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YOU'RE LOVED JUST THE WAY YOU ARE |
I am a teenage girl. Some people think that I have had a difficult life because I have not been able to go to school as much as other young people my age. Some people think my life is hard because I am deaf. I think my life is great and I want to tell you why. A short time ago, my only way to communicate with people was to mime to them in the same way some people play charades. I had no language of my own. But, now I am learning American Sign Language and can have conversations with lots of people. Isn’t that wonderful? In 2001, my family moved to Dallas and decided we would visit a church that had a Deaf Program. We showed up one Sunday and went to the Student Ministry Sunday school class. Kim, the teacher and youth minister, saw I was deaf and asked how to say my name in sign language. I felt very welcome. All of the kids were interested in me. They wanted to know how to talk to me. The youth ministers, showed the other kids some signs and explained that they needed to look at me when they were talking. For most of my life, I had not been to church. Lovers Lane United Methodist Church has been awesome. I learned that God loves everyone, hearing or deaf. I have been treated like the normal teenage girl I am. The church has provided an interpreter for deaf students so that we can communicate with everyone. At Lovers Lane, everyone loves me just the way I am. I can feel God’s love there. We would love to hear from you! <Click here |