Rachel's talk

Rachel gave her first talk in primary today. She helped me write it earlier this week and we've been practicing all week. When we'd practice I would say the first half of the sentence and then instead of repeating it she'd say the second half of the sentence. I kept reminding her that it was very important that she remembered to say the first half of the sentence, too, because I'd only be whispering in her ear and she'd be talking into the microphone.

She did great today—and remembered (most of the time) to say the whole sentence. She only forgot once.

"President Wilford Woodruff also believed..." I whispered.

And then she just said, "...in teaching with the spirit," instead of the whole sentence.

Other than that, she remembered to say everything! Grandma came to watch her give her talk, as well as our whole primary class (we're in the senior primary and Rachel is in the junior primary). It worked out well because our lesson today was on the Holy Ghost, which is what Rachel talked about, too, although her topic was technically missionary work.

Here's her talk:

Through the power of the Holy Ghost, missionaries teach the gospel to people who don't know the gospel. A lot of people in my family have gone on missions—my grandma and grandpa, my dad, one of my aunts, and a bunch of my uncles! Right now my uncle Jacob is on a mission in Lima, Peru. In one of his letters home he wrote about being a missionary.

 He said, "The spirit is...my best friend here.... It's awesome to be able to teach someone and just know that the spirit is teaching along with me..." (July 4, 2011).

President Wilford Woodruff also believed in teaching with the spirit. In this month's Friend magazine, it talked about Wilford Woodruff's mission to Tennessee. He believed in telling people only what the Lord wanted him to tell them—and he did this through the power of the Holy Ghost. He said that he couldn't teach the gospel "without the inspiration of the Almighty God," and that he "need[ed] the Spirit of God to assist [him], as does every man who attempts to teach...the things of the kingdom of heaven" (Millennial Star, November 21, 1985, 737–38; quoted in Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff, p. 57–59).

President Woodruff was a very good missionary. He baptized hundreds of people!
He was a good missionary because he taught with the spirit. The reason teaching with the spirit is important is because the Holy Ghost tells us in our hearts when things are true.
Moroni 10:5 says, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

I know that the church is true. I know that my uncle Jacob is a missionary and is doing the Lord's work. I know that the Holy Ghost helps us know when things are good and right and true. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

In retrospect, I probably should have had her hold up a picture of Jacob or President Woodruff or something, but I didn't. The kids seemed to listen to her pretty well, though. In fact, I think the junior primary was much more reverent than the senior primary today...