LDS Mission- Roanoke

My LDS Mission

Roanoke, Virginia

March 1988- April 1988

When my Mission President transferred me from Farmville to serve right in Roanoke he told me that I would not be there very long. I would only be there for 3 1/2 weeks. While I was there I lived and worked with two other Sister Missionaries at the same time. I was there was Sisters Horton and Newman. We lived in a mobile home about a mile or two up Bent Mountain Road.

While we were there we worked with the deaf people in that area. My companion missionaries had learned American Sign Language fluently. In the short time I was there I learned to really appreciate that form of communication and even learned to use some of it.

I was able to make friends with an older man by the name of Calvin. He was deaf from birth and had never learned sign language. He couldn't talk, but he could sure tell a story. One time he told the story of when he was a young boy and had been out catching frogs. He put one of them in his pocket. When his mother went to clean his pants the next day she found the frog in his pants pocket and nearly jumped out of her skin. He was able to tell this story completely with actions.

This same man was a member of the LDS Church there in Roanoke. While I was there he was able to baptize a deaf young lady. It was a really neat spiritual experience to see this man carefully finger spell the baptismal prayer while someone else used ASL so that the young lady could see the words of the prayer.

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