IT'S ALL WORTH IT

I've had a few experiences over the past couple weeks that have, once again, been humble reminders of the importance of keeping a record of the experiences I am given. Today during stake conference President Wright of the stake presidency and Elder Alan C. Batt of the Seventy were among those who addressed us. The reason I highlight these two is due to their sharing of experiences in their talks. The experiences they related to us were very detailed, and Elder Batt had quite a few stories he told.

I realize that they have lived longer than myself, but I found myself just amazed at the detail they could give and the manner in which they related those details to the lessons they were trying to teach us. Anyways, just listening to them caused me to reflect on the experiences that I have had in the past and the value they have to my present. Looking at the lessons I learned today from the experiences President Wright and Elder Batt shared today is one of many testaments to me of the importance of our past to the way we live right now.

There are a few things that have happened recently that I have failed to record that I would like to take the opportunity to do so now.

One of the most recent, but definitely the most outstanding in my mind, happened just a few days ago on Friday, May 13, 2016. I closed the week with my class at Madison on a great note with my students and had arrived at Rigby to prepare for the same with my two classes there. I walk into my office to find everything where I had left them, except for one small note that I know had not been there the evening before when I left. The note was on a normal lined sheet of paper you would pull out of a spiral notebook, with purple penmanship clearly standing out on the page.

As I picked up the note, I must be honest that I couldn't help but feel a little bit of nausea set in from thinking about all those stupid times I thought note passing was cool in middle school and high school LOL. ANYWAYS.......I opened the note and saw that it was from one of my seminary students in one of my classes! It was signed anonymous, so I don't really know who it was from. I'm pretty sure it was a girl though due to the handwriting being so legible (haha!).

I won't tell you everything the note said because it doesn't really matter. The only thing I wanted to share from the note was that the student was thanking me for helping them come to a greater knowledge that our Father in heaven knows who she is and she knows that she is His daughter.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now listen to what I'm going to say~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I don't share that in hopes that it makes me seem like a better person in ANY way, shape, or form. I DO NOT care about how they perceive me, or how anyone else could perceive me. As I have been teaching, or at least ATTEMPTING to teach, I have come to a greater knowledge of just how important these kids are to our Father in Heaven.

The one person that has taught me the importance of loving these kids the most is my trainer, Matthew Taylor. You can visibly see the love he has for teenagers and teaching them the gospel doctrines and principles that are going to SAVE them. There are so many things that I have learned from that man, but this one has come to the surface more recently.

I will be ETERNALLY thankful to my God, my Father in Heaven, through my Savior, Jesus Christ, that I was blessed with this heavenly note from this divine student, child of God. This has been such a testament to me, the note and the WHOLE trimester, that God knows His children (including ME), He loves them and watches over them, and He is in control of His work. If we wish to be instruments in the hands of God, we need only to allow Him to use us as HE needs us and for His eternal purposes. As we trust in Him "with all [our] heart, and lean not unto [our] own understanding; in all [our] ways acknowledge Him...He shall direct [our] paths." -Proverbs 3:5-6