Last Sunday I was sustained as secretary in the stake YW Presidency. I'm excited to be back in YW! It will be different than being YW President or a counselor in a YW presidency, but I will still get to go to camp and to stake activities and be a part of YW and we have a FANTASTIC presidency, so I'm so happy. Melissa Tye is our stake YW President, Sara Harding is first counselor, Wendy Sweeny is second counselor and now I'm secretary. It will be great. Today I went to West Point Ward since it was their ward conference, and I loved that. Their sacrament meeting and combined YM/YW meeting were excellent and I felt the spirit so strongly! I will also continue teaching Gospel Doctrine in my ward on the first Sunday of each month, so that will be great too. Pretty excited and happy about all of it!
I got a sweet text from my friend La today. She said, "Just wanted to tell you how much I love and appreciate you. Your presence in my life and Addison's is felt. It's a constant thread I can count on. Thank you for being such an amazing friend, and dedicated YW president that the girls knew without a doubt that they were important to you, and loved by you....you've left an impression on our hearts and souls for eternity that we're thankful for. Thank you for being you. I love you." Made my day! It meant so much to me!
Sara and I had an hour long talk after church. There are so many people that want to avoid hard subjects or avoid possibly offending someone that they don't want to teach doctrine. I've seen numerous comments related to this online, and I know of examples in my ward and stake where people wanted to skip lessons or significantly modify lessons because they were afraid that a lesson on chastity or modesty or eternal marriage would be offensive or might make someone uncomfortable. I understand those thoughts...I do. I can see where they are coming from, and I think that in most cases the intent is good. BUT I think we need to be so careful about teaching truth. Our youth need that, and they need it in purity and not diluted. They DO need to know that they will be loved no matter what, and that repentance is possible and that God loves them even when they sin. BUT there are consequences for our choices--for good or ill--and it actually isn't very loving to avoid teaching truth. Because the world is in their faces about things and they are being exposed to lots of lies and distortions and watered down truths. And they are being told that they are enough and that they should "live their truth" and so many other messages. And those messages have consequences. When I look at the world around me, I believe that MANY of the world's problems are a result of our lack (as a society) of being chaste. Nearly every problem in the world would be solved if we truly followed Christ and kept His commandments. It IS the pathway to peace and joy and hope and safety and to all the blessings the Father WANTS to give us but that we have to be willing to receive. I follow Leading Saints and they have been talking a lot lately about teaching doctrine. One more reason to teach doctrine is that ONLY by teaching doctrine will we ever change behavior. If we want to increase motivation or change behavior, teaching doctrine is the way to do it. Elder Packer taught: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior."
At school this year, we have a darling, young sixth grade teacher. She really is cute and you can genuinely tell she enjoys her students and they like her. She talks and laughs with them and cares about them. BUT she also doesn't really enforce rules. (I think she has a lot of potential and I think she will learn and figure things out.) The sixth graders run and shout in the halls. They used to throw food in the cafeteria (though our principal solved that). They are disrespectful. And I often get after them. And they don't like it. I'm not always very popular with them because I try to keep them from acting that way. (Most of the time. Sometimes I do shrug my shoulders and feel like it's a losing battle. But not most of the time.) I care enough about them to do my best to ensure they behave. Same with my students. I genuinely try to have a positive relationship with them, but I also have high expectations and expect them to do their best to behave, work hard, etc. I'm not always the favorite teacher (though I don't think I'm hated either), and most of the time I am okay with that because I'm doing my job in teaching them to work hard, to behave, to make good choices, etc. I love them enough to give consequences if they are not following directions. While I care deeply about them, my relationship with them is not that of a friend, but that of a teacher. So, too, as a YW leader, my role was different than being a peer. I think and hope that my YW knew that I loved them deeply and saw such good in them. But I wasn't afraid to ask them to be respectful or to teach them about hard topics (I taught about chastity at least 4 different times in my 7 years as a YW leader). I wasn't afraid to be their leader or to teach truth even if maybe they didn't love what I had to say. And YET, I feel pretty confident that most if not all knew that my love was sincere and genuine. I think they knew that even if they chose a different path than I would choose for them, I still loved them. But I also think there was little doubt in their mind that I believed what I taught and that I wasn't afraid to teach the gospel. I hope that's true for other youth leaders.
I'm reading President Oaks' biography right now. He's an incredible man. A million times harder worker than I am, and I think I work hard. He is brilliant. Apparently, he has a fabulous sense of humor and loves funny stories and jokes though his family explains that most people don't see that side of him much as he takes his role as an apostle very seriously. As I have been listening, my love and respect for him has grown. I already loved and respected him, but those feelings have multiplied. As I was listening a couple of days ago, I began thinking about how he clearly and directly teaches doctrine and sometimes that upsets people. Often I have heard people criticize him. And I have felt so grateful that he has thick enough skin and a deep enough conviction to teach truth even if that sometimes makes him the target of angry comments or of people misunderstanding his motives or desires. I don't think I am there...but I want to be. Oh how I love the leaders of our church!!
President Carlson in a stake youth council meeting last Sunday briefly mentioned a talk by Elder Andersen on having high expectations and high love and how important and powerful that is. He sent a link but my email is being weird and I can't get it to open correctly. But Sara and I were talking about it today and so I did a little digging and found more information. I want to read more about it but I love this chart that someone created about it. I want miracles! That's my goal for my family and those I love.
Also, it has been a bit of a disheartening week with Russia invading the Ukraine. I'm no expert and don't know everything, but I know that once again people are suffering. That makes me sad. But I realized while talking to Sara and Jackie yesterday that while my heart aches for these people and while they have been in my prayers, I have felt a great deal of hope and peace this week. How can that be? I quickly realized...it's because I am working hard to memorize The Living Christ and I have been thinking about, singing about, and pondering on Christ all day, every day this week. I am peaceful because I know Him and I love Him and there is POWER in speaking of Him, trusting Him and thinking of Him. There is!
