The First Service…

So this weekend I attended my first worship services there at the church. There was a really good sized congregation there on Sunday. This week, the orchestra played…for such a small stage, they have a rather large orchestra. I got to meet with the Deaf Sunday School class…there were about 9 Deaf people there. I introduced myself and got to know some of them. They were very welcoming and helpful if I didn’t know signs. Sunday night I actually got to interpret a little to give Linda a break. There were some praise choruses she wasn’t really familiar with so she let me sign those…I’d rather do those than try hymns…they tend to be a little more difficult. I also got to interpret the spoken transitions between songs. After the service was over, I asked the one Deaf guy that showed up if he could understand me ok. He said he could understand…he said my style was very different from the usual interpreters and that my signs were a little different.

We survived a tornado warning yesterday…the storm that blew through apparently did a lot more damage than I realized. We lost power at the house yesterday around 5:30 pm and, as of 2:45 today, we still have no power. We’ve heard a rumor that we won’t get power until tomorrow. Praise God for getting us through the storm safely!

My biggest struggle right now is learning how to speak and sign at the same time. During Sunday School and Deaf worship, everything is typed in captions on the screen for those who have vision problems or don’t know sign language…and yes, there are a few here that are completely Deaf and don’t know sign…they rely on lip-reading…that’s also taking some getting used to. Another obstacle I have to deal with is the fact that there is really only one person that attends the church who signs in ASL format…the rest either use a combination of ASL and English or they just sign straight English. For the past 2 years, I’ve been learning proper ASL, I’ve been taught not to mouth words when I sign, I’ve been taught to not revert back to English word order. Now, I have to undo some of that. From what I’ve been told since I got here, there are some Deaf people here who will have quite a bit of difficulty with the ASL word order if I sign that way. It’s going to be interesting for sure. I know God will teach me Michigan sign (He’s already working on that) and get me through difficult conversations.

Pray for the Deaf ministry there at the church…it’s a growing ministry and God’s really working in those lives right now. Pray for the church as a whole. The whole church has just pulled me right into their family and made me feel so at home. This church is a very mission-minded church and they are preparing to send 2 mission teams out very soon. Keep them in your prayers!!! Thanks for all your support and encouragement! I’ll give you another update after Deaf worship this coming weekend. : )