Second Week of EFY (Blue 3)

Busy counselors taken the the only break they could find

I really only can post once per week with EFY so I hope these limited posts suffice any addiction you may have to my blog :)

Door tags I make for my kids

Well my first week as an EFY counselor was just so dang awesome, I really feared any other week would turn out as good. I got in and met my roommate Sunday before dinner, awesome guy named Kyle. We went to dinner with all the other counselors and found out that the meal we were eating at that very moment at the Cannon Center... would be our last...this week we were in the Morris Center...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

They told us we had a pretty small group coming in so we would be in Heritage, eating at the Morris Center and meeting at the Harmon building. In essence, they ostracized us from seeing any other participant (or counselor for that matter). We met our session directors, Bro and Sis Hess, at the devotional: super sweet couple who liked singing, acting and ballroom dancing....its like I was made for this session :)

The kids playin' that knot game.

Anyway, I get my list of guys that night, 12 boys! Doubled from last week and I was super stoked. Again this week, each boy had come by himself without friends or anything so I new we had a great week to look forward to. Monday at the meeting I was asked to sing the theme song for that evenings devotional so I was really excited again.

Scripture Study

The week went more or less how I expected it to. I had a boy who was a little more talkative than the rest, shy girls, outgoing guys, just a normal mix of everything. It was my co-counselor's first week so I ended up taking over most of the lessons. The big story for the week (that honestly made this week just the bomb diggity) happened Thursday night.

For those of you reading who do not know, EFY is a wonderful opportunity for LDS (and non LDS) kids to get together and have good, clean fun with other kids who have similar standards. MTW are all days full of classes with sick-awesome teachers who really get the kids involved, dances, games, cheer-offs, etc. Thursday we take it to church. Really. Everyone dresses in their Sunday best, we take the fun and cheering down a notch in order to really have an atmosphere of revelation. It is on this day, after getting to know your kids previously, that you really start to see them blossom spiritually.

This week in my lessons I referred to an interview I read, given by one of the apostles, on testimonies. It related testimonies to mountains; how some people have spiritual-volcanic-eruption-experiences which create a mountain of a testimony. I remember being in the MTC when some of the Anziani would confide in me some really amazing spiritual experiences, the likes of which I had never experienced. The apostle went on in the interview to explain that for many others, mountainous testimonies come after sedimentary deposit upon sedimentary deposit of spiritual experiences are recognized over time. I remember while reading this, it spoke to me like scripture. I had experienced small spiritual things over time and after looking around me, I could see how high my mountain had grown.

Needless to say, I kept referring to this principle throughout the week in the various lessons that we give. Thursday, we have the opportunity to go into separate rooms with our companies (or groups of youth) and have a testimony meeting. We were lucky enough to get our own room, just our company - which meant the youth would be more able to bear their testimonies. One by one each of them got up to bear their testimony. They had taken what we had told them to heart and for the most part did not give travel logs, reveal past sins or tell long stories....they just said what they knew, or believed.

I noticed one girl had not born her testimony yet, we had something like 15 min still to use and after waiting for much of that time, I got up and bore my testimony...making slight nods and winks to the girl who had not born her's. She smiled and after my co-counselor got up, she went to bear her testimony. After singing a closing hymn we closed the meeting and walked the kids back to the dorms.

I then noticed, that my Co wasn't with me. I asked the group if they knew where Raquel was. They did not, so we waited as a group singing hymns until she came out of the building with one of the boys. My heart sank. First of all, I hadn't noticed one of my boys was missing and secondly, he hadn't born his testimony. I had the group go forward as I told him how sorry I was, how bad I felt that he hadn't had the opportunity to bear his testimony. He told me it was fine, but tears were still dripping down his face. I asked him if he wanted to bear his testimony that night to the group, he didn't feel like it. Or to the guys (maybe he was just nervous in front of the girls) didn't feel like it. Nor bearing his testimony the next day. We continued to walk back to the dorms and all I could think about is how bad I felt. It just ripped me to pieces.

I watched him the whole way back as he tried to hide his emotions. When we got back to the dorms, I quietly asked him if I could talk with him in my room. After the door was shut, I told him again how sorry I was that I had forgotten him. He said it was fine...and at about this time I realized their was something more.

I asked him what was wrong and as tears came down his face, he told me he didn't know if he had a testimony, he had never born a testimony before and at that moment the best I could think of was to give him a hug. It was one of those older brother hugs that lingered until the sniffling subsided a bit. I asked him if he would join me in a word of prayer and after I wrote a note to my roommate to not come in when he got back, I started to pray with my boy.

It took me a good minute to start....and may I just relate this to you. After my mission, I could count the times I had cried on one hand, remember where I was for every one of them. Now after doing EFY...I'm a freakin blubber butt. So here I was on my knees...I could not even start to pray. My heart was so full for this kid. I asked for a blessing that he might recognize the love God had for him, the Spirit that was there in the room and in the testimony meeting. We shared a good man hug afterwords. He said thanks, and I asked him if he felt like praying. He mumbled out a no, that he wanted to do it privately and to be honest, after we men cry for a substantial period of time, we like to be in private for a bit.

I saw him out of my room and went to my bed to pray again. Oh my freaking heck am I a blubber butt. I cried my freaking head off. It was the closest I had ever felt to the scriptures in the bible referring to the ten virgins. How I pleaded for Him to give some of my testimony to this boy. I had enough and I could just build it back up again...but that's just not how it works. My roommate came home and I asked his help with my situation. He was dealing with a similar thing in his group so we brainstormed for guidance on the devotional we were about to give. The Book of Mormon.

We both ended up using the Mormon Message with Elder Holland and his witness of the Book of Mormon. I went out into the lobby with my 12 boys and popped the computer open. As they watched I continued to plead Heavenly Father for that kid to feel something. The rest of the lesson just witnessed to me how much of a freaking cry baby I am. I couldn't stop thinking about this boy and how much I wanted him to gain a testimony. We read Moroni's promise and as we read it I started to think about my mission and how much I wanted those investigators to get a testimony....it just wasn't a pretty picture.

After struggling through that lesson.....gah.... I went into my room spiritually drained and ready for Friday. I seriously could not get this kid out of my head. I wanted so badly to give him the gift of a testimony, to him and for his parents...

As the day continued on, I decided to write this kid my testimony a little more in depth. I continued to explain some of the things we talked about in devotionals and just...ya know sappy stuff. Well, I could not leave this week without talking to him again. So after everyone said their goodbye's we were back in the dorms, I said the last prayer for the group and off they went to bed/party. I grabbed my boy and brought him in my room so I could give him the letter I had written. I asked him how the week went and after telling me some nice things about being his counselor, etc etc. he said, "Oh I forgot to tell you. After the devotional Thursday night I realized that I did have a testimony. I wast just expecting a volcanic eruption but even without that, I know I have a testimony starting." It was funny because everything he was telling me, I had already written to him in the letter.

So after that really long story I must say. Successful week. The youth are so great. And I didn't even tell you about the kid whose prayers make me feel like I should pray more often - get better at it. Or the kid from St. Louis who bore a bit of a testimony as he shared with the group his "testimony scripture" something I challenge my boys to do. Romans 1:16. He started to get emotional as he briefly mentioned how hard it is to be LDS when your friends are all making fun of you. But that this scripture really helped him. Seriously, I could write something about every one of my boys...but this is long enough.

I love the youth of the church...they are special. Even in the few years that separate us, so much has happened to make their youth a bit more difficult then when I was their age. Nonetheless, the church is true, the book is blue and I love you (my EFY kids).

Sir Charles