From many years of experience, we offer this quick primer on sharing your personal faith story through a translator.

General Rules of Translation Services:

1. Always speak in complete/full sentences. Please don't break up your sentences in any way. Give your entire thought in the most straightforward words.

2. Do not use city, state, or church names, as they make no sense here. Do not say, "I am from 1025 Church in Hoboken, Connecticut." That does not translate well. Does it make a difference where you are from?

3. The term "raised in church" does not make sense in Spanish. Try saying, "My family was very devout in their religious faith."

4. Avoid sharing unneeded information. Never say, "My cousin, her name is Jill, told me about Jesus." Names take a lot of work to translate and only distract for the story. Just as they have different names, so are our nemes to them. Simply say, "My cousin told me about Jesus."

5. Avoid religious words like sanctification, propitiation, transubstantiation, or constipation. Only use words you can translate into easy-to-understand concepts. Know your own product enough to articulate it.

6. Keep your story short. People will listen to your short story without distractions.

TESTIMONY Communication Rules:

Share your story with one sentence for each point!.

1. Introduction sentence: "Hello, My name is Shawn, and I have three brothers and one sister."

2. Life Before Faith: "My family was very religious, but I never personally followed their religious beliefs."

3. How I came to Faith: "One day, my youth pastor talked, and I realized I needed to follow Jesus for myself."

4: What were my actions then: "I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my heart."

5. My life since then: "Following Jesus has made a great and wonderful difference in my life, and it can do that for you."

6. Invitation: "It is my hope that you give your life to Jesus as I have. Thank you."

NOTE: Don't tell people about your trophies; most people don't have any to show. Tell them about your scars because, in our commonness of pain, we can all relate to each other.

NOTE: Please don't wear sunglasses when speaking with someone from another language. Our eyes can convey meaning. Let them.

Anyone with a basic understanding of their faith can produce a six-line, simple-to-say testimony. Could you write your testimony down and memorize those six lines? It will serve you forever.

Let us all be prepared to account for what happened to us. If you don't have a faith story, the Dominican is a great place to find one..