Sunday, August 24, 2008

Teaching a Book of Mormon Class in English, etc.

Today was a very unique day in our mission. It was Zuster Servoss' turn to teach the Sunday School lesson (Gospel Doctrine Book of Mormon) in English. We have only taught it in English for two weeks. Today we had a Portuguese speaking investigator come to church with her friend, who speaks Spanish, English and Dutch. An investigator would normally go to the Gospel Essentials class (basic class taught in Dutch). However, another member that could translate the lesson into Portuguese does not speak Dutch. So the three of them decided to attend our English class. Another sister in the Ward (Sr. Gonzalez) came to the class. She speaks Spanish, some English and some Dutch. Our Spanish speaking missionary came to our class and provided the Spanish translation for her. Then Elder Servoss sat next to her daughter and he translated some of the lesson into Dutch for her, since her English is limited. So Zuster Servoss was the only one in the class who was speaking English through the lesson. She had to pause after a few sentences to allow time for the translations to occur. We also had copies of the Book or Mormon in all of those languages that they were reading from at the same time. When you teach that way it is hard to stay focused and know if your thoughts and words are staying connected. Somehow it seemed to have worked and the class members all learned about Helaman's Stripling Warriors and following the prophet with exactness. The spirit had to teach us all in our respective languages. Then this evening we went joint teaching with the Elders and taught a woman from the Dominican Republic, who speaks Spanish, English, and Dutch. Every one of those languages came up during the discussion over the value of the Book of Mormon. To end the lesson the woman offered a heart-felt prayer in Spanish, that only Elder Helton could understand, but we could all certainly feel. We are so grateful to have these amazing experiences. The gospel is true!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow! Now that is an experience you don't just have every day. Interesting how it all worked out that you had so many translators available for them. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

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