Farewell Talk

Sunday August 15, 2010 was a big day for everyone...it was the day of Steven's farewell talk, his open house and setting apart.

Since our church meetings don't begin until 1:30pm, the day started off slowly and built into a crescendo. Steven had been working on his talk for a couple of days and was not sure how it was coming. He hadn't asked how many speakers there would be, where he would be in the program (ie. first or last speaker) nor how much time he was expected to speak. Instead of making a simple phone call, he just prepared for the worst and made sure that he had enough material to talk for 20 minutes. In the months leading up to his farewell, Steven had been asked to be a companion speaker with the Stake High Council. Each talk had been an ordeal to prepare since he was convinced that he didn't know how to write or give talks. With a little hands on training, he slowly learned how to prepare a talk, but everyone was surprised with how well he gave his farewell talk.

His topic was prayer and later he told me that right before it was his turn to speak, he was feeling extremely anxious, so he said a quick prayer in his heart and stood up to speak. Those of us who had seen him give his previous High Council talks were used to him simply reading his talk, and usually very quickly. This time was very different. Steven stood up and started with an unrehearsed introduction and then proceeded to give his talk in a very calm and precise manner, without simply reading what he had written. I was very impressed and grateful to see the change in his demeanor, delivery and confidence. The Spirit was there as he testified of the power of prayer and how he knew that serving a mission was what the Lord wanted him to do at this time in his life.

After the meeting it was amazing to see how many people had come to see him speak. We had lots of family and even numerous friends who are not of our faith who came to support him. It was a great moment.