My First Talk in Sacrament Meeting -- in Spanish!

Yesterday I gave my first mensaje (talk) in sacrament meeting.  We were asked to speak about missionary work,  I was rewriting it (again, adding things) last Friday, feeling very good because I was doing this so far in advance.  I thought we were speaking this coming week, the last week of October.  Keith told me that I needed to translate it into Spanish soon because we were speaking this Sunday!  I was a week wrong!  I finished the talk, used Google Translate, and then I went over it to see if I could fix Google.  It is not always correct.  So I adjusted what I could and gave it to Keith.  He fixed it so I could say it and it made sense.  Then I went over it again so I knew what I was saying in Spanish.  Keith was working on his talk too, but he is better, much better, with Spanish so I didn't worry about him!

I practiced and practiced so I could say the Spanish words with meaning.  It was like being the youth speaker all over again!  I was practicing in the kitchen on Sunday morning and Keith overheard me and told me to slow down, that I was speaking too fast!  That helped calm me down.  I had a bad moment when the branch president announced that I would speak first, but once I got to the pulpit and opened my talk, I was fine.  The members even laughed when they were supposed to laugh!  So I consider it a success.

I spoke about how to become a missionario matrimonio (a senior missionary), about what happened to us before the MTC,  MTC and how I did not learn Spanish there like the young missionaries, and how we got to La Union.  I spoke about family history, our assignment in the mission.  It was kinda of fun because the expectations were so low!

I recommend this to everyone -- missions are great!