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Deaf Mission Conference
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Back from the deaf conference in Phil. It's such a great experience that words cant fully capture the things I've learnt and felt. It's a different thing altogether, uniquely only to the people present. Been to really random conferences now heh, deaf missions, homeschool.

The overall highlight would be actually seeing firsthand a deaf community, and an international one at that. Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, America, (all that I can remember for now). Yet even with different backgrounds, cultures, and languages, it was pretty amazing to see how everyone could be gathered together in communion, reaching out to one another, bridged by a combination of common gestures and and body expressions.

At the same time, the participants of the conference comprised of quite a bunch of people in the deaf ministry, ranging from pastors, reverends and many other people. But on the other hand, everyone felt on the same status, that wasn't much of segregation on levels, everyone interacting as equals. It took me some time to realize me a random nobody was casually signing and joking to another seemingly normal person and that some of them were pastors and so when I asked about their work. The intimacy present regardless of the status we all had made it feel so sweet and family like. Much different from the contemporary churches today. I'm thinking being in missions trains you to build relations, and maybe it's something I gotta prepare for.

And then there's two memories I would love to keep as stories.

One was the stimulation overload of having 5 translations going concurrently in real time. Taiwan speaker (sign) to chinese voice, to english translated, and then back to asl sign, coupled with Japan's signing. Having 3 people on stage while listening to two voices in different language in a small room was certainly one of the coolest sight of interpretation I've ever seen.

Second one's more inspiring. The two Americans was definitely something one couldn't pretend not to see. One of them was both deaf and blind, if you could even imagine the impact of that dual disability. And he is still able to overcome it through reading sign language via his friend being his reflector. With one hand. Amazing much. Finally plucked up the courage to talk to them on the 3rd night. Him holding my hands to read my signs, and then ending our chat with a big hug. One of the best quotes I love from him was, "I can still see God, I can still hear God." Doesn't matter where we are, what sufferings we face, with our eyes fixed on God, anything..., anything is possible.

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