Bearing My Testimony in the Deaf Ward

Sunday, August 3:

I always know when I am suppose to bear my testimony in Church. I get the idea in my head sometimes days in advance of Fast and Testimony Meeting, and no matter how hard I try to put it out of my mind, it won’t go away. This time I not only want to bear my testimony, I want to do it in ASL, to share my message directly with the people in the Deaf ward. I have never had anyone voice interpret my signs, so I am debating in my head if this is such a good idea.

After the passing of the Sacrament and everyone is invited to share their testimonies, one person stands up and shares his testimony in Sign Language. Then no one gets up. I’m feeling that prompting and have a personal dialogue that goes something like this:

Me: “Someone please get up.”
Spirit: “You get up.”
Me: “I’m chicken.”
Spirit: “You’ve got something to say. Now get up there and say it.”
Me: “Oh ok! Fine.”

I walk up to the front of the chapel and Bishop asks me if I need an interpreter. I sign to him that I will try to sign. I stand at the podium and give Pat (the interpreter) what I think is the sign for “Good luck.” I sign to everyone that I will try to sign and it is hard. Pat immediately voices what I am signing and it throws me off for a moment. This is like being a ventriloquist, except that Pat is most certainly no dummy.

I continue my attempts to sign in ASL. For the most part, everything coming out of Pat’s mouth is spot on with what I am thinking in my head. This is very cool! There is only one place where I think I confuse her a little, but what she says is better than what it is in my head.

I essentially tell everyone that even though attending a hearing ward was very hard for me, I never before felt the Lord so close to me. He knew I was learning some important things. What did I learn? I needed to go back to the Deaf ward and learn ASL. He (the Lord) knows. I can’t think how to sign what I am feeling at this moment, but later on while another person shares his testimony, he signs what I was hoping to convey. The message is that the Lord is fully aware of the challenges of the Deaf and has plans for the Deaf Community.

I can’t think of anything more to say, and the whole experience is making my head spin, so I quickly sit down. One lady turns around and makes the sign for “beautiful”. I want to give her a big hug. If my testimony in ASL was beautiful I can only attribute it to the Spirit. There is no other way I could or would have done it.