Nerdlution

Exercise every day. Good goal.

That's all fine and dandy to say when you have a week off of school. So far it hasn't happened.

So, I'm a little leery to join in the nerdlution.
And I'm really eager to join the nerdlution.

What's the nerdlution? I heard about it on Twitter. I read about here and here and here and here and here.

Basically, it's a bunch of people committing to a new habit for 50 days - from today until Jan 20th.

I can't help it. I'm in. There is a long list of things I should do. I'm trying to keep it simple. For the next 50 days I will:

1. Spend time on my SS lesson each day - even if it's just 10 minutes. I will think about it and work on it a little every day.
2. Read for at least 30 minutes a day.
3. Plan something every school day to share my love of books and reading with my class.

I'd like to put exercise in there too....baby steps.

...and I'll blog about it. Here goes!

A New Attitude

I was reading in 1 Nephi today and was struck by the story of Laman and Lemuel and Nephi. It was clear to me that murmuring and grumbling is a way to not hear God's voice. It is interesting that Laman and Lemuel went with Nephi and Sam to get the plates after Lehi asked them to go back to Jerusalem, but all along the way they grumbled and murmured about it.

It made me think of myself. I sometimes spend a lot of energy grumbling about all the things I have to do for other people. I have decided that this year I will stop grumbling and just enjoy it. Driving kids is a great time to visit with them and strengthen our relationship. Waiting for kids is a great time to read or to walk - a person can walk anywhere. I just have to remember to always have the right shoes with me! And serving other people is a great opportunity to feel the spirit and get closer to God - if I'll only not grumble about it.

Laman and Lemuel grumbled. Nephi instead got a fixed determination to accomplish what he'd been asked to do. No wonder he was the stronger one.

And 1 Nephi 4:1 is a great thing to remember. God is mightier than all. If I put him first and make sure I'm reading my scriptures daily I'm sure he will help me make it through the long list of things there are to do each day.

Covenants

Our topic this month in Sunday School is covenants. Today we got into the discussion by first reading Mosiah 18:

 8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
 9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being ^abaptised in the ^bname of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

We talked about our experiences in High River. I told them how what they were doing when they volunteer there is simply keeping the covenants they made when they were baptised.

"Whoa!"

They really got it. My heart was just burning when we were talking about this. I told them so too. It was a beautiful spirit filled moment.

Then we read the Bible Dictionary.

Sometimes denotes an agreement between persons (1 Sam. 23:18) or nations (1 Sam. 11:1); more often between God and man; but in this latter case it is important to notice that the two parties to the agreement do not stand in the relation of independent and equal contractors. God in His good pleasure fixes the terms, which man accepts. The same word is sometimes rendered “testament.”

We discussed pretty much each sentence (What does latter mean? What are some agreements people make together? What kinds of things do nations agree on?) It got interesting when we got to the last sentence. We tried to figure out how covenants is the same as testament. Finally, Tanner came up with something beautiful. He said, "When you testify you are exclaiming something you believe...and when you make a covenant it's like you're acting on or exclaiming about something you believe."

Another: "Whoa!"

I love teaching these kids. They're brilliant!

Stampeding, Working Out, and Wonderful Baptisms

Today was our annual Stampede Breakfast at the church. I volunteered to help and so we were there bright and early. However, they ended up moving it inside because it was raining and cold. As a result, they didn't need quite as many helpers so I ended up just visiting with people. It was a great time!

In the afternoon we headed out to Airdrie. We decided to go work out at the Airdrie Rec Center. Peirce went swimming and the rest of us went to the fitness area. Jill wanted to see how much she could bench press. Looks like she can do just around 100 pounds. She beat me! We did the circuit and then did some cardio. It was totally exhausting. After we filled up at Five Guys.

The real reason for going to Airdrie was to attend a baptism. A boy in our ward, Nick, was baptized. He is such a great kid. He's 14 and was invited by his neighbor, who was also recently baptized. Brandon, my cousin's foster son, was also baptized. The meeting was so emotional for me. I love both those boys and was so proud to see them both finally be baptized. They're wonderful boys!

Good Friends

Today Jill shared an experienced in Sunday School. She said one week she didn't want to go to the youth activity because she was afraid she'd be too tired for her swim meet the next day. Her friend said, "You should go. I'll pray for you to do well at your swim meet."

That meet turned out awesome. She had a 50 fly race that was beautiful.

And as she put it, "All thanks to the prayer of a friend."

I'm sure all her practising had something to do with it too. I was, however, so grateful to hear that story. I'm so grateful she has good friends who encourage her to be where she should be. I'm also grateful she has friends that she talks about prayer with. A real blessing!

Easter Sunday

This month in Sunday School we've been focusing on the Atonement. There were 5 lessons in the outline, and 5 Sundays, but somehow I found that for today I didn't have any lessons left. Apparently I covered more than one of the topics one week (they seemed to nicely overlap).

I decided to bring my Easter Eggs and go through the story of the atonement and resurrection. I was really glad I did. I made this little lesson years ago and used it with my kids or with primary kids - but teenagers don't seem too old for it at all. I think they enjoyed it a lot. Each egg has an object and a scripture to go with it. It was a good way to read the easter story with them. I've really gained a stronger testimony of the atonement and the importance of turning not just our hearts, but also our heartaches, sorrows and needs over to Jesus.

Matthew 11:28

28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

It's been interesting teaching these lessons. In the adult lesson afterwards the Bishop went through the topics the youth have been covering the past few months. Sometimes I feel like I don't put enough work into studying and preparing - but when I listened to his lesson today I realized I have learned quite a lot and have retained a lot of the things I have read in preparation for the lessons I teach each week. I'm really glad to have this calling.

I decided I need to work on ways I can make the lessons more meaningful when working with such a big group. Today I had 16 kids in the class. It's hard to give everyone a chance to participate in that large a group. It's also hard to keep them all on topic. Sometimes teaching them is like herding cats. They get off on tangents all over the place. I'm sure there are some Kagan tricks I could be using to make the lessons better. I need to work on that!

Best Calling Ever

I have the best job in the church. I think it's my favorite one so far. I'm called to teach Sunday School to the 14-17 year old kids. My visions of how I'd like to teach each week are usually grander than reality - but I suppose the idea of these grand lessons keeps me inspired to continue.

The church website has these pictures of kids in Sunday School - they're smiling, their scriptures are open, they're clearly engaged and loving it.

 

 It doesn't look like that in my classroom. They're leaning back on two legs of their chairs, they are looking at their iPods, or their phones (I'm hoping it means they're looking at scriptures they've uploaded to those devices?), sometimes it's way too crowded and it's hot and the kids faces show it. Oh, and sometimes the other teacher doesn't show up, so the kids from the other class come into my class - so it's way too crowded - meaning some kids are squished together, some choose to sit on the floor (lay on the floor in the middle of the room sometimes too), and their are side conversations all over the place.

 

My principal would be horrified. Sometimes I am horrified. I know I could totally make it different. Better. Structured. Extremely purposeful! But then again, I also don't worry about it too much. Somehow I think it all works out.

It's interesting to teach kids this age. I find myself walking a fine line between being totally chill and wanting to make the class structured and productive. I think it's important to be structured and productive, but I worry that if it's too much so they'll get turned off and won't come - so I try to be kind of relaxed while squeezing in some important messages. Not sure if I do it very well at all, but I am grateful for the chance, and hopefully I'll get it right in time, without doing too much damage to their spiritual lives in the meantime. I decided I will try to blog about my lessons each week - and thus, the new tag: Sunday School Lessons. I'm hoping blogging will help me to organize my thoughts some and have better lessons. If nothing else, it'll help me learn!