for such a time as this

“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 NKJV

I had what I often like to describe as an Esther moment today. It’s a time when things that I have done for a long time, perhaps years, suddenly make sense as they are revealed to be part of a larger plan.

I’ve had a few more interesting experiences since my last post. When I was still at my home church, before returning to college, another special music singer asked me if I would be willing to sign along with her song as well. I agreed, and she gave me the words to the song that I managed to quickly learn before the service. The signing went well and I enjoyed being able to do it again before I had to leave.

Last Sunday, after coming back to college, I was helping host a dinner after the church service for a church group that I am involved with. During the dinner, a woman I had never met came up to be and told me that she enjoyed the way I signed songs during the services. The interpreters had not been working that day, and there were no Deaf people attending, so I had remained in the pew, but she had noticed me signing anyway.

This woman, Diane, told me she had a Deaf sister whom she was hoping to convince to start attending church there, and who has not been to church for some time. Although there are churches in the area with larger Deaf populations, her sister was not attending any of these and she hoped that coming to one with family already there would help.

I told Diane that I looked forward to seeing her sister if she came the next week, and today I was hoping to see her. However, none of the family were there, and neither were the interpreters. I sat in the pew again but this time practiced signing the service itself as well as the music, since if I want to become a professional interpreter I will need to learn to keep up with rapid speakers.

After the service, Diane came up to me and asked me if I felt comfortable signing a whole service. I told her that I did, and that I had done that before when the interpreters were not there. She told me that she had called the office this week and had been told that Barb, the usual interpreter,  was taking a leave of absence for a while, and so there would be no interpreter for the service. Thus, she told her sister not to come. However, if I was willing to try doing the interpreting, she would bring her sister next week.

I told her that I would love to do that, and to be a part of bringing her sister back into a church family. We exchanged emails to stay in contact for weeks when I would not be on campus available to sign, and I have planned to both call the church office during the week to learn the songs and also to attend the first service to hear the message once and practice my signing before I have to sign for the second service. It will be my first “official” interpreting assignment, even though I am nowhere near qualified or experienced, or certified.

I have a habit of volunteering myself for things, and apparently my learning method is. ‘throw the novice in the deep end and see what happens’, but I am truly looking forward to this opportunity. Not only will it be wonderful experience I can use if I go on to study interpreting as a career, but it will be a chance to meet a new person with whom I will hopefully form a wonderful friendship.

This is a situation I could not possibly have anticipated a year ago. I had no idea that the regular interpreters would be stepping aside for a while and that someone would be needed to take their place. I would never have expected that person to be me. But it seems that all along, I was slowly being prepared to take over this job at a time when it is incredibly important to one family, and perhaps to one person’s spiritual life. I will be in constant prayer that God will use this opportunity to draw Diane’s sister to Him, and that I can be one of the tools He uses for this work.

new year, new experiences

While I was home from college for a long Christmas break, I was able to join my father in church for special music, interpreting while he sang. It was an amazing privilege. The congregation enjoyed my interpreting, and the chance to see something that is very rare in my home church, since we do not have any interpreters during the services.

For me, the most emotional part was not the singing on Sunday, but the practice that we did before, since I was working with my dad and when he watched me sign he was getting emotional. My dad remembered seeing interpreters at the church he attended when he was growing up, and he told me how much he had enjoyed seeing them. He also said it was wonderful that people who can’t hear the music or the sermon have the ability to participate in the service when an interpreter is there.

I’m deeply grateful and humbled every time people say something like this about my work. I had no idea when I began learning ASL that I would come this far or impact this many people. I have been actively learning for nearly a full year now, and I am very pleased with how far I have come and with the opportunities that have opened up with this language.

I may not have accomplished all my goals that I stated last year in my post, but I have had opportunities I could never have imagined, like interpreting a whole service and being involved with the ASL club on my campus. I’m excited about what might be in store for this year as well!

sounds of silence

For one of my classes this semester, I had to give a speech on a passion I have. I chose to speak about ASL, which was slightly ironic since i was talking about a silent language in a speech class!

I was able to incorporate sign language into my speech as a visual aid by signing to the lyrics of a song I like and associate with ASL, “The Sound of Silence”. I enjoyed practicing the portion of the song I used in my speech and hope to learn to do the entire song soon.

I was grateful for the opportunity to inform people in my class about the importance of ASL and how few hearing people actually take time to learn the language. It was a wonderful experience.

I had to videotape my speech for another class assignment, and so I was able to capture the signing and the speech and turn it into a video to post here so that other people can have a chance to hear my speech as well.

once you learn…

I have been so busy this semester that I have not had a lot of time to work with the signing at my church. Today I was able to actually participate. Although the regular signers were not there and there were no deaf people attending the service today, I still signed. I didn’t sit in the front, just in my regular pew.

I practiced signing with the entire service today, not just the songs, and I noticed that I am becoming faster with my signs and my ability to keep up with the speaker. I still struggled sometimes to stay on top of the speed of the message and to remember all the signs I needed to, but I was surprised by my own abilities, especially with a lack of practice.

I was glad I was able to do so well at signing today, and I hope that soon I will be able to help the interpreters with the service as well as the songs. I had been thinking it would take much longer for me to have the skills necessary to do that. I certainly do need to learn more and practice more before I am ready for that ind of commitment, but knowing that I am becoming ore capable as an interpreter was very encouraging.

I have come a long way since starting to learn ASL last year, and it surprises me when I look back and think that a year ago I had no idea that learning would take me where I am now. I never expected to actually begin to interpret so early, even if it was a bit of a surprise to me as much as anyone else, and I could not begin to imagine that ASL and the Deaf community would become such an integral part of my life. I’m excited to see where this next year takes me, because if the last one is any indication, I have no idea what’s in store!

making waves

At ASL club last night, I found out that due to student interest, there is the possibility that an ASL class could be offered for credit in upcoming semesters. While that is still very uncertain, I was excited to hear that it might be a possibility.

There is also an interest in introducing ASL as a minor, which would be wonderful. Unfortunately, I would not be able to have that minor since I am too far along academically to fit it into my plan. I wish that that would become an option for others though, since there is a need for people who are skilled in ASL.

If the class becomes a reality, I will do my best to be able to fit it into my schedule. I would love to take actual, structured classes especially if I decide to continue pursuing studies in ASL after I graduate. Having real classes and not just self-teaching would be very beneficial for me to enter another school’s ASL program.

I will also strongly support efforts to make ASL a potential minor for students. My school already offers other foreign language minors, so I feel that it would not be too overzealous to hope for ASL to become one of those options in the future.

For now, I will continue to support efforts to instate a for-credit sign language course, and hope to see it become a reality before I graduate.

better with two

This week, my roommate told me that she was interested in coming to the sign language club meetings this year. I was really excited, and she and I attended our first meeting together last night.

It will be really great to be able to practice with the person I live with for nine months of the year. Lily is a quick learner and enjoys signing what she knows with me, and I like teaching her. We had been practicing a bit since I began to learn sign language last year, but it had never been anything serious.

We discovered over the past week, when I lost my voice due to a fall cold, that signing is a great way to resolve that situation! I would fingerspell or sign something that I wanted to tell Lily, and she would either guess at the meaning of the sign or I would fingerspell it for her, since she is already familiar with the ASL alphabet.

Later in the week, Lily told me she would be interested in learning ASL with the club and from me, and I was thrilled. Lily is my best friend and practically a sister to me, and I’m thrilled to share one of my passions with her, just like I’ve shared it with the rest of my family.

back to school

I’ve started the first week of my junior year of college, and I’m excited for the first meeting of the sign language club in a couple weeks. In the meantime I ‘m practicing on my own and with my family when I video-call them.

It’s hard for me to believe that a year ago, I had no idea that I would ever learn sign language. I am still amazed that ASL has become so quickly such a large part of my life, and I am grateful to everyone who has had a part in my ASL journey so far.

Looking back at the progress from last year makes me vary excited for this year’s potential. Now I have on-campus connections, friends to practice with, and even interpreting experience sometimes at the local church. My signing has come a long way since randomly tossing a book of elementary-level sign language into my college packing last year, and thinking I would never actually take it up.

Sign language has given me the chance to meet people I would otherwise never have been able to communicate with, challenge my own fears and limitations , and allow me to gain a deeper understanding of the things I love and am passionate about. I have no idea what this coming year has in store, but I know that it will definitely be amazing.

continuing education

I haven’t posted in a while because I was very busy. I spent a weekend with my family and they were able to attend the church service where I sign. I am really enjoying practicing my signing and it is becoming second nature to me, so much so that I try to use it to communicate with people who don’t even know it!

learning on the job

I was asked to fill in for one of the regular interpreters this week, which was really amazing and humbling for me since I have much less experience than they do. I still mostly only signed the songs, but I signed all of them rather than having someone else take over for me at any point.

I also learned from the interpreter who was at the service about a very important part of the job. The past few weeks I had been relying on something I have seen other interpreters do, looking to their partner for the sign for an unfamiliar word or concept. I learned today that this is a technique known as ‘feeding’ and that it is one even highly experienced interpreters use.

The interpreter I was talking to, Pamela, said that this was one of the first techniques she learned in her interpreting classes, and that it is extremely helpful for beginning learners like me. That made me much less shy about looking to her for help when I didn’t know a word, and I learned several new signs today.

It’s nice to be reminded that interpreting isn’t a solo effort and I don’t have to go it alone, especially while i am still do inexperienced. Working with professionals is definitely helping me hone my skills and the regular practice encourages me to keep learning at a steady pace. So far, it’s been a great summer, and I am very excited to see where I will be at the end of it!

signing summer

While I have an official summer job working at the college I attend, I have also apparently gained an unofficial one; interpreting the worship songs at the church where I interpreted sermons a few months ago.

When I went to the service this morning, the regular interpreters were back, and one of them asked me if I would like to interpret the songs. The past few times they had asked, I had said no, I wasn’t ready for that yet, but this morning I said I certainly would! After interpreting an entire service, doing the songs suddenly doesn’t seem as scary!

While the elderly man who I used to sign with has moved away, there was a new deaf person this morning, a woman named Janet. She is a cheerful, friendly person and even though I had never met her before I greatly enjoyed my first sign conversation with her. She signed along with my interpretation of the songs and seemed to enjoy the service very much. I hope she continues to attend the church because I am looking forward to getting to know her better!