Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Maiden Voyage

This is my first post on this blog and I hope for there to be one every few days. I'm a 7 year member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a wife and a mother of 2 boys. I teach Gospel Principals in the Central Falls RI ward, and it's been a real learning experience for me.
Our ward is really small but very spiritual. There aren't any classes to prepare us to teach like most other wards have so I had to get set apart and just dive right in. So far, so good I guess cause I haven't been smote by the hand of God so I guess I've been doing okay. Some lessons are of course better and more inspired than others.
This week we talked about obedience which dove tailed nicely into our Relief Society lesson on the Law of Chastity. Lets just say that the discussion got derailed a bit and in the middle there, it got pretty heated. Its the first time in a long time that I've actually felt tension in a meeting and wished that I was somewhere else. There is a sister who I'm pretty sure is an investigator and she comes every now and then. She's really a sweet person who's had some real challenges in her life like the loss of a dear family member and the end of a relationship. Anyway, she doesn't always understand what we're trying to convey in the lessons and often takes offense. I've made it my own mission to break things down in my class in a way that she and a few of our other "greener" investigators and new members can understand. Well, she didn't understand a comment made by another member and got really offended, and said how she disagreed with everything that she said. That didn't go over very well because she basically was talking about the actual law of chastity and the parts of it that our teens don't grasp and it came off like the sister was trying to say in class that she didn't agree with the teaching of the church and it was just really tense for a minute. Thankfully, we had a few sisters that tend toward leadership, who got us back on track. I was, however, inspired to talk to my first born about chastity and what is expected of us, and why it's important both to our salvation but also in the secular world where it can lead to heartache, disease and unwanted pregnancies.
Now, I realize that many of the people who may read this don't know me so I want to take this opportunity to say that I an in no way a saint. My husband and I met when I was 19 years old, and our 1st born is now 10, and I'm 30...so I'm sure that you can do that math. I, as I mentioned earlier, have been a member for 7 years so I wasn't living the principals that I'm now charged with teaching, in my earlier years. But I think it is for this reason that I was asked to take this challenge on. I have a perspective that many of our members don't have as they have been in the church for most of their lives, and I can identify a little more with the new members as I still remember the things of the church that I struggled with, or still do. This doesn't make me better, just more able to communicate with my audience and really, that's what it's all about.
So for now, I'll end by saying that I welcome any and all questions. Please be kind and respect that these are my beliefs (if they don't happen to be shared by you) as I do my best to do the same. Come on back now, ha hear?

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Congrats on your first post on your new blog! May this be the first post of a many wonderful voyages.