Today was my last day teaching seminary for this school year!! YEA!!! I am not afraid to admit
that I am proud of myself. It was difficult to get up so early every
morning. I told Tyler that I can now sleep in and get up at 6:30. Crazy
how my definition of sleeping in has changed! Anyway I thought I would
list all the things I have learned teaching seminary this year.
1.
How to wake up to an
alarm.
Really I could never wake up to an alarm clock
before. Even the first few months Tyler would turn off the alarm and wake me up. It's funny how I could wake up in an instant to crying down the hall but not an alarm blasting in my room.
2.
That Esther is my favorite story
in the Old Testament. I actually don't ever think I really
new the whole story of Esther before this year. I just love her courage
and her willingness to sacrifice so much, ever her life, to save the
lives of others. By the way the movie 'One night withe the King' is the
story of Ester and does a great job of telling the story of Esther.
3.
How to Study the
Scriptures. I don't think I have ever been very good at
studying the scriptures, not just reading them which I wasn't very good
at either. But I really think having amanual with me has helped me so
much to pull life lessons out of the scriptures and helped me
understand things I don't think I could have on my own. I love the
institutemanual for the Old Testament and I think the institute manuals for any book of scripture would be great to have while reading.
4.
The reality of the
Adversary.
This may seem strange, but I really have feltalot of inner opposition
this past year. I did not understand my struggles until just recently.
I recognized that Satan was working hard to pull me down. I have never
been so involved in studying the gospel and I have felt an obvious
increase in opposition. I do notbelieve this to be coincidence. I
consider it to be very important to recognize the source, Satan is the
father of lies he does not want us to succeed. So with that I know I
can have a new determination to conquer and overcome. That is the
beauty of the gospel and the importance of the Atonement of our beloved
Savior.
5.
The Message of the gospel.
Over this year in seminary we kept referring back to the plan of salvation and
to the Scripture Master Moses 1:39," For behold, this is my work and my
glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The
Lord's work and glory is bring us all to eternal life. What a beautiful
message and knowledge we have! What is so wonderful and amazing about
the gospel is that there is not one 1st place, in fact if we want 1st
place (celestial kingdom), we must help our Father in Heaven in his
work,which in essence means to help those around reach that same goal.
Isn't that wonderful! We don't want to be better than the next person,
we just want to help each other to all be the best. I love that! I get
excited just thinking about it!!
I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had,although I do not wish another year of teaching upon myself.j/k! My testimony has been strengthened, my love for the gospel and my savior has increased.
