My Last Time Translating for General Conference

This last General Conference ended an era in my life. For the last 4 years or 8 General Conferences, I have been doing Serbian interpretation work for the LDS Church. The experiences doing that have forever changed my life and especially how I view General Conference.

The first thing you notice is the diversity of the people from all over the world coming together to share the gospel. We interpreted for nearly 90 languages for this Conference and many of the interpreters that come are from those areas of the world. You name it, I have probably met someone from there, or someone who speaks it.

When I talk of amazing people with amazing stories, this man next to me is one of those. Shinji is from Japan studying music at BYU. He has a talent that is amazing. Guaranteed you have all heard him play the organ at a fireside or devotional, you just didn't know it. His faith in Christ always amazes me and gives me something to strive for. He is always smiling and it is because of the Gospel. He told me about joining the church when he was 18 in Japan and then serving a mission. Again, I wonder at his faith. I get to roam the halls with him and several like him during the time of General Conference. So many friendly people from so many different places and walks of life. That is one thing that will forever change my life.

The actual interpretation for General Conference always seems like a miracle for me. We usually know who all the speakers will be (with exceptions of newly called apostles, etc.) and get their English and translated texts before the sessions. Sometimes this is two weeks before, other times it is like two hours before. You just always keep your fingers crossed and hope that you will have a chance to prepare for the interpretation. As for April Conference, it always comes right at the cusp of finals, and poses a time constraint, but the Lord blesses you and magnifies your abilities. When you step into the booth you have headphones with one earpiece that is the speaker in English and the other earpiece is your voice in Serbian. This sounds weird, but it helps so much in being able to translate. Anyways, you have a prepared text which you have read over and over out loud to be prepared, but you have to still listen to the person speaking, as he may speak extemporaneously, cut out pieces, or just stop because he is emotional. The next fun thing is talking with your hands. You know you all do it. So you can see me standing up in the recording booth and I keep that small TV in my view so I can do everything he is doing. If I hear him get quiet, I have to get quiet, if he is pumping his fists, I will pump my fists. It is as much voice acting as it is interpretation. I am trying to be transparent, so that people hardly remember that I am speaking (except I have a pretty distinctive voice).

With all of the difficulties and intricacies of translation, I have had amazing experiences. Needless to say, this is not the forum for me to share those. However, I will tell you that I have a strengthened testimony of the words of the prophets. I always marvel at the fact that the talks I always prepare for are the talks that I need to hear most. Luckily, I get to hear myself several times recite the talk in Serbian before it is ever given. I usually feel the Holy Ghost testify so strongly of these talks that I have taken to heart through my preparation.

I will miss the chances to be the voice of the prophet and apostles in Serbian. I loved those moments. The men that speak at General Conference are prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit testifies of that every time I am being their voice. I hope one day all will be able to listen to a prophet's voice.