Memorizing

Does memorizing help keep you young? I hope so. When I was a little girl-in grade school-we memorized poems all the time. My poetry was from the Childcraft books in the 60's. Ask my kids-I can recite "Grandpa dropped his glasses once in a pot of dye and when he put them on again, he saw a purple sky..." or "Once there was an elephant who tried to use the telephant, no,no I mean an elephone who tried to use the telephone...." How about-"I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one. But this I'll tell you anyhow, I rather see than be one."

This past year and a half I have been memorizing the songs from the Children's Songbook (Canciones para los Ninios) in Spanish. I was the pianist and chorister at the same time-a little tricky but it worked for us in our Spanish Branch. I memorized all the songs so I could teach them to the kids, even though my Spanish is far from fluent. It was so good for me. I improved my pronunciation and I learned words I never would have learned like: burlaron (they made fun of) or noche de hogar (Family Home Evening).

A few months ago I read an article in the Ensign written by a mother who decided to memorize "The Living Christ." She then decided to help her family learn it as well. It brought great blessings to their family and most of all, her family was able to understand the reality of the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
I decided that if she could do it, I could too. I have been working on it for several months-sometimes with gusto and sometimes not. I am happy to report that I am now working on the last paragraph of "The Living Christ". I do not intend to recite it to anyone, not even my family. I would probably lose my concentration and totally forget the whole thing. I have memorized it for myself. It is a blessing to be able to think of the words in that beautiful testimony (given by the Apostles and First Presidency of the Church) during the Sacrament. I love that we are studying about the Savior's life in Sunday School this year. I love that I can attend the other ward's English Sunday School class now that our meetings overlap.

I am grateful for the ability to memorize. I hope it keeps me young for a little while longer.