Oviedo and Winter Park but right now our focus in teaching is down in Kissimmee and St. Cloud. We are quickly learning how to budget our miles and finding the fastest routes of travel. It's a lot of fun! Also, I'm starting to use the phone more often. I still don't care for referral calls, but I have no problem calling the missionaries to confirm referral information and getting information for our records on the area. We're still trying to figure everything out with our car book, updating potential sheets and member sheets, organizing our area book, etc. Little by little it comes together. One day, I called the office and talked to all of the senior couples - phone being passed from person to person - because we keep making a list of things to be done.
Right now, I'm navigator in the car - I'm sure that makes Mom happy! My records from the Ft. Lauderdale Mission got misplaced so I don't have Orlando Mission approval to drive ... but I get to meet with President this week to seek out that approval. So, Sis. Homer drives while I navigate and it's going well! I'm having a lot of fun figuring out how to use the map and getting us places. In a way, we hope for a GPS, but Sis. Homer used one earlier this week when we were on exchanges and it led her astray - so I'd rather trust a paper map then an electronic device. Soon, I may change my mind ... So, when I get home, I will know Orlando like the back of my hand ... and right now we aren't using toll roads so we get quite creative in how to save miles! Soon though, we'll also add navigation of the toll roads in our skills. It's awesome!
Some other things we've started doing is finding better ways to contact. Just walking around signing isn't quite doing anything yet ... very slow work, especially out in the smaller towns. So, we go on tracting exchanges with Sisters asking for referrals at each door approach, we focus on Downtown Orlando working the Lynx Transit Center and the Downtown Library, and we decided to start visiting the UCF campus each week ... an institute teacher there reserves a booth for the College Park missionaries and we thought it was a great opportunity for us to join and ask for referrals. Now I have to learn to stop feeling awkward about street contacts. I've finally felt comfortable making door contacts, but it still feels extremely awkward to stop a person on the street, parking lot, or campus.
Something that I love is the wonderful members here, both Deaf and Hearing!! They are awesome! So willing to help! Sis. Homer was raised (on the mission) in a Singles Ward, so having so many dinner appointments and visits with families is a huge change for her! It's funny to see her transition into Deaf work. She loves to teach and keep busy, but sometimes it feels a bit slow because we travel a lot and Deaf contacts are few. Doing tracting exchanges and campus contacts are helping a lot so we can continue to teach and take a break from being silent. We made a rule to only speak in the car or when communicating with the hearing. So, we have a lot of silent times just signing back and forth. I love it!
So, all is great here in the Orlando ASL Program. We learn something every day! We can't wait to hear about the new ASL missionaries that will be called to Orlando. The members are already talking about Sis. Lovejoy! We're also curious what will happen when the Mission Presidents change. We look forward to meeting President Hall, and we're curious what the change will do to our new program. It's so funny to hear the ideas we toss to each other every day. We try to guess where our new apartment will be, if Orlando will establish a Deaf Branch while we are on our missions, if we'll ever be able to talk our President into a nicer phone - the members think we need a keyboard phone (blackberry or iphone) because we use a stubby little brick, etc. We're just having fun. We're grateful for what we have been given, and each day we see the tender mercies that the Lord has given the ASL program. He sees our needs and provides a way so we turn everything into His hands and always remember that this is the Lord's program.
‘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)
