Open Your Mouth

When I was in the MTC Elder Tai came and gave a talk to the entire group of missionaries there. I didn't really know who he was but the MTC Mission President introduced him and he began to speak. His topic was about Missionary Work, as the talks always were. His theme was that to be a good missionary you have to open your mouth and talk to everyone you see. You have to be bold and outgoing.

I knew this was something I was going to have a hard time with because I tend to be shy and I am pretty happy being by myself out of the limelight. His talk was memorable though because he kept emphasizing "Open Your Mouth" by saying it louder and louder, and then he put his arms over his head with his fingertips touching to make a letter O while he said Open, then he made a Y with his arms when he said Your, and finished by making a letter M with his arms and body when he said mouth. he did that 2 or 3 times in a row to drive the point home. I got this mental image of the Mission President and his Councilors standing up to join him wearing hard hats and tool belts and all of them breaking into a modified rendition of the song YMCA, as the stage lights began flashing different colors and a disco ball lowered from the ceiling.

I'm not sure if I remember the talk because of Elder Tai's emphasis or because of the mental imagery I had, but it helped remind me throughout my mission that I needed to push myself to talk to as many people as I could.

Later in Thailand I had the privilege of hearing from Elder Tai again at a zone conference. More on that later.