I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were giving talks in church. I appreciated the help that so many gave me. I actually really enjoyed preparing my talk, learned a lot, and was very blessed with many tender mercies as I studied to prepare. I ended up preparing enough for like 10 talks, and barely gave Cory any time to talk - but he didn't complain. Anyway - it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it being....(at least for me - I'm not sure about the other people in the ward that had to listen to it...)

Anyway - when we talked about how we were going to speak Gabe BEGGED to speak with us. It started the night that we were called and asked to talk in church. Cory was very vocal about how he didn't want to speak and Gabe said, "Dad - why don't you want to talk in church? I want to give a talk!" We didn't quite know how to dissuade him without making him think that giving a talk was something to dread (and that wasn't what we wanted to teach him). I figured that we'd just hope that he'd forget about it as the week went on.

Well, Friday evening we were getting our talks finished up (because we were going to be gone all day on Saturday - we're not generally prepared that far ahead of time) and Gabe reminded us that we hadn't written his talk. He was still positive that he wanted to give his talk and so I asked him what he wanted to write. He told me exactly what he wanted to say. So aside from his comment about how he loved burritos (we worked on it right after dinner) - this was exactly what he wrote. I typed it out on the computer - using pictures instead of words - and he had it memorized in nothing flat.

"I love going to Primary. I love the beautiful world. I love my brother and my mom and dad (and that wood - there was some wood in the picture we used), and I love that I know that Jesus loves me and I love him."

He went over, and over, and over it and was SO ready! He had it memorized inside, outside, upside down. I took him up to the stage before sacrament meeting started to show him how many people would be watching him (wanting to deal with him backing out ahead of time) and he was still excited.

It was our turn - and he was still thrilled about giving his talk.

We got up on the stool at the podium - and the poor guy froze. He made several more attempts (throughout the middle of my talk) - but it didn't work out.

I was sad - not because he didn't do it - but more than anything because he was SO prepared, and it was so sweet and heart felt. It meant a lot to me that he wanted so badly to share his sweet testimony.

Earlier in the week when we were talking about our talks, and testimonies Gabe said, "But Mom - I don't have a testimony - how will I share it? Oh - I know - I'll just use yours!"

This comment was very profound to me as I was working and thinking about how I could better prepare my family and home to have a spiritual atmosphere. They really are relying on our testimonies, so I hope that mine can be strong enough.

Ok - this post got really long. Hope you have all had a wonderful Sabbath day. Our ward is splitting in a couple of weeks and so our Sunday was filled with speculation and wondering what will be happening. Should be interesting!