Account of the Farewell

Well, I got up at 7:30 to make sure my voice would be in good condition by 11, and to go over my talk one more time. I honestly wasn't nervous, but I was starting to realize "Hey, today is gonna be the last Sunday in California for 2 years." So not nervous, just... going. At church, when I got the mic set up and finally sat down on the stand, THEN I started to feel antsy about how it would come across. And by "it", I mean both parts of what I had prepped for. Thankfully, I had enough time before sacrament started to go talk with some friends before church started, and that calmed me down a lot.

Then I got back on the stand, and got real nervous again. I really started praying big time that I would be able to be calm and convey my heart and soul over the pulpit. Of course, that didn't really do much for me at first. To be honest, I was worrying too much to really get anything out of the other talks there. I'm sure Kaden's and Bro. Peterson's talks were both fantastic, but I was feeling an entire summer's worth of nerves at once. My bad!

But then I got over to the piano, and everything just, clicked. I took a breath, and just focused on feeling the Spirit right then. And let me tell you, I sure felt His help. There was only one part where I fumbled a little bit, but everything else went so smoothly, and I felt so great up there. But then I finished the song, and got up for my talk. To be honest, I didn't feel any "burning in the bosom" or anything of the like while I was up there, I was just focused on conveying the emotion of the talk effectively, which I felt like I did pretty well. But that's kinda how church went, and the goodbyes that I got all of church and afterward weren't quite hitting home to me, and I'm sure they won't until I've been away for a while.

- Elder Walker