Youth

I have really enjoyed working with the youth at church. The girls are fun and they make me laugh so hard. Last night was the first time I felt frustration or helplessness. One young girl came and really didn't want to participate last night. She felt like being disruptive and complaining or arguing with others. I tried to encourage her and let her know why I felt church was important.

For those that are LDS, she didn't want to work on the personal progress book last night. For those who are not LDS, personal progress is a program for young women where they have a booklet that helps them understand gospel principals. The booklet is optional to do, no one has to do it, if they choose not to, they are not shunned or made fun of. Honestly, I don't know how many girls complete it. Anyway, I was trying to talk to them and encourage them to read the scriptures and work on projects that would help them gain insight into the principals of the gospel. For example, I was talking to them about faith last night and one experience that the girls are challenged to do is to pray night and morning for three weeks and then journal about how their faith increased when they took time to pray.

This young lady comes from a divorced family and I think she feels pulled in different directions. I sense insecurity and a questioning of self within her. I understand that at her age she is dealing with some very challenging things. I simply want her to know that I care about her and God cares about her. I want to be able for her to know that I won't care about her any less if she doesn't want to participate in doing personal progress, I simply don't want her to give up on herself. Simply, I want to be a good example for her and let her know that she is a wonderful girl. Yet, I can't have her disrupting the girls that are there to learn and want to work hard. I have been praying for guidance. I know the most important thing is for her to feel my love, but how do I encourage her without being preachy or sounding condescending?

I think this post is more for me today. I think it is more for my head to ponder how to be more like Christ and share my faith and love with those who are assigned to my class.