Sister Stucki and I taught the 13-14-year-old class a short time ago…Maddy and Tristan and Eliza and Shaun, two Sydnees and Josh and Trevor… I remember we heard a story about a Sunday School teacher that told the students “I love you” each week. Sister Stucki adopted that strategy and our class blossomed.
• Recognizing their interests
• Showing concern for what’s important to them
• And loving each one of them … (how do you spell love? TIME)
A friend of mine explains how he interacts with his students each week. Finds out about their activities. Discusses their interests. Then, when he teaches the lesson, he can make application to his students’ lives and draw conclusions that are significant and relevant to them.
During a severe winter several years ago, President Boyd K. Packer noted that a goodly number of deer had died of starvation while their stomachs were full of hay. In an honest effort to assist, agencies had supplied the superficial when the substantial was what had been needed. Regrettably they had fed the deer, but they had not nourished them.
When I was an impressionable young man in a small community down in Southern Utah our Moab seminary teacher influenced my whole life. Brother Salmon and his wife spoke in our branch some years ago. Her talk was on a matter I have long been concerned about. The problem comes into perspective at a sacrament meeting: Adults as well as children give tender loving praise for bishops, teachers, neighbors, and the prophet. But too few feel and express it for the Savior. We are not achieving our most important goal until we have established in the hearts of our children and the saints, an even greater love for Him. Friends may betray us, spouses may leave us, health may fail, and our possessions burn up.
But Christ, His promises, understanding, and love will never fail us. With some trials and most tragedies, only this can get us through. When we can take a thankless, demanding calling; give up something we wanted greatly, so we can pay our tithing; or help out someone who has badly hurt us ... and say 'I wouldn't do that for anyone, except I'll do it for Christ!' ... then the power for good that he can have in our lives is becoming a reality. He must be the foundation of our lives." 1 Corinthians 2:2,5
• Listen to the Spirit
• Call them by name
• Pray for each one of your students
• Love them and tell them that you love them
• Testify of the Lord’s matchless love for each one
• Feel the Spirit together “that all may be edified” Doctrine & Covenants 88:122
Nephi taught that he knew “that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” Your students need to know that he Lord loves them and that He sees the good in them especially during tough times. Feeling His love encourages us to press forward, reassures us that we are His, and confirms to us that He cherishes us even when we stumble and experience temporary setbacks.
You’re His messenger. You can change their lives—you will change your life—by loving your students and concentrating on their needs. That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ in its pure and undefiled form.
I know that Someone is waiting there for you and for me with arms extended still.
http://broadcast.lds.org/PTH/AuxTrainingVideos/SS_2010_03_00_AnnMadsen_eng.mp4
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