Signs that help me think deeper

A favorite cousin (no names mentioned) recently commented on a really old post (no, I'm not subtly teasing my cousin there...):

I had a Deaf companion for a short while as a missionary, and I learned that the sign for repentance and the sign for change are the same motion, just with different letters. Am I remembering that right? I love that reminder that repentance is change. 

This is correct! The sign for "repentance" is just the sign for "change" made with a letter R. (This is called initializing - it's when you use the first letter of a word in the sign) Actually, sign language has a lot of signs that make you stop and think. One really interesting thing about the language is that there isn't an individual sign for every word in English. There is one sign for a concept. The way you use the sign can show variations in the concept. Here's an example:

There is one sign for all of these words: need, should, must, ought to, have to. If you sign it casually, it's should or ought to. If you sign it emphatically, it's must. But it's all the same sign.

Or, for another example, all these are the same sign: control, manage, administer, reign, manipulate, and handle. They all have their basis in the same concept.

A big part of learning ASL is learning to think about what the word you want to use really means, deep down inside.

So here are some signs that help me remember some important principles of the Gospel.

Repentance: same as the sign for change.
Atonement: it's the sign for substitute, or in exchange of.
Ministering: same as service.
Reverence: there are two, one is the sign for peaceful or calm, the other is the sign for honor.
Prayer: the same as asking.
Sacrifice: letting something go.
Unity: connected together.
Jesus: touching the prints of the nails in your hands.