Sacrament Meeting Translator Takes Nephi's Advice

By Barely B. Bratt

ORLANDO, FL—Orlando 2^nd Ward Spanish translator Kristine Marcesan has again taken Nephi’s advice.

The need to employ this advice resulted from Brother Kenneth Hall’s recent sacrament talk.  As Brother Hall began by addressing Oliver Cowdery’s “rod of nature” before delving into Jewish burial practices, and concluding with his interpretation of “Zarahemla-ish” hieroglyphs on Aztec temples, Marcesan felt the need to restructure his talk to focus on his assigned topic of fast offerings.

“Nephi has saved me a number of times,” Marcesan has admitted to her visiting teachers when they have asked her about her calling as sacrament meeting translator, “especially when high council speakers come. I just keep reminding myself: ‘Plain and precious. Plain and precious.’”

When asked about Brother Hall’s talk, Brother Alvaréz, a recent immigrant from Chile, noted that during the talk he whispered to his wife, “I enjoy Brother Hall’s simple message of how faith and sacrifice come together when we pay our fast offerings.  It’s nice how he keeps coming back to those three main ideas over and over again.” 

“Yes,” Sister Alvaréz affirmed, “I do enjoy hearing the gospel in its simple purity. But it does seem to require a lot more English words to say the same thing in Spanish.” 

“And have you ever noticed,” Brother Alvaréz remarked, “how sometimes Sister Marcesan seems to be chanting to herself during the talks?”

Sister Alvaréz, nodding her head in recognition replied, “Sometimes it sounds like she is saying, ‘Cut off his head. Cut off his head.’ But I can’t be sure—my English is not so good.”