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”
No comments:
Post a Comment