Ireland

here is a link to some Deaf churches around the world. Pastor Ian McCabe is who I would be working with If i were to go to Ireland next summer.


http://www.vallejodeafchurch.org/missionssupport.html

India Camp

Last week i had the privaledge to interpret for three days at something called India Camp. It was for children who were born in India and adopted by American parents. They taught them all about Indian culture and they got to be in a room full of other Indian Kids for a change. It was very sobering.

The little girl I was interpreting for has only lived in the states for 4 years. She is 16 ( or that is the age they gave her).

Her mother had adopted 6 Deaf Kids from all around the world. 5 years ago her husband suddenly died. After a year of trying to figure things out God called her to adopt a much older, damaged child from India. She obeyed. She went over there... found this little girl and adopted her. Except it was a little more complicated than that (it always is.) This little girl had no name, no language, no sense of time, didn't understand what was happening to her. All of the sudden a White woman was trying to take her on an airplane, something she had no concept of. I can't imagine all that she had gone through. But to make on the streets of India for at least a decade and be alive, I would say she is pretty strong.

Despite the fact that she has only started learning about 4 years ago Taylie is a genious. Her mom said that she saw somthing different in her... A brilliance she never saw with her other childeren. As the interpreters, we never had to change out of ASL, she completely understood what was happening at all times, her favorite things are a calander and a watch... because she can litterally see time and know when things are going to happen. She has a future.

The thing that really got me. We were playing Indian Bingo. One leader would ask a question about India and the children would all try to find the answer on their Bingo card and cross it off. Each time i would finish the question Taylie would look down at her paper and search until she found the answer. EVERY time she got the CORRECT answer! I was very impressed. I knew that her mom had spent a lot of time teaching her Deaf culture. But she knew the capital was New Delhi (and she spelt it right) she knew the nations bird, color of the flag, also one of the questions that was asked was, What was given to the Indians on August 14th 1947. Earlier in the week I had told her about how Britian controled India for almost 100 years but then India was free in 1947. She looked up at me and signed... INDEPENDENCE with a big smile on her face. I was SO proud. I never used that sign with her but she completely understood the concept of what happened during that time. Later I told her mom I was impressed with how much she knew about India and i told her what happened. She broke into tears and said that she has never once told her anything about India becuase she doesn't know anyting. She has spent most of the time on Deaf Culture. this was the first exposure to Indian Culture. She said that she thinks Taylie knows how much i was believing in her... and that is when her brilliance shines.

I made some great contacts to Deaf areas all around the world through this woman... and she is a Christian, so... God is Good.

wanting to adopt a Deaf child of my own some day,

toni

home sweet home.

I wasn't able to write while in North Carolina due to lack of free time. Also... I had to pay extra for internet. That wasn't so bad. I mean you can expect that you may have to pay for wireless if you go to a hotel... But this hotel... you had to pay $5 a day to use the workout room. Which still... ok, i have never heard of that, but I guess it keeps the place clean and only serious people will use it. But you also had to pay $5 to use the pool. That is per person, not per room!
Turns out none of that mattered either since the times I was around the hotel the pool was closed anyway.

Enough of that. My time in NC was amazing. I met some women that truely have a heart after God. It was very encouraging. One woman came to the North Central booth where I was standing to talk about the interpreting program. She asked me a couple questions, just normal questions that i had been getting all day, and it was like the power of God just fell on us. Both of us started crying and really got into an awesome converstaion about what God is doing in our lives currently. She was so inspiring to me! We exchanged information and she said she would be praying for me. I met another woman who is Deaf and she asked my why i was interested in her Culture and we really got into it and she prayed with me right there and said that she wanted to keep in touch and that I need to continue what I am doing and bring advocacy around the world.
So... I will. :)

Last summer I talked with some Deaf missionaries in Ireland. They wanted me to come and intern with them this summer. So i told them I would think about it. After I came back from the Philippines is about the time I would have went to start my internship there. However, I just didn't really want to go at that time. So i forgot about it and started my internship here in Minneapolis. The first day in NC my professor from NCU came to me and said that she had some Deaf missionaries from Ireland contact her and ask if she could send an intern to them next summer. She told me she knows that I will be graduated and not need to fulfill any internship hours but when she prayed about it I was the only one that came to mind. Turns out... it is the same couple. SO... I am seriously considering this option. I need to really be in prayer about it all before I get too excited. Because more than anything right now, I want to go back to the Philippines. But I know i don't have enough money to work this out. But God will provide if this is a road I am to take.


Possibly traveling some more sooner than I thought,

Toni

Interpreting.

A few thing in the English Language that make interpreting so much fun.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22) I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.

Screwy pronunciations can mess up your mind! For example...
If you have a rough cough, climbing can be tough when going through the bough on a tree!