personal progress...

Each year I read the Book of Mormon, (that's been a personal goal for me for quite a few years now...) I find that each year I take that personal challenge, I do it in a little different way. A few years ago I taught the Adult Gospel Doctrine Class in our ward for a 4 year rotation, (the closest thing to teaching seminary I will probably get due to my health issues.) During each year I learned so much about each course of study that we had, way more than the class... our lessons featuring the Book of Mormon were no different.

For the last year or so I am again teaching Gospel Doctrine lessons, and my class is the oldest youth class which included Son2 for most of a year. We have few active youth in my class. The kids that come participate well and come prepared to class. All have been brought up in the church, have really great parents and are generally strong in their personal faith... respect the priesthood... etc. I suspect they have questions, and challenges that they don't share readily, way more often than I am aware... but they are really good youth and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching them.

This year our study has been the Book of Mormon... I have felt a desire to really help my class to touch their personal testimonies of the Book of Mormon. So with that in mind... I took a different personal challenge in my reading. I decided that I would not only "read" the chapters each week, I would "listen" to them, every week... I decided to do this because for me two different parts of my brain are affected when I see and hear the same passages... As I was preparing one particular lesson at the beginning of the year I felt singularly frustrated that I could NOT seem to pull together my thoughts... The lesson plan I had outlined seemed disjointed. I still felt unprepared as we met in class. During the opening prayer the YM that was saying it expressed the thought; "that the class will be able to get out of the lesson what Thou wouldst have us learn and understand. That our questions will be answered." At that point my feelings calmed and as I opened my eyes and looked at the lesson all the areas that those youth needed to discuss that day seemed to be bold on the paper, (except you probably understand that this “bolding” was only for my benefit...) We had a wonderful lesson and the spirit was strong. Afterwards that YM from class came up to me and told me that during the last week his friends at school have been dissing the Book of Mormon, in a very challenging way, (this was around the time Mitt Romney was running for president and political discussions surrounding that usually started these events...) Anyway, he said that in class we covered ALL the areas he was still struggling with, and he just wanted to thank me for being their teacher. He had been praying that that day he would get some insight to the answers for the questions he had, after trying all week to answer them himself through personal study, and seminary...

My testimony pounded in my chest, and seemed to fill my being as I listened to the spirit testify to me that; as I try to do my part to prepare for my lessons, that Heavenly Father will always meet me MORE than half-way!!! I feel humbled that He would trust me with these faithful youth that have His work to do, so soon... I am SO grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all that it brings into my life.