Rescuing The One

So I have kind of given up posting on my family blog, sorry.  If you really want to know what's going on in the life of the Anderson's just stop by Cake Crumbs and you'll get a shocking eye full.
Since I haven't posted in so long I don't really expect anyone to come and visit me, since I have been really really bad about coming to visit all of you.  Sorry again.  So I've decided that I am going to post something things that really have significant meaning to me on this blog, in hopes that I will one day look back and remember things that I have learned and felt.

On Thursday I had to teach at my first Auxillary Training for Primary.  I was absolutely terrified!  I shook the entire time.  It was a good experience for me, I'm not sure that anyone got anything out of what I said, but that's ok, it was only 5 minutes.

I started out my little talk by having everyone turn to St. Luke chapter 14.  I read the first few verses:

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3 ¶ And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

Then I asked if anyone knew what parable Christ was going to share.  One sister did know and she recounted the parable:

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

What happened when he found the sheep?

5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Did he wrap a rope around the neck of the sheep dragging it home and telling it what a bad sheep it had been?  No, he picked it up, loved it, and carried it home

What happened when he got the sheep home?

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.


7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

He was so happy to have that one little sheep back that he gathered everyone that he cared about and they celebrated the return of that one little lamb.

If you love them today you can teach them tomorrow.


My topic for the training was to touch on "Rescuing The One". This is the church's version of "No Child Left Behind".

President Monson feels a strong need for us to Rescue all those who have been lost from the fold, he wants all of us as Primaries to reach out to all of the children that are in our care and rescue all those that are struggling.

I would like to share the story of my own rescue with you. I went through a very dark time during my teenage years, and unfortunately I quit going to church.

After I was married I tentatively started going back to church here and there with my husband. After we had been married for a short time we were called to be Sunbeam teachers. I doubted whether this was a calling from inspiration or one of desperation. I knew I was unfit to teach the gospel to anyone, especially someone who was just starting out.

And so our first class came, and oh, what a group of Sunbeams we had. When I would teach a lesson half of them wouldn't say a word and the other half wouldn't be quite long enough to hear a word I said. We had one little boy that refused to stay in class without his mom. And when his mom dared to leave he would sit in the corner and cry hysterically. I remember coming home the first few weeks feeling very defeated.

But I kept going. And I kept teaching.

Soon I found that I wanted to go to church, I felt like those kids needed me. So I would go every week. Some weeks went better than others, but I discovered to my amazement that I really loved those kids, they meant so much to me, and as I would prepare my lessons each week I was rediscovering the gospel. I was relearning the fundamentals of the gospel in its simplest form. It didn't take long before I remembered how much I loved the gospel.

If it hadn't been for the need and love from those small children I don't know if I would have ever made it back into the fold.

There is a quote that says "If you love them today you can teach them tomorrow." I know that for me this was very true.

We are having a problem in all of our Primaries. We have kids that are baptized with enthusiasm when they are eight years old, but they have fallen away from the fold before they graduate to priesthood and young women's. We need to go out and "Rescue The One" that has wandered.

How do we do this?

By helping each child feel loved, which means we as presidencies and teachers need to LOVE each of the kids that we have in our primaries.

The second thing that we need to do to help save all members of our fold is by teaching them the gospel principles. Help them to love the gospel. You need to help them gain a testimony of the gospel principles. Without an understanding and love of the gospel they will fall away from the church.

If we do these two things, love them and teach them, then the spirit will be felt. And this more than anything will bind them to the gospel. If they have had that testimony that their Savior and Heavenly Father are real and that they love them they will not fall away from the church.

What we are doing in Primary is the work of salvation. Our goal is to teach children to make covenants with their Heavenly Father.

Love them, teach them, and help them to feel the Holy Ghost. If you do these things we will succeed in helping them to make those sacred covenants.