Kate's first talk

Katelyn gave her first talk in Primary yesterday and she did so great!!! We were so proud. Here's how it went down.

Last Sunday: We find out she was asked to give a talk. We are surprised, we didn't know they asked the 3-year-old Sunbeams to do that! But Katelyn is excited, so we are too.

Monday: For Family Home Evening we practice giving talks by each choosing a picture of a scripture story that we like and telling the story. Katelyn tells the story of Nephi and his family travelling on a boat to the Promised Land. We ask her questions and she answers them, and we figure this is how her talk will go. Which is fine.

Saturday: I remind Katelyn about her talk. She is excited and wants to bring her toy Liahona to show everyone. Perfect! We review the story. She tells me "most kids have their moms whisper in their ear what to say," but she doesn't want me to do that! I ask her if I can stand by her and hold up the picture, and she says yes. I figure that way I can help her know what to say and it will be fine.

Sunday: Eric and I spend the morning putting finishing touches on the talks we're giving in Sacrament Meeting. We try to practice her talk, but she doesn't want to. At the last minute leaving for church, we forget Katelyn's Book of Mormon, which she really wanted to "use" in her talk. Luckily she's okay with borrowing one from the church library.

We get to the primary room, and she's thrilled to sit up in front waiting for her turn. Eric and I get to watch her enthusiastically sing a couple of songs, very cute. She gets super excited when they say her name, announcing she's giving the talk after the scripture.

Finally it's her turn. Eric and I still have NO idea what she is planning to do! Will she freak out and just want to sit down? Will she want me to tell her what to say after all?? I walk up and hold the picture as I was told to do. And Katelyn comes up to the podium with the Liahona and her scriptures and says:

"mom, can you show me the Nephi page?"

I turn to a random page in 2nd Nephi for her.

She holds up the Book of Mormon story-time style, so both she and the audience can see it, and gives her talk:

"This is the story of Nephi, going on a boat to the Promised Land. (pause) There was a big storm, because his brothers tied him up....... then they forgave him, (pause) and they made it!" She smiled a big smile. Then I wanted her to show the Liahona, so I said "what did they have?" and she said "The Liahona!" and held it up, smiling, but I could tell she was done so I told her to say "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" and she did. It was the cutest thing ever. She totally did it by herself, she didn't even need me there. All the teachers were like "wow!" and she was so happy. Eric and I were impressed with her version of the story. :)

I'm sure I'll laugh at this post later, because this is just the first of many talks to come. But it was a big day for us. :)