Anton and Jac » Jessica

CO + DO and a Full Week of Activity

Jac — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:04:32 +0000

Just one week after our Circuit Assembly we had the privilege of having the Circuit Overseer, Carlos Sosa and his wife Dalila, and the District Overseer, Juan Ramon Guzman and his wife Sandra, visit our congregation.

Two incredibly cool things happened during the visit:

1. Juan Ramon suggested we stand during our songs, now that we have a big enough screen to do so. It may seem minimal, but it is SO AWESOME for us. Being able to freely move while signing a song in ASL is so much better than being trapped in your chair. I love the acting influence the DO has!

2. Juan Ramon signed Jess’ regular auxiliary pioneer application and since she hasn’t ever gotten less than 50 hours since she started publishing they said she could start in May, the month in which she got baptized. So, 11 days after her baptism she attended her first pioneer meeting, hopefully one of many to come. She has the goal to start regular pioneering in 6 months, and is already scheduling her hours accordingly.

She is the first deaf female pioneer our congregation has ever had, and she is only one of two deaf pioneers in the hall. She was also the only auxiliary pioneer in attendance at the meeting.

We had a very nice, very encouraging week with two wonderful couples. Both will be heading on to new assignments, so we hope Jehovah continues to bless them, and look forward with excitement to the new brothers who will come and serve us.

May 16th, 2009 – The Most Important Day in Jess’ Life

Jac — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:44:01 +0000

Dinora, Jess’ mom; Jess; Idalia, the sister who first brought the “wild child” to meetings when she was 6; Marilin, Jess’ sister; Jordy, Jess’ brother

The English language does not contain words capable of describing how awesome this feels.

Visiting the La Vega Congregation

Jac — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:39:59 +0000

Last week a Bethelite and his wife who work in translation came down to the DR and he gave a talk at the La Vega congregation. One of the brother’s in Anton’s Spanish class is an elder in that hall, and he invited us to come, and to bring Jess with us. It was fun, since it was the first time Jess has visited another sign language congregation. Also, two of her closest friends, Roxanna and Yasiris, two awesome deaf women, are in that congregation. If you are in sign language you might recognize the brother as Jeremy Mallory (or Malory, I have no idea how to spell his last name), and his wife Debbie. He is used a lot on the DVDs because he is such an expressive and experienced signer, and having see him give multiple talks at the New Jersey 3 day assemblies, Anton and I both knew what an amazing speaker he is. Needless to say, the Kingdom Hall was packed! People turned out from congregations hours away to see the talk. There were 144 there with over 80 deaf. It was a great talk, and a really nice opportunity to see so many of our friends. Both Jeremy and Debbie knew Anton from when he was at Bethel, and we have many friends in common, so it was nice to get caught up. Jessica was her normal shy self (when it comes to new people and crowds, she immediately becomes very, very timid), but that didn’t stop her from meeting Jeremy and Debbie and thanking them for coming, and for all their hard work at Bethel before she ran off to chat with her friends.

The talk was the same week as the Watchtower about being a ‘Steward of God’s Undeserved Kindness,’ which talked all about using the gifts and talents God has given us. It made me think of this brother, and his wife, who sacrifice so much to do the translation work that they do. It has to be difficult being mobbed by people at the hall and being known in every congregation. It really makes you appreciate the work they do all that much more when you see that they really never can relax. Imagine if you knew who wrote the publications, or even more, if they had their picture on every one. Although these brothers and sisters just translate, they are still the faces of ASL that we see every week at the meeting and on every Bible study. It has got to be hard to be that brother, or his wife! Thank Jehovah for such wonderful humble men and women to do this much needed work!

Jessica – 2006-2009, Then and Now

Jac — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:13:16 +0000

I can’t believe the amazing journey that I have had working with Jess. It all started for the two of us back in March of 2006 when Emmy left and I took over her study. It is now March of 2009, and she is an incredible young woman, thanks to everyone’s hard work and Jehovah’s spirit. She has become like family to Anton and me, as well as one of my closest little friends. For any of you who know what being a “Leah Massey” means… I have officially become one.

In the picture above, which was taken back in the summer of 2006 Jess is drawing her house and my house in Paradise. She put us both on opposite mountains, even though she prefers the beach! Since that picture was taken she has completed her study in Learn from the Great Teacher and What Does the Bible Really Teach? and is now over halfway finished with the Worship the Only True God DVD, and is conducting her own Bible studies in the Learn from the Great Teacher DVD with other deaf youth.

In this picture she is assisting another deaf sister in our congregation with illustrating some Bible texts as they are seen on the Bible Teach DVD. Ever eager to acquire new skills, she has been mastering the art of drawing to aid deaf who are still learning sign language.

She also never neglects her study with me, or her personal study, even when it is “freezing” outside. (It was probably 60, but we were really, really cold!)

Jess is just one of the many blessings we have received by being down here. It hasn’t been easy to get to the point where we are at with her (sometimes she still leaves the water faucet turned on when there is no water due to pipe issues, and we come back to the shower running) but overall, she has been a joy to have in our lives.

Just because it’s 80 degrees doesn’t mean we can’t play in the snow

Anton — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:58:19 +0000

So a recent home “adventure” we had included cleaning out our fridge. I know, not a big deal right? Well, it’s a bigger deal for us since our fridge, like all of our other appliances are “semi” automatic. This means that once a month, you have to do like our parents and unplug it, chip all the ice out, clean it and then plug it back in. Of course, here is where the “semi” automatic feature comes in, you don’t have to unplug it, there is a handy dandy button to push! After pushing it, it is supposedly able to sense when it is thoroughly defrosted and start chilling again… I’ve never seen evidence that this works.

So every month, we push the button and almost magically, 2 hours later, we have a fresh batch of snow. Guess what we did with it?!? We introduced Jessica to winter time antics!

Yes, it took a while to set this up but it was well worth it, scarf, cap, gloves and everything. All the way down to pepper corn mouth (sorry, I forgot the buttons).

Then we taught Jessica how to make and throw snowballs.

And even what it feels like to stand on ice. After stepping on the block, she quizzically looked up at me and asked, “Is this what it’s like up there where you are from?”

It’s always fun to find little bits of home in things that are so far removed from it.

Dominican signing at it’s finest

Anton — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:03:15 +0000

So many people are under the conception that here in the Dominican we use ASL (American Sign Language). This is partially true since as a whole, Jehovah’s Witnesses us ASL all over the island in our preaching and meetings. What many don’t realize though is that there is a clear and distinct “Dominican Sign Language” that is evolving under our very noses.

If you know ASL or are a part of the Deaf community in the United States, you already know that sign language tends to evolve slowly over time. The difference here is that it is evolving so rapidly that it is hard to keep up with. The reason for this rapid evolution is mostly response to the next generation of deaf kids (ages 8 – 18) who are dying to communicate and find the language that is being taught in the school to be deficient.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been teaching the deaf here in the DR for over 15 years and have molded the local sign language to be very similar to the ASL that we are familiar with in the US, the difference though is that since most of the people that have come here to teach the deaf didn’t have a very firm grasp on the language (or even the culture for that matter) themselves, the deaf were still left needing a more comprehensive language to be able to express themselves in. This, mixed with the few deaf that have been to the US and the misunderstandings between hearing and deaf, as well as a lack of awareness to deaf culture in the schools has been the burning catalyst that has been spurring on this evolutionary process.

It is interesting to see what the kids in the school here in Santiago come up with since the culture is still not very tight and for the most part, the ones who have the tightest grasp on their language are all under 18. Many signs are just recycled ASL whereas others are different all together.

Here is a sample video that we did on the spot with An Unbaptized Publisher named Jessica and a student of hers named Claritza. They are both 14 and have been in the deaf school since they were young. (Jessica is quite a bit more communicative since she spends so much time with us)

If you just had a hard time understanding that, don’t worry! We were recently at another students house with Jessica who is in the same class. Before we started the Bible study, Jessica was chatting with the other girl and about 2 minutes in, Jac and I both looked at each other and asked “do you have any idea what they are talking about???” It is just a simple fact that the language in this country is changing whether we like it or not and this is going to affect more than just us and the Bible education work we do, it may well affect the entire deaf community.

The only downside to this is that where ASL has had many MANY decades to evolve and grow with great coaxing and care, mostly from ‘closed to hearing’ deaf groups, the language here is still very young and has a lot of outside meddling and playing that is done by well meaning hearing people that still don’t fully understand the detrimental affect their inventing of signs has on the deaf community.

It is interesting being in the thick of it all and realizing just what it means to be part of the deaf community in any country and to see why the deaf community I’ve come to know in Michigan, New York and Florida are so weary about letting hearing people in to romp through their beautifully arranged and delicately balanced language.

I guess we will just have to see what the future holds but for the moment, we are just trying to strike that balance between the ASL we teach with and the ‘DSL’ (hehe “DSL”) that is popping up all around us.