I Gave a Talk in Sign Language

Last month I almost died when I was asked to give a talk. The counselor asked me to sign as much as I could. I was so nervous but my sweet interpreter friend, Amanda, really helped me out. It was scary but I sure learned a lot of new vocab. I also gained a lot of respect for interpreters. I don't know how they do what they do but I appreciate it.

 
My topic was "How do you teach your children the gospel"

I'm going to add my talk in (with some glossing and ASLish phrasing) so you can see a little bit of how it is different.

When the baby was 2 weeks old, we noticed  Bryce was acting differently.

(Story of asking Bryce questions…doctors….diagnosis)    (bumper car classifier)

Bryce was walking and stumbling. My MIL said he was a bumper car.   Bryce was throwing a   

(hooked “v” and rolling in palm of hand)

tantrum. I thought a sucker (candy sucker classifier)would help (why?) He likes suckers …                                                                                                                                      Me: do you want a sucker?     Bryce: no response                                  My husband: do you want ice cream?     Bryce: no response                         Do you want a cookie?         Bryce: no response        

We opened the cabinet and showed him a sucker, he was excited.     

                                                                                    (pointers…down)

 We went to many doctors before we had an answer.

Bryce was losing hearing slowly and we didn’t know it. Now he is

profoundly deaf. Later, Brayden started losing his hearing too. It reminded me of the story of the tower of Babel. The Lord changed their languages and they could no longer communicate. We needed to make some changes.

I worried : How can I teach my children the gospel?  How can I involve them in scripture reading, prayers and church?  

That’s my topic today: how do you teach your children the gospel

 ((2) V coming from face)

We visited the branch. (Why?) the gospel is important to me and

                                                (for)       (same)

I want it to be important to my kids too.

(welcome)

We met the missionaries and invited them to our home. Elder Dean and Elder McGill taught my family how to pray.

We have many prayers: family prayers, prayers to bless the food,

                                  (self)

fhe prayers, and personal prayers. Before Bryce lost his hearing, he tried to say prayers. Then, he stopped.

(Story of Bryce and praying)    

Dad: (to Bryce) you want to say the prayer     Bryce: head shake no    (again and again) . (I didn’t know what to do) I talked to his school

                                                 (U S in a circle, promise…finger to mouth & palm over fist)

teacher. She said at school they say the U S pledge together.    We tried it.

                                                                                                (family members; 5 vertical, pinch at center)

Dad: Who wants to pray? pick.            (everyone copied)                       Bryce started to participate.  Is this the right way to say prayers?             

No, but it

                                                                                  ( change)

helped my family. Sometimes you have to adapt gospel teaching for the needs of your family.  Now he wants to say prayers. He signs cute prayers.  We smile when he prays for a family that lost their daughter. (Dad/Mom watching and smiling…Bryce finger spelling.) We know whom he’s praying for and Heavenly Father knows too. Bryce wants to say prayers by himself. (thumbs up...to him.)

 Our prayers are like hearing people trying to teach a child to pray and

                                                                                                                   (maybe)

helping them with words. We help our children with signs that they may

               (maybe)  (palm across forehead and close)                                (circle thumbs)               Amanda…

not know or have forgotten. My husband and I help each other too. Our

prayers are interactive. If the person saying the prayer doesn’t know the word, they may peek to get help.  I know

                             (rub chest in circles)         (trys)

Heavenly Father appreciates our efforts. I know He wants us to

communicate with Him. I want my children to know that prayer is

                                                                             (tap on shoulder)

important. It makes me happy when they remind us parents about prayer. I know we can go to our Heavenly Father in prayer. Our Savior atoned for us. He understands our problems, our pains, and our happiness.

Scriptures are important. Maybe you’ve heard the saying, if you want to talk to God, pray. If you want Him to talk to you, read the scriptures. Heavenly Father gives us the scriptures to help us. We can learn from the

       (thumb up,arch over…people)

lives of others. Before my boys lost their hearing, we read the children’s

                     (fist together,circle)                                     (eyes…”v” moving)

scriptures, together, as a family. Now, we watch them. It’s a great way to hear & see the scriptures and it helps us learn more sign. I love to see my children excited about the scriptures. Bryce doesn’t know how to read but he likes to carry them around and open them up.  The scriptures give us strength. When the baby was born, we had many changes. Bryce had many problems. It was hard. It was really hard. Job and his example 

                                                             (good?)

helped me. The scriptures are for our benefit. We can find answers to our questions. They can help us become closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.    (different)(way)

Family Home Evening is another tool for teaching the gospel. Children

        (a on chest, thumb to chest)                   (work)

learn our attitudes. FHE was a chore.  I have learned that it’s a blessing

                                                                                                          (2 f’s, 1 goes down)

 …and it’s fun! It’s purposeful teaching for our children. Keep it simple.

                                                             (for)

Some of the best lessons were based on the needs of my family. My 

                                                          (race-back and forth)            (car racing for scouts)

oldest son is in scouts. He’s very competitive. It was Pinewood Derby

                             (worried)

time and I was concerned about him. I wanted him to have good

(sports attitude)                                                              (pull apart)

sportsmanship. We had a lesson about that. We divided up

(people say pos…..people say negative)

Positive sayings and negative sayings. We discussed how to be happy for

(thumb up, arch…people)    ( thought story)         (4 fingers, point to bottom 2) (maybe)

others.  We also had a mock race. My younger ones, may not understand the

(palm up…chop up hand)                                                            ( y in circles)

lessons but I know they can understand the spirit. It’s a universal language. If we continue to try and keep learning, it will get easier.  We

                             (middle finger touching palm hand…vertical)

are blessed to have technology. We use lds.org to find primary songs in ASL. We can watch and hear them.  We can watch church videos.

(Amanda)

I have a saying on my fridge, “when you almost keep a commandment, You almost receive a blessing.” We can receive blessings for having family home evening!      

 (do)

Service is the gospel in action. Sometimes I feel bad (why?)  I don’t serve

                                                                                      (closed fist, open fist…close on top)

how I want to. We are busy with many doctor appointments. There are

(“O”…”P”)                   (doesn’t matter)  (pointer left, fist behind move to front)         (V…touch top)

opportunities to serve no matter our circumstance. There’s a couple in

(area: closed fist cover and circle)      (dog care)                      

my neighborhood that needed someone to watch their dog for 3 days. I

(pull at shirt)                                                                          (palm up: slide pointer finger toward self)

volunteered. My son, Brayden, wanted to know if we were getting paid.                                                                                                             (open hand, open hands)           

(He likes money.) I told him no. It’s for service. There are many

                                                                             (example)

ways to teach our children the gospel but living the gospel is probably the best way. I’m thankful for the gospel. It’s a blessing to teach it to my kids.  We go to church every Sunday. Sometimes we go to the ward, sometimes we go to the branch. I’m thankful for the branch that helps me continue teaching my children the gospel.