June 4th, 2025 6:56pm MDT
On March 23rd, in Okayama, church members prayed, shared their testimony, and praised God through hymns, but no words were spoken. Members participated in the All Signature Language Sacrament Conference.
In addition to sign language classes and games, this All Signature Language Sacrament Conference was part of the two-day “2025 Sign Language Conference” held from March 22-23.
The conference was an opportunity for deaf people across Japan to build friendships and improve their sign language skills, according to the church’s Japanese newsroom. Four deaf families from the US and one deaf person from South Korea also participated in the meeting.
President Hirokane Koichi, the second counselor of Okayama’s stake presidency in Japan, learned sign language from deaf people in his past congregations. He said this was the first sacrament of sign language conference in Japan, as far as he knows.
“It was a wonderful and peaceful time from start to finish,” he said. “I think this method will allow the deaf person to understand more deeply than the previous methods of translated prayer and sacramental meetings to sign language interpreters.”
Matsudo Japan Stake members Masayuki and Sachiko Inoue helped organize the meeting. They began over the weekend with Mormon sign language storytelling. There, ten deaf people used sign language to perform a Book of Mormon scene.
Growing up as a deaf adult child, Takahashi End won a share in Japanese stocks.
“My deaf person was strict, but now I am grateful for the sign language skills I have inherited from my parents,” End said.
On the second day of the conference, American deaf Katrina Treven spoke about the relationship between Japanese culture and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her son, who recently returned from a Japanese mission, translated her American sign language into Japanese and spoke Japanese.
Additionally, three sign language classes were offered during the meeting: Beginners, Advanced, International Exchange.
One participant expressed his gratitude to the meeting and commented on how it changed their perspective.
“Through this conference, I felt strongly that from now on, the deaf person himself was responsible for the work of bringing together Israel by inviting the deaf person to Christ.”
