1-2-23
Well
That video I brought up like 2 weeks ago- I finally got a good recording so it's posted. Sorry if you don't know ASL you probably won't know what it says at all lol.
This week started with a covid scare!
Background: in the Deaf World there's this thing called "Tactile Interpreting" it's also in the Blind world. Basically, people who are Deaf and blind can't hear or see so the best way to communicate with them is through Tactile ASL. We have two blind and Deaf members and during church or when you want to talk to them you sit next to them and they'll put their hands over yours and you just start signing- that's their language. It's probably one of the coolest things ever. And one of them, Indiana, is absolutely incredible. She's really funny and incredibly smart. It's amazing how functioning she really is even though she can't see or hear.
(I say that because after we told one member about Tactile he asked "Then what's the point of her life?"
. Their life is just as wonderful as ours, they've been given quite the trial but still do sooo amazing incredible with it)
. Their life is just as wonderful as ours, they've been given quite the trial but still do sooo amazing incredible with it)Anyways. Indiana tested positive for Covid. And our hands are all over hers during church. So we basically assumed we had COVID. We decided we were gonna have an English fast during the entirety of our quarantine. So I was excited for that cuz I knew it'd help me soooo much.
But- no positive tests. Kind of a relief. But a disappointment too…
This week it rained a lot. There's a video in the photo album of a car basically stuck in a puddle. We had roads closed due to flooding. It's incredible how much water can actually come out of the sky. And guess what? We were out knocking doors and teaching people through most of it. On Friday, the worst of the rain, we actually legit could not do anything because of how bad the rain was. So we had to sit in a church building and just do calls for a few hours!
On Sunday morning I walked Into the study room and started playing solitaire and a ant crawled over one of my cards. I squished it with a pencil and tapped it into the trash. Then I saw another one by my scriptures. Then another one on the wall. And another and another. I look under my desk and BOOM.
There's a clear line of pure ants from the window to the ground. PURE ANTS.
So I'm like "uhh. There's ants."
So for the next while we're vacuuming up ants and spraying WD-40 wherever we think they could be coming from. We come back in a few minutes and there's a fresh line of pure ants.
So we have the vacuum right there. Once it gets thick enough we suck them up.
Oh! On Wednesday we got a text from President Peterson (the deaf branch president) asking if Elder Owens could give a talk on Sunday so they told him yes. And I have the most mega heart sinking ever.
Give a talk….in ASL? My ASL is like…not.
How am I gonna give a talk? So I just start writing over and I've trying to only use words and ideas I can do in ASL and as I'm reading over each time I'm like "...I have no clue how to say that"
So basically the stress for the talk got so bad I had trouble sleeping and was just thinking about leaving the ASL program and trying to get back into English. But Elder White and Elder Rigby helped me alot and I ended up with a finished Product that was probably going to be ok.
Then we were sitting in our first ward and we get a text from a few people telling us there was a Gas Leak at the building the deaf branch meets at! Yay! (Nothing bad happened to anybody) so church was canceled!
So I didn't have to give my talk! God works in mysterious ways.
I still recorded it at home and sent it out.
Well
That's all the stuff that matters!
I recently got back into the habit of flossing and my mouth just feels so much better. I don't know why I lost that habit in the first place.
As we start the new year I want you all to think about what habits you may have lost and would like to get back. And don't just think about it, actually do something about it.
Tell somebody your plan, set reminders in your phone, put a sticky note up, do it!
It could be that wonderful habit you had of reading the Book of Mormon every day back on your mission or back in seminary, maybe it's making your bed every morning like you did back in elementary school days. Or maybe it's flossing.
Happy New Year! Have a good year!
-Elder Owen
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