Personal Narrative: My Third Deaf Event

The third Deaf event that I attended was an interpreted church service at New Venture Christian Church on April 17th and I attended this event for over an hour and a half. I have attended New Venture Christian Church since I was eight years old and within the last four or five years we have gained a few Deaf members of our congregation as well as an interpreter. When I found out about this assignment I immediately knew that I wanted to closely observe the signed church service. When I arrived at New Venture Christian Church I was excited to have the chance to practice signing with members of my church family. Although I have had the chance to sign with these members of New Venture Christian Church before, I felt that over the course of this class I have learned a tremendous amount and can understand those I am signing with much more than I could last semester.
I observed many things while attending New Venture Christian Church such as the differences between the pastor and the interpreter, and how the worship songs were signed. I enjoyed seeing how quickly the interpreter was signing the pastors message, and was surprised how she never missed what was being taught. Although I have seen New Venture Christian Church’s service being signed before, it was a totally different experience to sit in the section with the interpreter and sign with those around me. Throughout the service at New Venture Christian Church, I learned several new signs from worship songs, the pastors message, and conversations before and after the service. Some of the signs that I learned include the sign for savior, king, resurrection, grace and