A new missionary went to Venezuela for his first term. He was struggling with the language and didn't understand a whole lot of what was going on. He got lost on his way to the church, but eventually got back on track and found it. The small church was packed, and the only pew left was the one on the front row.

So as not to make a fool of himself, he decided to pick someone out of the crowd to imitate. He chose to follow the man sitting next to him on the front pew. When they sang, the young missionary peeked at his neighbor's hymnal to see the page number. When the man stood up to pray, the young missionary stood up too. When the man sat down, he sat down.

Whatever the man next to him did, he did. During the preaching, the young missionary didn't understand a thing. He just sat there and tried to look just like that man in the front pew.

Then he perceived that the preacher was giving announcements. People clapped, so he looked to see if the man was clapping. He was, and so the young missionary clapped too. Then the preacher said some words that he didn't understand and he saw the man next to him stand up, so he stood up too. Suddenly an incredible hush fell over the entire congregation. A few people gasped audibly. He looked around and saw that nobody else was standing, so he sat down.

After the service ended, the preacher stood at the door shaking the hands of those who were leaving. When the young missionary stretched out his hand to greet the preacher, the preacher said to him, in English, "I take it you don't speak Spanish?"

The young missionary replied, "No, I don't. It's that obvious?"

"Well, yes," said the preacher. "I announced that a family in our church has a new baby boy, and I asked the proud father to stand up."

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