The primary presentation! Public speaking at church is not something that comes easily to Fiona. She wants it to. She loves the idea of speaking, but when it comes right down to it, her nervousness/anxiety takes over.
This year she chose to speak about prayer. She wrote almost her whole talk by herself - Ken and I gave a little bit of input. I'll include the words of her talk at the bottom.
She was so excited and she was geared up for it to be smooth and amazing, but I was nervous that her anxiety would get the best of her. She loves the idea of talking and she wants to do it so badly. I was hoping that it would go as smoothly as she wanted it to, but she froze. Or rather, she was standing there, and then she wasn't, she had dropped to the ground beside the podium. I just knew that I needed to go to her, to stand beside her and help her get through, so I did. I stood there with my hand on her back, bearing her up, standing there with her so she didn't feel alone. She gave her talk and everyone in the congregation had a deeply spiritual experience. My simple act of kindness to my sweet distressed child reminded them of their Savior, who stands beside them bearing them up during difficulty.
Below is an excerpt of the email I sent out to the Relief Society tonight, and Fiona's talk. I'm grateful to be a Mom. I'm grateful for my sweet Fiona and her willing heart, and I'm deeply grateful to my Savior and the way He has held me up during my calling as Relief Society president and as a Mom and just all the things.
Relief Society Email:
There were so many kind comments about my Fiona, thank you to all of you who took the time to talk to me. I passed on the words of encouragement. I wanted to share this from Fiona, she told me that a few people told her they were proud of her for doing something she didn't want to do, but she said "Mom, I did want to do it." Her nerves, her anxiety, whatever you want to call it, can really make her crazy. She was so frustrated on Sunday that it was so difficult for her to do something that she thought should be so easy, and is so seemingly easy for so many. I was proud of her for not running out of the chapel. I was so thankful that she leaned on me for support, that she let me help her through her tough time. And I'll tell you, at the pulpit, with her leaning bodily against me, I felt so thankful for a Savior who bears me up when I need it. I'm thankful for the opportunities we have to support each other, I feel the bond and strength of our sisterhood. It also made me think of how we have to let God help us through tough things. I was grateful Fiona let me help her.
Primary Presentation Talk - 2023
Hello I'm here to talk about prayer. I'm going to share a story from the friend magazine .This story is called Rosi’s prayer, and it's based on a true story Rosi was experiencing racism at her school, and people were teasing her about it. When she got home from school she told her mom about it and went up stairs and she saw her little statue of Jesus on her bookshelf. And she remembered that when you pray Jesus can help. So she prayed that people in her class would stop being mean. After Rosi prayed she felt like a blanket was being wrapped around her,and decided to help other people that they were being mean to and become friends with them. I love the stories in the friend they make my faith and testimony strengthened times nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine. And sometimes when I'm sad I like to pray about it. To me if i had a million people praying to me at once it would feel like getting a million notifications on a phone or tablet.
Matthew chapter 7 verse 7 says : Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
This scripture means you can ask Heavenly Father for what you need. A prayer is a knock at the door. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. He wants to answer our prayers and he does answer our prayers. I don't know how Heavenly Father hears and answers all of our prayers. But I know Heavenly Father helps us by us helping each other. I've been saying my own prayers for about two or three months now. And it makes me feel good inside and I can't go to sleep without saying prayers. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
