Blessings Plus...

Thursday evening (October 11th) I taught an Institute class. The Thursday prior (October 4th) I was not there to teach because of a birthday trip with and for Claude. The Thursday prior (September 27th) I ended the class with information about General Conference and encouragement to each student to watch and record a thought that impressed them. We were to share these thoughts this Thursday (October 11th). 

Claude was to spend the week in Lexington at the KLC (Kentucky League of Cities) conference. He is on the board and would have a board meeting the first day prior to the beginning of conference. Thursday was to be a full day for him as they had dinner and awards in the evening. This meant I had a full day to plot for myself. I finished my Institute lesson preparation Wednesday evening. Thursday morning I made a to do list of all the errands I wanted to run in Lexington without my dear hubby. I finally got away from my home at 2:30pm.

My first stop was the Joann's Fabric store to purchase fabric for a new purse and Christmas presents for each of my grandmonsters. Check.

My next stop was Hancock Fabric to see if they had the lace that Joann's didn't carry for a Christmas ornament the Countryside Homemakers are making at my home in November. Check. (NOTE: I was looking for the tiny lace to put on the edge of something and it needed to be an off white color. There was only one, just one, of this tiny lace to be purchased in either fabric store. That used to be a staple.)

My next stop was Krispy Kreme to purchase donuts for the snack for the Institute kids that night. Check. (NOTE: The light was on so the donuts were hot. What's a girl to do. I just ordered two extra for me to eat as I drove to my next stop!)

My next stop was Steak and Shake for my dinner, BLT and cheese fries. I enjoyed eating alone and reading my novel. Check.

My next stop was to be the book store but I was now fully engrossed in my novel and decided to head to the church instead. No check.

I set up my classroom and sat myself down to read my novel till the young adults came for Institute.  I'm reading Exodus again.

The young adults started to arrive at 7pm. We had a devotional and then, as a few others trickled, in I shared an impression I had during the previous week to give them the Apostolic Blessing Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave during his CES Devotional Address the first part of September. The card has the blessing on one side, Elder Holland's testimony on the other and the verse to I"srael, Israel, God is Calling", a hymn he used as the basis for his text. They each eagerly took a card.

Then I asked them to each share the thoughts that impressed them from General Conference. We had a nice little discussion using those thoughts. I shared a few of mine which they had not previously shared. Then I read a quote from Pres. Thomas S. Monson's talk about remembering our blessings. Each student was given a piece of paper and asked to take about three minutes to records just blessings throughout their lives. I was so touched and moved as the next three minutes passed. All 17 heads were down and they were writing the entire three minutes. It was just moving to have silence except for the movement of writing instrument on paper recording blessings. I almost hated calling time to move on with the lesson.

There was such a good spirit in the room by the time we finished that we could have easily called it a great class, said a closing prayer, and left filled for the evening. But we had Luke 10-15 to cover.

We started that discussion with the calling of the Seventy in Luke 10. We read that from the scriptures. I had them share what they learned about the duties of the Seventy from their reading. The cutest was a return missionary who said he noted the part where they were to eat what they were offered. Since many missionaries serve all over the world, food is often different from what they are used to at home. Even serving in a different part of the United States the food can be different. They are taught to be good guests and appreciate whatever is offered to them in the way of food. I shared a silly experience from working with the Young Women in Maryland many years ago. We had an etiquette specialist come speak to the Young Women. Her comment I shall never forget was, "Even a lady can each mouse once if she has too." The young adults all got a chuckle out of that.

Then I shared some background from our day about the seventy. First I shared Claude's experience not long after we were married. He was called as a seventy which functioned at the stake level. He was one of the seven presidents chosen from that stake wide group of seventy. He had responsibility for Leadville, Evergreen and Frisco, Colorado branches of the Church. These seven presidents served as the stake mission presidency and had responsibility for the mission efforts within our stake.

Next I shared Elder Hymas' experiences which I had requested from him. Elder Hymas was our previous stake president. When released he was called as a seventy. Many of the students would know him and my feeling was his remarks would touch them in a personal way. He shared what his responsibilities are, that there are 8 quorums of seventy that serve the entire Church. The first two quorums are considered General Authorities in the Church and have a world-wide responsibility. Quorums 3-8 are not considered General Authorities in the Church and have a specifice area of the world as their responsibility. Elder Hymas has the south-eastern portion of the United States as his responsibility. Elder Hymas shared two things he tells people when asked how he is enjoying his calling as a seventy. The first was his interaction with the Apostles and General Authorities and Auxiliary leaders in the Church. They are wise and kind-hearted. Then he loves his interaction with the people and truly understanding the Church is the same wherever he goes, he is always welcome and the people are all striving to live the same covenants and principles. Then he bore his testimony.

It was a good portion of the lesson.

We next moved to the end of Luke and the parable of the Good Samaritan. We read through the parable. Then I asked the students to share what they learned in this cursory reading. It was all very basic and first glance thoughts. Then we looked for the deeper meaning. I printed the verses and posted them on the chalkboard. As we covered each word or group of words I shared a deeper meaning. After about four words I suggested they now had the hang of where we were going with this train of thought. I would underline a word or group of words and ask them what they now saw and understood and they would express some very profound feelings. Times was moving faster than I had figured so I skipped a few words. Tim raised his hand and noted the words I missed. I chuckled and told him that I deliberately did that due to the time passing so quickly but assured him we would stop and cover what he was feeling. It was just such a good thing to stop and have him share his understanding now of those words. At one point one of the Alyssa expressed her concern that the question didn't seem completely answered that the Savior was answering with the parable. Then Tim gave his impressions and it was just what she needed to hear to understand for herself what was being answered. The Spirit was strong and it was such a good experience.

We continued with a quick review of the parables in Luke 15. Then we had a closing prayer and the donuts were opened as the kids put away the tables and chairs for me.

As I was leaving the building, Alyssa was coming quickly back into the building and she was obviously very happy. She had still been contemplating the parable of the Good Samaritan and her question and answer. She had a 'flash of intellect' as I often call it when some truth is suddenly burned into your heart. She turned her car around and returned to the church to share her insight with Tim.

I left with a very full heart. It was just powerful to listen, share, learn and feel the Spirit with these young people. I left feeling extremely fortunate to have this opportunity to be with them and learn with them. That is a blessing