Double the Pleasure...Double the Fun?

I taught early morning seminary again this week. I taught once yesterday and twice this morning. How do you teach two times in one morning? When your building has an early early morning seminary class and a plain early morning seminary class--that's how.

The teachers of both classes were wonderful--they said I didn't have to prepare two different lessons even though they were on a slightly different schedule. I spent most of yesterday preparing my lesson carefully. I was teaching Emily's and "the cousins'" class for the first time and I wanted to do well.

I was a little creeped about going to the church at 5:30 am to open up the building. I would be the first person there and what if there were scary people lurking in the parking lot? Or lurking in the Relief Society room? OR lurking under the stage?

I am not making this up--I was told by one of the seminary teachers that a homeless man was found living under the stage in a church building not too far from here. SHUDDER!

Ron was very sweet. He offered to go to the church before me and not only open the building, but turn on the lights and the heater and make sure that there were no homeless people lurking in the shadows.

I don't know if he ever checked under the stage. I forgot to remind him.

Emily and I showed up a few minutes later. My class soon arrived. The early early morning seminary class is the LARGEST in our building. About 28 students are enrolled. Despite their large size they were delightful, respectful, and a joy to teach. Emily said her class was TOO quiet this morning. I didn't mind.

We studied D&C 117 and 118 this morning. We talked about not coveting and what is most important in life. We talked about quarterbacks on a football team and how most of us won't be a quarterback in the figurative sense of the word, but every position in the Church is important. We read a quote by President Hunter where he said some of the greatest service would be in our own homes and serving as home and visiting teachers. We then talked about Oliver Granger--an amazing man in church history that isn't as well-known but yet served faithfully and earned the respect of non-members who lived in the Kirtland area. We talked about how even if we never receive worldly accolades, as long as Heavenly Father is pleased with our service, that should be enough.

We also talked about the Quorum of the Twelve serving a mission to England and how they were asked to leave from Far West, Missouri while tensions against the Mormons were very, very high. We talked about how sometimes we are asked to do hard things. We talked about my nephew serving his mission in El Salvador and how it's been a cultural shock for him but he's serving with his whole heart. It was a GREAT lesson. (At least I think so.)

And then, I repeated the lesson again to another group of students. One young man was a glutton for punishment and attended both the early early morning session and the later 6:45 am session. I apologized that he was going to have to hear the same lesson twice but he said he didn't mind.

Today was a great day teaching seminary! It truly was double the pleasure and double the fun.

Early Morning Seminary--Part 2

I taught the Freshman class for the third time this week. Last week, one of the young men suggested that the class teach seminary. The regular seminary teacher agreed that they could each do a mini-lesson on a subject of their choosing. She called to let me know that Wednesday was the day.

Hurray! I didn't have to prepare a lesson! (Of course, I did have a back-up plan in case we finished early.)

On Monday I reminded the class about their mini-teaching assignment. Some of the students looked at me blankly. This did not look promising.

On Tuesday, I gave each student a handout with suggestions on how to prepare a mini-lesson. It read:

Topic:

Scripture or quote from General Authority:

Personal Experience or Story:

Conclusion (may include your testimony):

There was much moaning and groaning and gnashing of teeth when they realized they would REALLY HAVE TO TEACH!

As the students left the class, I reminded them once again that I was looking forward to their mini-lessons the next day.

One young man said, "I'm going to talk about pornography."

Another young man said, "I am going to talk about pornography, too."

A third and a fourth young man said, "That's what I want to talk about, also."

I sweetly smiled. (I knew they were looking for a reaction and I was NOT going to give them one.) "That's fine. But remember, you must use a scripture or a quote from a General Authority, share a story or a personal experience, and have a conclusion." They looked slightly chagrined.

Today, two young men (not four) did talk about pornography. They shared either a quote from President Hinckley or read from "For the Strength of Youth." They each shared a personal experience where they were at a friend's house and either saw an inappropriate web site or an inappropriate movie. They each shared a conclusion and one shared his testimony.

Even though they chose this topic as an attention getter, I am proud of them for doing so well! And if reading the counsel from a prophet of God strengthens them or members of the class, I would say that it was a success!

A Tale of Early Morning Seminary

Tuesday night I was in the church kitchen cleaning up after our ward's Young Women Evening in Excellence. It had been a wonderful father-daughter night of "fine dining," dancing, and a very entertaining skit but I was tired and ready to go home.

Suddenly, two young men burst through the kitchen doors. They were probably in search of "free food." They saw me and their eyes lit up.

"We hear you are going to teach our seminary class next week!" one of them said.

"Yes, I am. I get to teach your class four times next week!" I replied.

"Cool! We're so excited!" the other one replied.

I just grinned ear to ear. That made me feel so good! As the "new kid on the block" in this ward, I am trying so hard to get to know the adults and the youth. I'm glad that I've made a favorable impression on at least a couple of kids.

Now, let's back up a few weeks to see how this all started....

Sunday, October 17

We had Daniel, Shauna and their two daughters over for dinner. The phone was ringing off the hook that evening--an unusual occurrence in our home right now. The phone rang again. It was for me. A Brother Dickson from the High Counsel wanted to meet with me that evening. I had just been called to serve as the ward Young Women secretary a week earlier so I wondered what it could be about. Since Daniel is on the High Counsel, I asked him what Brother Dickson's assignment was .

He answered, "There are two Brother Dickson's on the High Counsel. One is over Facilities and one is over Seminary. It's highly unlikely that you are going to be called to work in Facilities."

I was shocked. The school and seminary year had already started. Why would they need a new seminary teacher?

About two hours later, Ron and I sat across the table from Brother Dickson as he called me to serve as an "on-call substitute teacher." I could end up subbing for any of the four classes in our building. Of course I said, "Yes." I was excited, but a little nervous, too. He asked me to call the seminary principal the next day and let her know I accepted.

The following day I called a very nice woman and she told me how grateful she was that I said "yes." Then she asked me to substitute for her on Election Day because she is a poll worker and four more days in November when she and her husband would be going out of town.

She then told me, "I have a very challenging class. But, maybe they'll be OK for you."

Great. She has a challenging class. I don't know many of the youth. How would they treat an unknown person? Now I was really nervous.

I spoke to the Mia Maid Counselor in my ward and asked about the young woman this age.

"Oh," she said. "You have some real challenges in this age group."

Now, I was really scared!

I carefully prepared my lesson, said a lot of prayers, and hoped for the best.

Tuesday, November 2.

I tossed and turned all night--dreading the morning. I woke up at 1:00 am but was finally able to go back to sleep. When I woke up at 2:00 am, I laid awake until it was time to get out of bed at 5:00. My stomach was churning. I really, really wondered how it was going to go.

Before leaving for church, I read a chapter in the Book of Mormon to help put me in the right spirit and said my prayers. Then, it was time to face this "challenging class."

As each student arrived, I greeted them, asked them their name and which high school and ward they attended. We started a little late because of the late drifters. After the devotional, I opened up with a story about Lucy Mack Smith praying with a group of saints that the ice would break so they could travel on a barge down a frozen canal from New York to Ohio. If there is one thing I am good at, it's telling a story. They listened to me.

The rest of the morning flew by. Before I knew it, it was time for the closing prayer. As they filed out they said things like "We learned something today!" "Thanks for being our teacher!"

It was the positive reinforcement I needed.

But the cherry on the top was definitely a week later when two freshman boys told me they were excited about me teaching seminary the following week. I hope I don't let them down! And I am so grateful that prayers were answered and I was given divine help.