Originally from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Sister Dai heard the gospel for the first time in 1987. In the article "From Broken Marriage, Disease-Ridden, She Yells to God for Healing", she shared her faith journey.
In April 2018, Sister Dai came to Jinmen of Hubei alone and started her ministry for the deaf.
Sister Dai went to the local church as soon as she arrived there. A pastor held her hands, saying to her when welcoming the new people into the church, “Welcome home, sister!” Sister Dai stood on the pulpit of the church with tears rolling down her face. “Finally I’m home,” she said to herself.
Since then, Sister Dai has been involved in church ministries with other believers: Sunday worship, singing hymns, prayer, Bible study meetings, discipleship training, and evangelism.
One day in October, at the end of a service, the pastor asked if anyone knew sign language. Since Christmas was coming, the pastor planned to organize the people of the deaf fellowship to perform a sign language dance. They need someone who knew sign language to help them rehearse and lead them through the performance.
Sister Dai recommended herself to the minister. The pastor asked her if she knew sign language. Sister Dai said, “Not yet. But please give me time to learn!” Seeing how she was so firm and earnest, the minister gave her the evening to prepare.
When she returned home, she bathed, dressed, and prayed, “God, please help me strengthen my ability to memorize and understand.” Since she did not have any sign language knowledge, Dai had to write all the lyrics and movements in a book, watching the videos repeatedly and practicing them in her mind. From 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., she finally learned the poem Silent Praise in sign language.
On Christmas Day, Sister Day led the deaf brothers and sisters in presenting the hymn Silent Praise to God in their own way.
The success of the show inspired Dai to learn sign language to better serve this special group.
At the same time, Sister Dai also found that many deaf people never go to school. They can only write their own names and don’t know many words, and some of them have even been cheated for this. So every Saturday night, Dai and two others taught them Chinese characters and helped them to read and in turn, she learned sign language about Bible from them. Dai also went to a special training school to attend full-time classes with hearing-impaired students to improve her sign language.
Sister Dai then became involved in the deaf fellowship, leading them to practice hymns and translate sermons in sign language.
Every year before the Chinese New Year, the church would organize people to visit poor families, and Dai is also involved. She and the pastor went to the home of deaf brother Li in the countryside. His house is destitute, and his wife is a little disturbed due to childhood trauma, so they are leading a difficult life. Sister Dai led the deaf fellowship to go to clean his house once every month. “We must let deaf believers serve each other and practice God’s love.”
In recent years, when some deaf people have suffered from physical discomfort, hospitalizations, conflicts in marriage and family, psychological trauma caused by discrimination in job hunting, or some have passed away, Sister Dai would rush there as soon as she knew what was going on. As for psychological trauma, because she had no experience in helping people, she would attend the courses of Emotional Management Skills and PTSD Psychological Trauma Treatment at her own expense, in order to find the right way to channel their minds.
Sister Ye, a member of the Deaf Fellowship, contacted Sister Dai immediately when she was ill, for she had already seen Dai as close as her family. “As long as they want to tell me anything, I will try my best to help them.” Sister Dai said.
Afterword: Sister Dai not only serves the deaf community in the church but also participates in the volunteer organization of the deaf community. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, she has participated in the Volunteer Activity of Fighting Against the Pandemic and Helping the Disabled, providing psychological counseling and assistance to disabled friends in need. In 2019, three deaf members in the deaf fellowship led by Sister Dai were baptized. This year, four more are also preparing to attend the catechism course.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
戴姊妹，江苏南京人，1987年接触信仰。在《经历婚姻破碎、疾病缠身，绝望中她向记忆中的上帝发出呼求！》一文中戴姊妹分享了她的信仰经历。
2018年4月，戴姊妹只身来到举目无亲的湖北荆门，在这里开启了她的侍奉之路。
初到陌生之地，戴姊妹第一时间寻找了教会。在教会欢迎新朋友的环节，有牧师过来和她握手对她说：“姊妹欢迎你回家！”戴姊妹站在台上泪流满面，心想终于找到家了。
此后戴姊妹就在这间教会 和信徒一起参与教会中的各项服侍：主日敬拜、唱赞美诗、参加祷告查经聚会、门徒培训，传福音。
10月份的一天，礼拜结束，牧师问有没有人会手语。因为圣诞节快要到了，教会想组织聋人团契的弟兄姐妹表演一个手语舞蹈。需要有懂手语的人帮助排练，带领他们全程演出。
她和牧师举荐自己。牧师笑着问她会手语吗？戴姊妹说，“还不会呢。但是请您给我时间，我来学习！”牧师看到她坚定且恳切，就给了她一个晚上的时间准备。
回到家开始沐浴更衣，静心祷告，“求神怜悯帮助我能够加强记忆和理解”。戴姊妹没有一点手语基础，只能把所有歌词和动作记在本子上，对照视频反复观看，在心里跟着练。从晚上9点到凌晨3点，她最终把《无声的赞美》这首诗歌手语练好
圣诞节当天，戴姊妹带领聋人弟兄姐妹们用他们自己的方式向神献上了赞美诗《无声的赞美》。
演出的成功，让戴姊妹萌发出了想学手语的念头，她想要更好的服侍这群特殊群体
同时戴姊妹也发现，他们当中很多人没有上过学，只会写自己的名字，很多字不认识，其中还有因此被骗的经历。于是，每个星期六晚上，戴姊妹和另外两个弟兄姊妹一起教他们学习汉字，帮助聋人弟兄姊妹扫盲，同时也向他们学习圣经手语。后来戴姊妹又自己去特殊培训学校跟着有听障的同学们一起全天上课学习。
之后戴姊妹正式参与到聋人团契的服侍中，带领他们手语赞美诗歌，翻译讲章。
每年过年前，教会都去贫困家庭走访，戴姊妹也参与其中。她同牧师来到乡下聋人李弟兄家。李弟兄家徒四壁，他的爱人从小受惊而导致精神有点失常，生活过得艰难，戴姊妹带领聋人团契，每个月去他们家里帮助做卫生。“也让聋人信徒彼此服侍，践行主爱。“
这几年， 他们当中有身体不适，看病住院的，有在婚姻家庭中发生矛盾的，也有找工作中受到歧视留下心理创伤的，还有不幸离世的。知道状况的戴姊妹都会第一时间赶过去，对于心理创伤的问题，因为没有帮扶经验，她就自费参加学习《情绪管理技能》和《PTSD心理创伤治疗》课程。对他们心灵进行正确的疏导。
聋人团契中的叶姊妹，在一次生病中第一时间联系了戴姊妹，“她们只要愿意有什么事都和我说，我都会尽力去帮助她们。”
后记：戴姊妹不仅在参与教会中聋人团契的服侍，她也参加了社会聋人团体的义工组织，疫情发生后，积极参加“抗击疫情帮扶残疾人志愿者活动”，对有需要帮助的残疾朋友进行心理疏导和帮扶。2019年戴姊妹带领的聋人团契有3名聋人弟兄受洗归主，而今年也将有4名聋人弟兄姊妹准备参加慕道班学习。
爱他们到底——戴姊妹参与聋人群体的侍奉之路
Originally from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, Sister Dai heard the gospel for the first time in 1987. In the article "From Broken Marriage, Disease-Ridden, She Yells to God for Healing", she shared her faith journey.
In April 2018, Sister Dai came to Jinmen of Hubei alone and started her ministry for the deaf.
Sister Dai went to the local church as soon as she arrived there. A pastor held her hands, saying to her when welcoming the new people into the church, “Welcome home, sister!” Sister Dai stood on the pulpit of the church with tears rolling down her face. “Finally I’m home,” she said to herself.
Since then, Sister Dai has been involved in church ministries with other believers: Sunday worship, singing hymns, prayer, Bible study meetings, discipleship training, and evangelism.
One day in October, at the end of a service, the pastor asked if anyone knew sign language. Since Christmas was coming, the pastor planned to organize the people of the deaf fellowship to perform a sign language dance. They need someone who knew sign language to help them rehearse and lead them through the performance.
Sister Dai recommended herself to the minister. The pastor asked her if she knew sign language. Sister Dai said, “Not yet. But please give me time to learn!” Seeing how she was so firm and earnest, the minister gave her the evening to prepare.
When she returned home, she bathed, dressed, and prayed, “God, please help me strengthen my ability to memorize and understand.” Since she did not have any sign language knowledge, Dai had to write all the lyrics and movements in a book, watching the videos repeatedly and practicing them in her mind. From 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., she finally learned the poem Silent Praise in sign language.
On Christmas Day, Sister Day led the deaf brothers and sisters in presenting the hymn Silent Praise to God in their own way.
The success of the show inspired Dai to learn sign language to better serve this special group.
At the same time, Sister Dai also found that many deaf people never go to school. They can only write their own names and don’t know many words, and some of them have even been cheated for this. So every Saturday night, Dai and two others taught them Chinese characters and helped them to read and in turn, she learned sign language about Bible from them. Dai also went to a special training school to attend full-time classes with hearing-impaired students to improve her sign language.
Sister Dai then became involved in the deaf fellowship, leading them to practice hymns and translate sermons in sign language.
Every year before the Chinese New Year, the church would organize people to visit poor families, and Dai is also involved. She and the pastor went to the home of deaf brother Li in the countryside. His house is destitute, and his wife is a little disturbed due to childhood trauma, so they are leading a difficult life. Sister Dai led the deaf fellowship to go to clean his house once every month. “We must let deaf believers serve each other and practice God’s love.”
In recent years, when some deaf people have suffered from physical discomfort, hospitalizations, conflicts in marriage and family, psychological trauma caused by discrimination in job hunting, or some have passed away, Sister Dai would rush there as soon as she knew what was going on. As for psychological trauma, because she had no experience in helping people, she would attend the courses of Emotional Management Skills and PTSD Psychological Trauma Treatment at her own expense, in order to find the right way to channel their minds.
Sister Ye, a member of the Deaf Fellowship, contacted Sister Dai immediately when she was ill, for she had already seen Dai as close as her family. “As long as they want to tell me anything, I will try my best to help them.” Sister Dai said.
Afterword: Sister Dai not only serves the deaf community in the church but also participates in the volunteer organization of the deaf community. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, she has participated in the Volunteer Activity of Fighting Against the Pandemic and Helping the Disabled, providing psychological counseling and assistance to disabled friends in need. In 2019, three deaf members in the deaf fellowship led by Sister Dai were baptized. This year, four more are also preparing to attend the catechism course.
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
Love Them Always: Sister Dai's Ministry for the Deaf
