Best quote from my class this sunday

I have a brother and sister in my class...

Me to sister: How can we show our love for other people?
Sister: By sharing our toys?
Me: that's perfect, we can, and who can we share our toys with?
Brother: Me!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Equal and Hand in Hand

As I am in Primary now I don't go to Gospel Principals with my Husband, today on our way home he was telling me about a situation that came up in class that really annoyed him.

The situation was that they were discussing the different roles of men and women, there was an investigator in the class and he said something along the lines of "So men are better than women because they have a higher power."
Now this is not true and the Missionaries (who teach the class) tried to explain that men and women are equal and just have different roles, having the Priesthood does not outweigh the importance of rearing children etc, they tried to explain that both sexes are created equal.
At this point I'm not saying anything and just letting my Husband relay what happened to me, but I am pretty backed up because I am a firm believer in the two genders working together, not one above the other.
C continued the story, saying that the investigator, even after the Missionaries tried to explain goes "Yeah, but in the end men have more power than women."

This is one of the reasons why I love my Husband, it really annoyed him that this investigator couldn't let go of the "Men v Women" battle. C sees it as a partnership, not a fight. And the fact that he was offended by the remarks made in class shows me that he has a great amount of respect for our marriage.
I am so grateful that I have found myself an eternal partner that is not discriminate to me. Sure he may joke about it, but he never means it to offend.
He cooks, he cleans, he does his own washing sometimes when I'm too lazy, he does grocery shopping, he is really a wonderful man.

And I am so grateful that we have each other.

Control Freak Mother

Yep... I came to a sad realization this week that if I don't do something soon to change that, THAT is who i am going to be.

I was writing the email to the Primary Presidency saying that I will be away this week because I am visiting Family in Tassie. And as I was writing this email I saw just how much of a "routine" I had got my class, or myself, into.

I was writing about who can sit next to each other and who can't and why. Writing about their folders and to ask the kids what they want in them. I was writing about when they can and can't get drinks and go to the bathroom, which tables to use, and so on...

When I read it back I saw what I dreaded... The controlling-over-bearing mother.

I have grown to really care for my class and I've worked hard with them to get to where we are now, and I am so scared that one week of change will result in my kids going back to square one.

Fingers crossed the presidency agree with who I would like to teach my class, because I know that the class get off easier with me so when I come back they'll love me! haha...But we'll see what happens...

I just need to work on letting go, and releasing control...

Back to Nature

Here's a thought for you...
Why did God create trees but not houses?

Ok, other than the obvious "for us to learn, grow, develop etc" answer...

I was taken camping last night by my wonderful husband, he loves getting outdoors and all that rough n tumble stuff, with the spiders and the bugs and the dirt and the growing things...
But I was really surprised how just being outside in the middle of nowhere made me feel!

I felt at peace, I felt calm, I felt clear minded. It was awesome. I didn't have any concerns or worries whilst we were out there, I was just happy. Just us.

I believe that God wants us to get out there into nature to feel that peace and clarity. There is nothing out there to distract you, it's just beautiful to sit there and reflect. You instantly feel closer to Him. He wants places like that to be here for us, so we can get closer to him. That's what I believe anyway. I felt it strongly last night and especially this morning.

Our short little trip out there actually energized me too. When we came home I felt productive. I had the energy to tackle things I've been avoiding, I wanted to clean our house, I wanted to get that open, calm feeling from the bush in my home...
I know this probably sounds like crazy ramblings, but I just felt Heavenly Father touch my life this past 24 hours like he never has before, and I may not be able to put it into words properly, but I ma grateful it's there.

they say all good things come to an end

This is what they say, but does that make it true?

We sadly bid one of the best missionaries we have ever met a sad farewell yesterday.
He is amazing!
He has endured C's many questions and had the strength of spirit to discern the best answers. He's been able to connect with C on a personal level, he's understood and experienced all C has had concerns about or felt. He was without doubt sent to our ward at this time for my Husband. I know that sounds selfish, I know Elder Ulmer was not sent here only for C but I know C was in our Father's plan for Elder Ulmer. The journey he has guided C on is amazing. I don't know if I would ever be able to thank him enough for the wonders he has done to our family.
His companion, Elder Choi, is just as strong and just as understanding aswell, he has the humor of a hyena! HILARIOUS! And he is still in our ward (I think C would have cried if he lost both his missionaries.)! So we still get the blessings of his spirit.

So is this then end?

I think not! We will still remain friends with our Elders, and now we have a new friend. Elder Monson.  We met him tonight and he seems very knowledgeable too. He is more seasoned, i guess you could say, since he's been out longer than the other 2, and he is very nice, polite and friendly. He seems more "nerdy" which is great for me, as I had NO idea what was being talked about half the time when the other boys got talking.
So this is not coming to an end, it's just continuing at a different pace.

Same race, different car...

It's A Lifestyle, Not A Trend

Because I am throwing myself back into the Gospel I have recently discovered a new point of view on the Church.
It's something I have always heard and said and kind of understood but now I really understand!

I've talked before about my Brother and FSIL and how they are coming back/investigating the church, as well as my husband (And I am extremely grateful for that!) but over the past month or so I am seriously starting to see why living the Gospel and not just skimming the Gospel is really how it works.

For example, my husband who is really putting in the effort these past couple of weeks, has been finding it difficult to find the motivation to go to classes (after Sacrament) because he doesn't know people. Now I know a way to overcome that is to meet people, but C isn't the most outgoing of people. That's actually one of the reasons I love him so much, I get to do all the talking :)
So every week he asks his best friend, being my brother, if he's coming to church. And each week my brother says yes (except for when he is in Sydney). And then each sunday my husband gets a call or a message with a reason as to why they (my brother and FSIL) are not coming. It cuts C up every time.

But more recently it have been more annoying, than hurtful, to him. Which I found interesting. C is more annoyed now about it because he hears all this talk about re-activation and the Priesthood, and doing all these things but when it comes down to it, C is by himself. And that is hard. It's hard to go and do something when the whole time you've been buddying up with someone else to do it as a team. It's one of the reason C started to fall away in the first place, because he saw all these people say all the perfect things but never saw thier actions support it.

This "team effort" thing has really frustrated me though because I don't want C to get his testimony from someone else, there is no substance with that, you need to have your own testimony. You need to make decisions by yourself and act on your own sometimes, not hold hands with someone else (unless its your wife and kids, that's ok.). But these past couple of weeks I have seen that C is building a testimony of his own because my brother isn't coming. Because he is forced to do things on his own, he is having the experience, the feeling, the learning on his own. I was expecting to hear "I don't wanna go now" after we found out it was just us today (we also got a message from my SIL saying thier son (our nephew) had the flu so wouldn't be there today.) but instead I just heard a bit of frustration then he started getting ready. No prompting from me.

That showed me that I need to have more faith in his faith. More trust in his desires. He showed me today that he does have a testimony, and he is working on it, and he is hurt that he isn't doing it with who he had planned to do it with, but he's still doing it. I love him, and I love that he is coming to church and making an effort. He even helps me with preparing my Primary lessons. He is a wonderful man and I am grateful for him in my life. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he could be an immovable pillar of Faith and Righteous Example. I can see it in him, It's like we just need to break the glass to release it, it's so close.

But back to my original point, this Gospel requires us to not just talk the talk but also walk the walk. It's all well and good to be full steam ahead with your progress but if you don't build and work on your testimony, your own personal testimony, that drive and passion will just wilt and fall away untill it's gone. This Gospel is true, and that's why it is important that we treat it as a lifestyle, not this month's latest thing.

One month won't get you Eternal Life.

Overwhelmed

Recently I have been overwhelmed with gratitude for my class.
I teach in Primary and I have been praying hard that it goes ok. I have a young class and both my husband and I believe that the first 5 years of a child's life are THE most important, so that being the age of my class, I'm feeling a little bit of pressure. (Note: This pressure is self inflicted, not one person at church has ever made me feel like I need to do better, they have all been wonderful about my new calling.)
So I want to share with you the journey I've gone on with one of my kids, and why I am so grateful for my class and most importantly, the power of prayer and how my prayers (and a lot of other people I am sure) are answered.

I have a young boy in my class and his father came in to let me know that if he was disruptive or being naughty that I could always bring him out to his dad. This boy's father was really nice about it and went on to say how other teacher's have had problems with him before and how some people don't know how to handle him and that it's ok if I need to take him out of class for a little bit. This family I have a lot of admiration for as they deal with alot! And they are always so happy, caring and loving, not only can you see it, but you can feel it too.
I personally hadn't had issues (mind you it had been one week at this point) with this child and he reminded me alot of my little brother too.
Anyways a couple of weeks went by and I still had no big issues, infact I find this kid HILARIOUS! He is an absulote hoot. He says the funniest things, like one class I asked "What do Missioanries do?" his reply, "Missioanries don't show thier private parts. And missioanries don't look at rude pictures either." He being completely serious about it and it was so hard not to laught at how cute he was! He was 100% correct and even better was the lesson was on us preparing to be missionaries now, and it is a good lesson to learn to not look at rude pictures and exposing yourself, so he wasn't wrong. But it occured to me then that other people (I can think of 3 already) would have been horrified at his response and maybe not reacted how he would expect. (does that make sense?) So it became a bit clearer to me why his father had come in and talked to me about him. It came down to perception.

As the weeks went by this kid had his good days and his bad days, he always wanted to be first, but never threw a tantrum when he wasn't. He always wanted to speak, but mainly it was to understand or clarify in his own way. For example, he would start to tell you a story about his family which would seem completely unrelated but at the end there would be a question like "is that [insert name] being a missioanry?".All these little things started to appear in my mind as to why other teachers maybe found him a bit more difficult or challenging. I'm not going to sugar coat it, sometimes this kid can be disruptive (as can all kids in the class), sometimes he says things diliberately because he knows it's the wrong thing to say, but I firmly believe that if prayers weren't being said, I wouldn't be abel to see past that and that he is actually a really smart kid and is getting what we are talking about, if he's saying the wrong answer on purpose than he does know the right answer (confusing much?). He just has so much energy and excitment his little body is too small for it.
It kinda makes me feel bad for my little brother (the one this kid reminds me of) because I perceived him to just be annoying or naughty, or distracted or whatever, when he usually just wanted to help, or just to know things, to learn, he always wanted to know things (a little sponge he is/was), and looking back, if I had prayed for understanding with him, would things be different now?

One week his family pulled into the car park about the same time we did and I had cupcakes for the class, as I was getting out of the car all you could hear was "HELLO TEACHER" and this kid hanging out the back of the car waving at me. It was adorable. I asked him to help me carry the cupcakes inside and he was so excited that he knew first that we were getting cupcakes. His dad and I talked the following week and his dad told me how much his son was liking my class. (I WAS SO EXCITED!)

Over the weeks I've been touching base with his parents to let them know that he really is doing well in class and that he is well-behaved and trying to focus. If they could take the time out to talk to me about him I can take the time to talk to them. I think they appreciate it...

So today, in class, everyone was a bit hyper and not paying attention so we cut the lesson short. But as the other kids were mucking around, this kid started to ask me questions about the story we had read. And he was relating it back to the story we read last week! HE GOT IT! This kid totally understands! I was so proud of him. So as my husband and I were leaving I saw his mum in one the rooms we walked past. I stopped and called her over and told her how awesome her son is. I told her about his questions and his behaviour and how when he was away two weeks ago I truly missed him. And she told me that he loves me as his teacher and that she thought I was doing a great job at it.

Those two little comments just filled me with relief, with excitement, with happiness, with gratefulness and peace.

Without prayer, I wouldn't be able to see all the good in this kid, I wouldn't have patience, I wouldn't have understanding, I wouldn't be capable of teaching these kids. I'm being completely serious when I say this, My prayers are being answered. Simple prayers for help are working. All these things, Patience, Understanding, Love, Knowledge, Compassion, they are all things that don't come easily to me and with my class they do. These kids are teaching me all these things. They are teaching me to be a better teacher, a better mother (one day), a better friend, a better member of the Church. I am grateful for them and thier little minds, thier little attitudes and personalities. Little people with big personality. I don't really know how to express my gratitude for the answers to my prayers and also the prayers of others. They are felt and they are important, no matter how small. So thankyou, it is overwhelming the support I have received.

In closing on this post... I LOVE THIS KID SO MUCH!

He makes my week :)