Deaf people and Psalms

 I am back in the ASL branch! This will be month 19 of serving in Fremont. It's nice to be back. 

My companion is Elder Ardinger. He's one of the most deaf people I've ever met. Brother has been through a lot and it's a miracle he's out on a mission. He's been helping me with my ASL. I keep thinking I know everything and then he teaches me more signs and stuff and it feels like I am still a beginner. 

Elder Reed Johnson is finally back to the California San Jose Mission! He went home because he destroyed his knee like 6 months ago. I trained him last August and now he's back! It's poetically beautiful that I get to be with him again. 

Our 4 man apartment is actually crazy. 2 Deaf 2 Hearing. We have a lot of fun, but we also have a lot of frustrations and really difficult days. A few times every day something is misunderstood and it leads to somebody being in a bad mood. We are trying so hard to understand each other and it's exhausting in every way. Sometimes it feels like it's hearing versus Deaf and it sucks because we forget that truly, we are all on the same team. We all have the same goal. If we can't work together in unity then nothing is ever gonna happen. 

When I was in ASL before, we also covered an English ward. Now there are 2 companionships that ONLY cover the ASL branch. What are we supposed to do all day long? I have no clue! We end up on Facebook a lot. We have been trying to make videos that will actually mean something to a non-member Deaf person. We do lots of video calls where nobody answers. And we drive a lot. Elder Ardinger and I have been visiting a Deaf Woman who wants to be baptized but has a lot of doubts and concerns that we’re trying to help with. She lives an hour south. Add California traffic to that and we're taking about 4 hours of our day to have a 45 minutes lesson with her. That's actually insane. 

Here's some things that you probably don't know about having a Deaf companion.

You have to wake them up every morning 

Car rides are awkward because you can't really talk

For some reason they love playing around on guitars and pianos

Interpreting is mentally exhausting.

They're insanely expressive so you always know exactly how they feel

During study time they always ask me what words mean and I have to try and explain (some good ones from this week were ‘confide’ ‘proceeding’ ‘supposed’ ‘deliver’ and ‘sariah’)

With that, I am also constantly asking what signs mean 

Idk if this is all Deaf people, but elder Ardinger loves games, cooking, and handmade crafts.

Sometimes they throw stuff or slam doors and you think they're mad but they're actually just Deaf.

A Lot of Deaf people have tender feelings. This makes them so lovable. You just gotta be careful with what you say or how you joke or what you do. 

“Listening” is actually just Watching and showing you care with your facial expressions

If you wanna talk to them while they're in the bathroom you take a video of yourself signing and throw it under the door. (We've already done it a few times)

You can listen to music whenever you want and they'll never know.

We visited some Deaf people in Pleasanton (30 minute drive) and while we were in a care home I heard some Indian on the phone talking in Hindi so I peek around the corner and I'm like “ कैसे हो?” And he was like “क्या….”

Then we had a super good talk about my adventure learning hindi and he just couldn't get over the fact that a white kid was talking in hindi. We're friends on fb now and he challenged me to learn Punjabi as well. 

We played volleyball with some Deaf friends and some hearing people from the ward.

One of the Deaf girls had a super tall big hearing boyfriend (that doesn't know ASL(?)) And he was way way in the game. Like diving for balls and shooting out when the ball was his. Then there was one serve and it was going right for elder Ardinger and this giant guy shouted “I go! I go!” And ran right into elder Ardinger and sent him flying and crashing to the floor.

Then he went over to apologize and literally actually said “sorry, I did call it though” and everybody else on the team was like “bruh….he's Deaf” 

I could see the mental work happening inside as he realized Deaf means they can't hear- even if you yell really loud. 

We filled a balloon up with dry rice and air and then threw it at the ceiling fan. 

Elder Ardinger gave himself a haircut.

Elder Johnson fell out of his chair during a video call

I started using a gallon jug as a water bottle and drank all of it a few days this week.

I got pushed in the shower with my clothes on then they turned the lights off and the shower on. So then Everybody hopped in.

Interpreting church on Sunday for the Hearing people that come to ASL branch actually destroys my mind. 

Then interpreting zone council on Monday into ASL also kills my brain.

We went fishing and got a sting ray.

Today my heart is full of gratitude for the Psalms. Jesus himself said “all things must be fulfilled, which were written. . . in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44)

The psalms are not just cool poems written by King David about Jesus. They are legit scripture full of pure doctrine and prophecy, all conveyed in a beautiful and symbolically stunning way. 

Here a few that have become guiding phrases of my life:

“Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night”

“Stand In awe and sin not”

“I have set the Lord always before me”

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”

“The lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall i fear? The lord is the strength of my life”

“They repent and in a moment [his anger] is turned away. . .therefore, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”

“In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.”

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it”

“I am thy salvation”

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”

As I come to the close of my mission I hope to echo the words of the 40th psalm and say 

“ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness in my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth”

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

It's all so real

 What an insane ride this past week has been. 

Visited some cool members. An old couple and their middle age single adult son who literally recited 40 scriptures while we were there. The old guy asked if we wanted a drink and I didnt want a soda (6 weeks too sexy) and so I asked if he had chocolate milk. 

He hopped up and pulled out some powder and a milk and stuff and while he was stirring it he told a story about some Indian (Native American, not curry) whom he took care of. this little boy always wet the bed until he started letting him have ice cream if he didnt wet the bed. Then he never wet the bed again. He must have got a little carried away with the story because he added an insane amount of the powder to the milk- like I had legit chunks in there- more powder than milk.

We visited one of our YSA friends and crazy miracle- he had just lost his phone the other day and was leaving on a trip to Utah the next day, he wanted to keep reading the scriptures but didn't have his phone so we showed up and literally the only time he was available before his trip and had plenty of copies of the Book of Mormon with us. Now he has one he can study! God truly is mindful of everybody- we did not know why we were visiting beforehand.

We left a book of Mormon with a recent convert in the ysa on accident and he was like. “Do you guys want it back?” And were like “nah its ok. We have a ton. Why don't you give it to somebody!” 

So 2 hours later he called us and told us he gave it to somebody he met at a store. Crazy.  

On Sunday during ysa second hour (second hour for them but 4th hour for me!) I totally fell asleep. Strangest thing happened- I've never had anything like this happen before- I woke up and legit heard in my mind “you need to offer Kate a priesthood blessing.” I'm not even fully aware yet so I kinda excuse it and we head for the doors to leave. Then Kate comes up to us and starts talking and instantly I can tell she's not doing well. 

So I'm like “Kate, I don't really know the answers. But I know God does. Would you like a priesthood blessing?” She totally starts tearing up. So we grabbed Bishop and headed into his office and I was able to give her a blessing. The Priesthood power and authority are so real. It's so cool that I get to carry a portion of God's power with me. 

The most crazy thing I've ever experienced on my mission happened this week too.

Here's the background: at the beginning of this transfer I went to a trainer training meeting. It was actually so good. Lots of revelation in there. Near the end they asked us “what are you gonna do? What will you do because of what has happened here in this meeting?” I, ⅓ joking and ⅔ seriously, answered that I was gonna take my trainee to a parking lot and make him go contact strangers. Everybody cheered or laughed which is what I wanted lol. Then that night on the way home, I'm thinking I actually do need to go to a parking lot and show him some stuff. 

As we were contacting there, we met a group of 5 teenagers from a catholic school. They were pretty funny and we had a good chat.

Now, at the end of the transfer, we got a referral from some guy named Pasqual. He answered his phone once and hasn't again so we just went over to his home. And a boy answered the door. He looked at us and was like “do you guys remember me?!”

My mind raced until I found him- it was one of the kids from that night! He was actually so happy to see us! Normally I don't think he'd have recognized us. It was dark outside when we met him first, and now it's been over a month since he saw us. We could not have talked for more than 4 minutes. 

But he remembered us. (John 14:26) He recognized us as soon as the door opened. Turns out Pasqual is his grandfather! 

Went to the temple last pday and learned something : always give invitations in a positive, not a negative. Meaning tell them to do something rather than to not do something.

For example:

Don't say : don't forget who you are

Do say : remember who you are

Don't say: don't let the Fire go out 

Do say : keep the Fire burning

Don't say : don't leave the church, don't go inactive 

Do say: become a life lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ 

If you are endowed, go to the temple and pay attention to how instructions are given.

Love you all, thank you for everything!