What's in a name?

This quote from Juliet has been running through my mind today as I remember a special evening on Sunday. Mary, Cody and I went to church Sunday night to their showing of the Passion. In was invited to sit in the deaf area, as they found out that I knew a small amount of sign. They were SO gracious to me as I explained that I didn't sign very well and didn't remember some signs. As we were waiting for the movie to start, I was visiting with a precious woman. I was struggling to remember my signs as we talked about our kids. Someone asked my name and I finger spelled it. Then this woman gave me a sign name. This was significant and a precious gift to me. Now this may not seem like a huge thing but let me explain. In American deaf culture (I'm assuming it's similar in other countries), if you are hearing, only a deaf person can give you a sign name.
Indulge me if you will, but about 8 years ago I had taken an ASL class from a precious deaf woman. On the day of our final she was planning to give the class members sign names. However, I had a miscarriage at the end of the semester and didn't finish my class. She was understanding and passed me anyway. I was grateful, regrettably I never connected with her after that so I never received my sign name. So receiving a sign name was important to me and I had been waiting since then.

Now my current life path has taken me other directions so I'm not currently using my limited sign language skills regularly. (I'm planning to change that.) So imagine my trepidation when I'm in Haiti using my limited skills to visit with deaf Haitians. They were understanding and encouraging as we visited before the movie started. The next thing I know I'm being asked to interpret for the movie! At first I was hesitant but I wanted to bless them by trying. I told the Pastor that I was going to make an attempt and he brought me a chair. But I couldn't use it while signing because the second row would not have been able to see me. We had some technical difficulties during the movie which ended up being a blessing in disguise--I could sit for a little bit. A gentleman near me had to remind me the first two times that I could sit down while we were waiting.

During the movie, the Lord brought to mind signs I forgot and helped me summarize the words spoken. Because the
spoken words were in Aramaic, I had to read the subtitles and then sign. So I was standing in a weird position to see the movie and show my signs to the audience. He gave me stamina to stand and sign all the way to the Resurrection!

They were so appreciative and so gracious at my efforts. I had a small mob of thank-you's and hugs. I can't describe what I felt at that moment. This was definitely a wonderful time as in my weakness and limited skills, God was glorified! To this moment, I'm in wonder of God's faithfulness and hold my name sign (and it's story) close to my heart.

The photo is one of the deaf gentlemen that we happened to run into when we were in the market area on Monday morning.

Thank you for supporting our work in Haiti through your prayers and gifts.

Joan Hall

PS- For those who know sign, my name sign is similar to the sign for "juice."