I can't believe I forgot to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, mom! SO sorry! I DID remember, just not in that 45 min window I had! I'm glad to hear you kept up with the traditions and had a great day. Tell Ry to email his sister when he gets a chance. I want to hear all about his life. Going out to school post-mission is a big deal!
So life in English work is actually VERY different. Firstly, it's kind of weird that I can use lots of words to express myself when communicating. Sounds weird, but I kind of got used to working to communicate and it's a little bit of a shock to the system that I just KNOW English. Secondly, our culture is so different. I mean, I knew that, but I guess I didn't ever really apply it to missionary life. We went to hunt down the spanish referral we got last sunday and I was stoked/really nervous. They just had the street name so we just planned to tract out the whole thing. We parked next to a house that was being worked on and we heard unidentifiable noises coming from the inside. And so of course, we thought: construction, non-english sounds...must be hispanos inside. So we start walking up and a very white very shirtless man comes out and says: "Wull hullo yous beautiful ladies!" Turns out redneck and spanish sound the same from far away, who knew. We ended up finding out that he was working on the referral's house, she had just moved. But we decided to knock all the other houses with dishes out front (because that is like the #1 sign of a hispanic home) and we ran into a lady who referred us to her friend up the street who just started working at the Vriginia School for the Deaf and Blind. So we went and chatted with her and got some sweet info. CRAZY. It's like God just PUT US on the street for crying out loud.
Oh, so remember when I last emailed and was like "ps there is totally a deaf man sitting next to us"? Well, we zipped up our man suits and got brave and talked to him and we're meeting with him tomorrow to practice our ASL. Cool, huh? We see kind of a lot of deaf people, actually. I mean, comparatively speaking to any other time in my whole life. Can't remember if I told you that we contacted a deaf couple who are super less active in our ward- and WOW were their language skills IMPOSSIBLE to understand. Flashbacks to my first transfer. We also talked to this less active lady who works at the school and she's going to hook us up with her deaf friend and deaf brother...we're going to try to volunteer at the school and see if we can be seen there as well. Everybody keeps telling us what we already know though, it's interesting that they all mention it: Hearing people will never be fully accepted into the Deaf culture. THE END. In my experience, that is very true, they really cling together and are bound by that experience they all share. It feels different as a missionary though- like, it doesn't bother me like it used to. I am not a "hearing" person, I am not defined by that cultural "limitation." I am a missionary. I'm not here to be accepted by their culture, I'm here to give them hope and the opportunity for salvation! It's so interesting that it literally FEELS different. But then again, I did just spend the last 8 months dealing with people not of my culture, so maybe I'm just a little more de-sensitized to feeling out-of-cultural-place. We tried to track down a headquarters referral of a deaf man who lives in a homeless shelter, which was a first for me as well. Moral of the story is that we are still in the making-connections phase here, but finding that there just very well may be some ASL work to be done here!
Speaking of spanish- I'm losing it. Really. I feel like I'm in the MTC all over again when I had to box up all my ASL and learn spanish. It's like this grand swap that is NO GOOD. For all I know I'll spend a few months here and end up doing spanish at the end of my mission! I've been helping some elderes around us make contact with their hispanic investigators and I am forgetting things already. I spent 20 minutes trying to remember the word for "tie" so I could text someone and tell them what to wear for church. We finally got the ASL language-learning materials I ordered from the MTC so we're PUMPED about that. Once we are back on a normal schedule next week I'm going to take ASL and Spanish language study time. It is honestly such a challenge for my brain to hold so much information and keep it all separate. I never really thought that you could have intellectual struggles on your mission, but MAN, I'm living them. My intelligence capacity is just about maxed I think. My prayers are a MESS. We pray in ASL and in all my other companionships we always prayed in spanish and so talking to God has taken on this whole new element of linguistic confusion...
Anyway- not a lot more to report on. We're just trying to get to know the branch (which by the way is tiny- the building has exactly one hallway) and get out as much as we can. It's no problem helping and staying in- just a very different sort of missionary lifestyle than I'm accustomed to. Staunton is probably one of the most beautiful little towns that exists in America- you guys would love it. The shops, the old-civil war architecture,the shakespeare nuts, the atmosphere, the scenery...it just has this very old-town/new-town feel. For example: we ate at a place called Split Banana and I got sticky rice and mango gelato. Mmmmm. Anyway, when we all come back here someday, you are just going to love it.
I best be off- thanks for your love and prayers. I'm so proud of my family and just love you all dearly!
Much love,
Hermana Sinclair
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