The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

Recently, I was asked by the Church Translation Department to share with them an experience I had while translating. I figured some of you might enjoy this story that I wrote for them:

I have been a member of the Marshallese translation team since 2005. For many years, our responsibility for interpreting General Conference broadcasts also included preparing the translations we were assigned to present. I found this to be a wonderful experience being able to really study, digest and memorize the various speeches that would be shared.

One problem we had with this system was if one of our team members was unable to present at the meeting, then we would have to scramble to translate their talk at the last minute to cover for them. And so it was with the 2007 Saturday Morning Session of General Conference. One of our other team members slid off the road while traveling to the Conference Center because of some ice. He was scheduled to present for President Monson, who was the concluding speaker that morning. He had finished translating the talk, but was unable to transmit it to us because he was in the middle of the mountains without Internet service.

My team leader asked myself and a couple I baptized on my mission to cover for him. The three of us quickly got to work translating the 20 minute long talk. It was very difficult, with poetry and other literary constructions that were difficult to properly convey in our target language. We worked and worked during the entire session and only got about half of the talk finished before my friend was to begin presenting it. We printed off what we had and sent him into the translation booth while his wife and I feebly tried to complete the final half.

I remember praying like mad for the Lord to enlighten our minds and give us the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues so we could complete the talk. I knew that we were working on an important message that the Lord wanted President Monson to share with the church. We had toiled and used our combined efforts to try to do the task ourselves, but we were completely inadequate for the task without the Lord's assistance.

 Rick Nang and Brian work on a translation at the last minute.

My fingers were a blaze on my laptop computer, jamming out phrases as quickly as they came into my mind. Within only a few minutes, the two of us were able to finish the rest of the talk, rush off to the printer to get a hard copy, and then bring it into the translation booth. We arrived just in time as our friend reached the end of our previously prepared materials seconds after I handed him the finished talk. He was able to seamlessly continue, and no one would ever know that he was doing a cold reading. He gave a wonderful presentation of the talk, and President Monson's message was conveyed in its entirety.

Fatigue after the translation is done. 

I marveled while listening to the words as they were spoken at the miracle I was witnessing. In only a few minutes, this sister and I had been able to duplicate the amount of work all three of us had previously accomplished in the space of an hour and a half. We truly had been blessed with the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues to not only translate the talk, but to do it in an incredibly rapid space of time. It reminded me of how quickly Joseph Smith had been able to translate the Book of Mormon. The Spirit witnessed to me there that President Monson truly is an apostle and prophet of the Lord and that he was actually sharing the words of God in his talk.

I don't know who it was that we were translating that message for, but I know it was God's will that it be shared. Perhaps the three of us were the ones who needed to hear the message and to go through that experience, to strengthen our own personal testimonies. I may never know for sure. But there is one thing that I am certain of: If we put our faith in Christ, we can receive power to do all things that are expedient in him. Moroni 7:33.

- Brian K. Tanner, April 2011.

Marshallese in Recent Church Publications

A number of Marshallese friends of mine were featured in recent church publications.

Maggie Nang and Marie Aini from West Valley were the cover story from March 2011's New Era. I baptized Maggie and her family in Hawaii (she's in a picture on page 10). She's the one who taught me to play the ukulele for the first time. Marie is her cousin, and they all now live in West Valley. Jen became good friends with Marie's Grandma Aini when we were living in Spokane.

Marie's dad, Jally Aini, and brother were one of the random pictures in last November's Conference Report in the Ensign. They were on page 55.

Lastly, this month's Ensign featured various vignettes from the Marshall Islands. One of the stories was about the Kaminaga family. I loved meeting them in Hawai'i while they were attending BYU-H. I'm vocally very jealous of the awesome job she now has working for the Marshallese mission to the UN. Lydia is always posting comments on Facebook about all of the exciting places around the world she goes to in order to reduce nuclear arms numbers. Talk about dream job.

The article also featured Ernest Mea and Gary Zakious on page 35, both of whom I met here in Utah. Gary was present for some of my more wild translation experiences at General Conference. I helped to translate for Ernest Mea when he first came to the MTC to prepare for his mission to Hawai'i. He now attends LDSBC in Salt Lake City and wants to become a Marshallese lawyer and politician. I've loved mentoring him and encouraging him to keep working hard in school.

It's neat for me to see some of these wonderful people's stories being shared with a wider audience. There are a lot of universal truths we can learn from diversity.

Isaiah - The First Month

Isaiah's original due date was yesterday, so it is interesting to see how much he has grown in the first month of life. Here are some cute Izzy pics!:

Fast Asleep in the NICU the morning he left the hospital.

Hey! Don't take pictures of me while I'm sleeping!

All right...you can take pictures if you insist, but I'm going to make bubbles.

I was born four weeks early! 

I'm getting tired...are you done yet?

I'm hungry. Let's get this over with.

 Oh man! It's boring around here! You guys don't even have cable.

Hold on...I'm not ready yet.

Oww! I can't stand it anymore! I have to eat now!

 

Uhh...Is it my turn yet to take pictures of you?

Dum dee dum...

 

Ok, I'm ready for my close up!

 

Check out this pizazz! I'm cute!

Hi ladies! My name is Isaish. Prepare your hearts to melt at my smile!

Yeah, I know. I'm pretty adorable.

Woah! What was that?

The Dog Side

We slowly learned a few months after getting Louie that he is very clever in figuring out ways to get into trouble. At first I think he was trying really hard to please us so we would let him stay with us. Recently though, he has become much more audacious in pulling off such crimes as sleeping in our bed or stealing Rudy's food. Rudy never gave us this much trouble because he is not as creative as Louie in thwarting our plans. Our lives have become a never ending battle against Louie's cunning ingenuity and Rudy's muscle.

The week before Isaiah was born was especially wild where Louie somehow figured out how to tear down the baby-gate we use to guard our kitchen. He stole some cookies and then ate them on our bed, leaving crumbs everywhere. They literally destroyed an entire can of Spam, leaving only a small scrap of the label on one of their dog beds. The entire house was littered with garbage.

The broken fence

 All that remained of the can of Spam.

 Rudy and Louie: Partners in Crime

Rudy and Louie have been absolutely in love with Isaiah since the moment they met him. One concern that I have is that the dogs will try to recruit Izzy to join the "Dog Side" and assist them in perpetrating crimes in the future.

One of my favorite movies as a kid was the Empire Strikes Back. I really enjoyed the film's portrayal of the battle between good and evil. The film's depiction of Darth Vader and the Emperor's attempts to turn Luke Skywalker, to the "Dark Side" were fascinating to me as a child. I fear Louie and Rudy may similarly try to turn Izzy, our new hope for the future.

It will likely start with simple things, like getting him to share food at dinner time. Eventually it will lead to opening closed doors or the fridge. Ultimately, it could lead to an entire insurrection against any parental control in our home. Dogs and kids will live in a new utopia free of rules and boundaries!

Do you have any ideas for thwarting the impending Doggie Rebellion?

John Tanner Movie - Treasure in Heaven

After General Conference today, I saw a posting about my great-great-great-grandfather, John Tanner. I guess the BYU-TV channel yesterday broadcasted a film made about two years ago by my cousin, T.C. Christensen (well, technically he's my dad's first-cousin and my first-cousin, one generation removed or something like that, but it's just easier to say cousin like a Polynesian would). T.C. is a well known director and filmographer for the church, who did the principle photography for many major church film productions, including Mouth of Babes, Legacy, The Testaments, and the Joseph Smith Movie. Jen and I went to the premiere a few months after we got married.

Treasure in Heaven is the story of our ancestor's miraculous conversion to the church and some of the major events in church history that he participated in. There are some cool experiences captured in this film, many of which I grew up hearing from my own dad. I am excited to share this family legacy with Isaiah one day.

So without further adieu, here is the film from BYU-TV's website:




Enjoy!

Utah Legislature Theme Song

I wanted to post this a while ago, and I'm a little late considering the 2011 Utah legislative session is over for the year. However, I was reminded of this song today while reading a quote from Representative Carl Wimmer of Herriman:

"Utah is a very traditional, conservative state, where we believe in the Second Amendment right to bear arms," said Wimmer. "Guns are a big part of our state tradition. If you think of the Mormon Pioneers, I mean, they came into the valley holding a plow in one hand, and a gun in the other. Guns are a tool, nothing else but a tool."

Honestly, that's not really what comes to mind when I think of Mormon Pioneers (usually it's the John Roe Moyle handcart statue).

But I can see it now; next session, all babies and other new residents of the state get a free gun and plow (except for undocumented aliens of course). This would be a logical extention from the folks who got rid of those pesky gun permits, allow you to bring guns to school parking lots, and shoot feral animals.

In regards to the feral animals law, a co-worker of mine who attended the hearing told me that it was passed after the sponsor reported that they needed to act quickly in order to allow ranchers to defend themselves against a wild pack of boars that have been leaving a trail of destruction across the Southwest! And they are coming to Utah! I tried looking up any reports of this wild band of pigs on the internet, but couldn't find anything at the time. This leads me to the conclusion that either the pigs left absolutely no survivors behind, or the legislator was lying. Either way, we are in a lot of trouble...

Anyway, without further adieu, I present my officially-unofficial 2011 Utah Legislature Theme Song, Glorified G by Pearl Jam!




Here's another fun cartoon on this and other issues from the session:

Isaiah "Izzy" Brian Tanner's Story

Izzy asked me if I could share a story he's written so he can tell everybody about himself. So this is Izzy's story:

Hi! My name is Isaiah, but you can call me Izzy! That is my great-grandpa Isadore Perlmutter's nickname. He's a great guy. I was at his 90th birthday party while in my mommy's womb!

My mommy and daddy are Jennifer and Brian Tanner. I love them! They are really nice to me.

My mommy loves me. I love her too! She gave birth to me without any medication. She's really strong!

I was born on March 9th, 2011 at 4:20 AM. My mommy was in labor for a while, but she had a good time singing/rapping for her nurses. Everybody remembers us for the good time we had!

My dad is soo brave! He helped my mom give birth to me, and got splashed with blood when I came out. He also cut my umbilical cord for me. Even hours later, he still had some blood on his pants and shirt.

After I was born, I was really sleepy. It was a lot of work being born!

The doctors thought it would be best if I stayed in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for a few days. I was born a few weeks early, so they wanted to make sure that I'm feeling great before I came home.

I like it when my dad holds me. He's pretty cool.

I like to look at my dad. He thinks I'm soo handsome!

It was kind of lonely in the NICU, so my aunt Kristen got me a friend to keep me company. My friend makes sounds that remind me of when I was still inside my mommy. Whenever I hear it, I fall right to sleep.

I like to eat a lot! In the NICU, I usually ate almost twice as much as the nurses told me to.

This whole eating and pooping thing is still new to me. Sometimes I have to work really hard to get things working right.

Sometimes I make faces that look just like my great grandpa Izzy. I think it is because I have his mouth.

Other times I look like my dad. I think it's because I have his eyes and forehead. You can tell the resemblance when I make fussy faces.

My aunt Kristen helped a lot when I was born. She took care of my dogs for me.

My daddy loves me! He tucks me into bed at night.

My grandparents got me a really cool car seat. I couldn't wait until I could ride in this to go home with my family from the hospital!

My doggies love me! They follow me everywhere I go and watch everything I do. They also always guarding me to make sure I'm treated well.

They were soo worried when my mommy came home from the hospital a few days before me. They would rub her tummy, and then lick my used burp rag, and then stare at her to ask "Where is our baby? He used to be inside there and he smells like this. Where is he?" They were jumping for joy when I came home!

Rudy adores me! He always tries to give me a bath with his tongue, and anytime I start crying, he tries to cheer me up with more licking!

Junk Mail

As law school graduation approaches, I've been getting spammed with junkmail for graduation announcement and diploma plaques. Today while getting the mail, I received another envelope of "Important graduation information" addressed to "Brian Tanner or Current Resident".

Knowing it was just another junk mailer, I announced "Rudy, you got a letter" and tried to hand it to him. Rudy sniffed it and then rejected my offer. I then turned and offerred it to Louie. "Louie, it's for you!" Louie ran up to the letter, chomped his jaws on it, thrashed it from side to side and then spat it out onto the ground.

Thus is the fate of junk mail in our house.

Melting

I am so excited for the upcoming birth of our son! I am totally starting to go baby crazy...Jen almost had to take away the scanning gun from me when we were registering for baby stuff because I was scanning everything!

Tonight was a rare evening where Jen and I were watching television. A McDonald's commercial came on with a father and son eating Chicken McNuggets. I started to get emotional thinking about my baby boy. It was hilarious that I was totally suckered into wanting McDonald's because of such an obvious trap, but I completely fell for it. Jen got a good laugh out of it.

I'm not the only one in the house who is starting to go baby crazy. I think Rudy is now aware that a new pack member is coming, and he is more affectionate than ever with every baby he meets. He hasn't been around a lot of babies in the past, and was normally aloof to them. But anymore, we have a hard time keeping him from giving them baths with his tongue. He loves babies now!

Things are certainly going to be pretty awesome around here in a few weeks. Jen and I are in no rush to have our son born because we want to let him develop as much as he can in the womb. We will get to see him soon enough, but my excitement is certainly growing more and more everyday.

Where We’ve Been

Sorry I haven’t written for a few months. Things have been pretty crazy around here for us. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Over the summer, I started interning at the Disability Law Center in downtown Salt Lake City. This job has been a blast where I’ve been working on the abuse and neglect team to help protect persons with disabilities.
• Also over the summer, I took a class on Equality, Liberty, and Civil Rights which required me to write a huge research paper. I wrote on a plan that a few GOP lawmakers have to introduce bills that would keep children born to undocumented aliens from receiving birth certificates. After wading through thousands of pages of legal work, I ultimately concluded that neither the US Congress or individual state could do such a thing without violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. When I wasn’t working that summer, I was writing that beast.
• Jen and I were called as missionaries to help teach English at our local Spanish Branch. Ever since we got engaged two years ago, Jen and I have been missionary companions now in three different areas (Spokane, Provo and now SLC). At one point I was pretty good at Spanish thanks to Riverview Jr. High and Murray High School, but now my Spanish comes out jumbled with Tongan. Even though I don’t have time to study Spanish full time, I’m slowly getting better.
• Jen is pregnant with a baby boy. That is awesome! 

  

  When we discovered we had a "little spot" inside of Jen.
  
  

  We are soo excited for this little guy to come fill our home with love and wildness. Louie and Rudy are pretty excited too. “Little Boy” is due sometime around April 6th.

  

  Little Boy

• Jen and I had a fun trip to California in June. We crashed my cousin Katie’s wedding reception, then went to Angelica and John’s in Madera. Jen gave me the tour of Stockton and Fresno where she grew up, and we had fun celebrating our first anniversary at Lake Tahoe.

  

  We saw some cheesy touristy brochure that advertised holding a pine cone on Lake Tahoe. We couldn't stop laughing at it, and though we would recreate it ourselves.

• Jen walked in the BYU graduation in August. She looked really hott, and I am so proud of my wife for graduating.
• Rudy got fat. He gained 20 lbs. this year, and has been put on a diet. My dad also has started coming by to run with the dogs every Saturday. He’s since lost 10 lbs. in two months, which is like losing 30 lbs. for a human.

  

  Rudy before his diet.
  
  

  

  Rudy after his diet started, and minus 10 lbs.

• Fall semester was pretty crazy for us. I was taking 17 credits of classes (Business Organizations, Bankruptcy, Trusts and Estates, Evidence, and Judicial Process) and working, in addition to church and other responsibilities. Basically, I spent every waking minute studying. Jen was also student teaching at Riverview Jr. High while pregnant. Everyday our calendars would be completely scheduled and accounted for.
• The week before Thanksgiving, we all went to Las Vegas and California on vacation. This was a much needed break to allow us to rest for a few days. We went to a friend’s wedding in the Las Vegas Temple, before heading to California. 

  

  Louie and Rudy cuddling while on a roadtrip to Vegas.

  We then spent the rest of the week preparing a 90th Birthday present for Jen’s grandpa. His favorite magazine is Time, so we made a huge book for him with all of the cover stories from each birthday that he’s had. Grandpa Perlmutter later pulled me aside and secretly told me, “Don’t tell anyone, but this is the best present I’ve ever gotten.”

  

  Izzy Perlmutter: Man of the Year

  Louie also enjoyed the sunshine while in California, and got into a lot of mischief when he somehow snuck outside and jumped into the swimming pool. His tail, which normally whirls around like a helicopter, actually went limp for a day from the shock of the cold water. Thankfully, we got our happy lab tail back the next day once he was able to spend enough time basking in sunlight.



Louie loves sunshine almost as much as mischief.

• Once I survived my four tests and two papers, I’m not enjoying my winter break. We spent Christmas in SLC with my parents and at the Marshallese peet party. A few days later, we went back to California for another week to celebrate our anniversary and spend time with Jen’s family. We went to the San Diego Temple and Olive Garden on New Year's Eve before celebrating the new year and our engagement anniversary on Sunset Beach with fireworks.