This week in Come, Follow Me, we are studying a slew of scriptures. The first set is Matthew 10-12. I love verse 19 of Matthew 10: But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
This scripture is following a couple of scriptures where Jesus is telling his disciples exactly what they are going to be up against as he sends them out into the world to deliver his message.
I have had too many moments in my life where the Spirit has told me exactly what to say, and unfortunately I've also had experiences where I haven't been guided by the Spirit....and what a mess it always is.
There is something really beautiful when we turn our words over to the Spirit. I've heard of people who will begin speaking with the Spirit and afterwards can't even remember what they said. For me, it comes more in the preparation than in a spontaneous moment. When I prepare a lesson, or even when I think through what I want to say when I bear my testimony, the Spirit guides me to know what are the important things to say and what I can let go of. Sometimes I don't want to let go of some of my thoughts and feelings, but I've learned that when I force them, I don't feel anything and I know others don't either.
This past week, the Personal Progress leader in our ward asked me to share a story about integrity with the girls as part of one of their value experiences. A story came to mind immediately, and when I told John what I had been asked to do, he thought of the exact same story, so I prayed that it was the best one to share.
As I got up in front of the girls to speak, the idea came to mind that I should draw the story on the board as I went along. Basically, I was creating my own visual aid (or TV screen) so that the 22 girls in attendance would find me more interesting than their phones, or their laptops, or their sketch pads (to be fair, it's only 3 girls who don't actively listen, but I wanted them to listen too!) ;-) I'm not an artist like Glo or Mark, but I think my inability to draw actually endears me a bit more to the girls.
Back when we lived in Germany, I would work out at the base gym pretty much everyday. The facilities were excellent, and since I was dropping the girls off at school on base, it was an easy choice to head over there. Plus, there were daily step aerobics classes that I loved (the quality of which I have not found since).
The aerobics classes would begin at 9:00 a.m., but I dropped the girls off around 7:45, so by the time I got to the gym, I had a good hour to burn. It's crazy for me to think about this now, but I would head into the back room where all of the cardio equipment was and get on a stair stepper (not a popular choice and located in the back row of machines). I would then--get this--read my scriptures while on the stair stepper. I always brought my beat-up set of original large print, brown leather scriptures and spend a good half hour reading.
When I was done reading, but the aerobics class hadn't started yet, I would plug in my headphones and watch one of the eight TVs located at the front of the room. I could choose the channel of the TV (numbered 1-8), turn the channel on my machine, and listen to the show. It was nothing like today's gyms where you have your individual television directly in front of you with a choice of over 30 channels, but for the time, it was pretty technologically advanced!
Most of the shows were boring (and this in comparison to reading scriptures on the stair stepper!)--CNN, BBC, Dr. Phil, and Rachel Ray. And yes, seven of the eight channels were AFN network so they were American shows. But TV #1 was a German music video channel.
Music video channels are risky enough by themselves, but add in the German love-of-pornography element and they are not suitable for any eyes. Not suitable for mine or any other self-respecting woman, not suitable for 18-year-old airmen, and especially not suitable for 15-year-old dependent children of Air Force officers who had access to the gym facilities.
My first thought was, "Look away," but it's pretty difficult to watch Martha Stewart on TV2 and not see the swinging, implanted, naked breasts on TV1. And no doubt, many of the airmen weren't trying to look away. Seeing as the porn magazines were covered with brown paper at the BX, it seemed wrong to me that men could see all the pornography they wanted for free by just hopping on a treadmill.
I tried to talk to one or two workers at the gym, asking them if they would please change the channel on the TV, but they said they couldn't. I even tried the manager of the gym. Nobody would listen and certainly nobody cared.
I told several friends about it all, all of whom belonged to the church, and it got around to the head lawyer on base, Randon Draper (who was also a member of the church). He told me about a town hall meeting with the base commander that was being held the next week. He suggested that I attend and bring this up there.
Now let's think about this, folks. In the seniority ranking on base, being the wife of a medical officer is about as low as it goes. People laugh at the medical officers who are really just medical personnel masquerading as soldiers in uniform. And I was the wife of one. Meanwhile, the Judge Advocate General on base held a heck of a lot of power and yet was unwilling to take on this problem himself.
But you better believe he was willing to give me all kinds of pointers about what I should say. And just minutes before the town hall meeting, he came in and sat down behind me to remind me of my script and to offer "support".
The meeting was held in a large auditorium on base, and there were a lot of people there. Most of the questions and discussion focused around upcoming deployments, and in the typical Air Force fashion, a lot of big words were thrown around without a lot of meaning or transparency behind them.
So I finally stood up. The microphone was passed to me. And I asked Colonel (can't remember his name) if he was aware of the pornography that was being broadcast on one of the televisions at the gym. He tried to brush me off because it was obvious that he had no idea what I was talking about. I explained to him what was being shown, and that I didn't think it was appropriate for teenage dependents to have access to that kind of television. In fact, I thought it was illegal. Thinking quick, he told me that anyone who found something offensive could certainly look away to which I explained that the televisions were all next to each other.
In the end, he cut me off and I was asked to pass the microphone back down the row. I didn't stay for the rest of the meeting but got up and left.
One of our friends, Lyle Swapp, happened to sit in on the big committee meetings that are held with the commander every morning, and the following morning my comment was the first thing discussed although not for the reasons I was hoping for. The people wanted to know who I was and why I would bring up something like that. In other words, instead of focusing on the issue at hand, it was becoming a witch hunt.
I didn't know what the repercussions would be, but as I look back on it now (and as I could share with the young women), in that moment, I literally stood for truth and righteousness. I knew what was right, and I went up against what was wrong.
Two days later, TV1 was turned off.
**cue cheers from the cutie young women to which I took two large curtsy bows**
As I was describing this story to the young women, I was drawing funny things on the board (flags, stair steppers, buildings, me standing, stick figure style). We were laughing, they were listening, and in the end, I believe they understood what exactly integrity can mean.
The Spirit put that story back into my head (I haven't thought about it for years), and the Spirit directed me in how to best tell it. There is power in how we act and what we say when we listen to the Spirit, and when the Spirit is there, the power of the devil is not. Christ knew what he was doing when he told the disciples to "take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak".
And I say THESE THINGS in the name of the Savior as well.
This scripture is following a couple of scriptures where Jesus is telling his disciples exactly what they are going to be up against as he sends them out into the world to deliver his message.
I have had too many moments in my life where the Spirit has told me exactly what to say, and unfortunately I've also had experiences where I haven't been guided by the Spirit....and what a mess it always is.
There is something really beautiful when we turn our words over to the Spirit. I've heard of people who will begin speaking with the Spirit and afterwards can't even remember what they said. For me, it comes more in the preparation than in a spontaneous moment. When I prepare a lesson, or even when I think through what I want to say when I bear my testimony, the Spirit guides me to know what are the important things to say and what I can let go of. Sometimes I don't want to let go of some of my thoughts and feelings, but I've learned that when I force them, I don't feel anything and I know others don't either.
This past week, the Personal Progress leader in our ward asked me to share a story about integrity with the girls as part of one of their value experiences. A story came to mind immediately, and when I told John what I had been asked to do, he thought of the exact same story, so I prayed that it was the best one to share.
As I got up in front of the girls to speak, the idea came to mind that I should draw the story on the board as I went along. Basically, I was creating my own visual aid (or TV screen) so that the 22 girls in attendance would find me more interesting than their phones, or their laptops, or their sketch pads (to be fair, it's only 3 girls who don't actively listen, but I wanted them to listen too!) ;-) I'm not an artist like Glo or Mark, but I think my inability to draw actually endears me a bit more to the girls.
Back when we lived in Germany, I would work out at the base gym pretty much everyday. The facilities were excellent, and since I was dropping the girls off at school on base, it was an easy choice to head over there. Plus, there were daily step aerobics classes that I loved (the quality of which I have not found since).
The aerobics classes would begin at 9:00 a.m., but I dropped the girls off around 7:45, so by the time I got to the gym, I had a good hour to burn. It's crazy for me to think about this now, but I would head into the back room where all of the cardio equipment was and get on a stair stepper (not a popular choice and located in the back row of machines). I would then--get this--read my scriptures while on the stair stepper. I always brought my beat-up set of original large print, brown leather scriptures and spend a good half hour reading.
When I was done reading, but the aerobics class hadn't started yet, I would plug in my headphones and watch one of the eight TVs located at the front of the room. I could choose the channel of the TV (numbered 1-8), turn the channel on my machine, and listen to the show. It was nothing like today's gyms where you have your individual television directly in front of you with a choice of over 30 channels, but for the time, it was pretty technologically advanced!
Most of the shows were boring (and this in comparison to reading scriptures on the stair stepper!)--CNN, BBC, Dr. Phil, and Rachel Ray. And yes, seven of the eight channels were AFN network so they were American shows. But TV #1 was a German music video channel.
Music video channels are risky enough by themselves, but add in the German love-of-pornography element and they are not suitable for any eyes. Not suitable for mine or any other self-respecting woman, not suitable for 18-year-old airmen, and especially not suitable for 15-year-old dependent children of Air Force officers who had access to the gym facilities.
My first thought was, "Look away," but it's pretty difficult to watch Martha Stewart on TV2 and not see the swinging, implanted, naked breasts on TV1. And no doubt, many of the airmen weren't trying to look away. Seeing as the porn magazines were covered with brown paper at the BX, it seemed wrong to me that men could see all the pornography they wanted for free by just hopping on a treadmill.
I tried to talk to one or two workers at the gym, asking them if they would please change the channel on the TV, but they said they couldn't. I even tried the manager of the gym. Nobody would listen and certainly nobody cared.
I told several friends about it all, all of whom belonged to the church, and it got around to the head lawyer on base, Randon Draper (who was also a member of the church). He told me about a town hall meeting with the base commander that was being held the next week. He suggested that I attend and bring this up there.
Now let's think about this, folks. In the seniority ranking on base, being the wife of a medical officer is about as low as it goes. People laugh at the medical officers who are really just medical personnel masquerading as soldiers in uniform. And I was the wife of one. Meanwhile, the Judge Advocate General on base held a heck of a lot of power and yet was unwilling to take on this problem himself.
But you better believe he was willing to give me all kinds of pointers about what I should say. And just minutes before the town hall meeting, he came in and sat down behind me to remind me of my script and to offer "support".
The meeting was held in a large auditorium on base, and there were a lot of people there. Most of the questions and discussion focused around upcoming deployments, and in the typical Air Force fashion, a lot of big words were thrown around without a lot of meaning or transparency behind them.
So I finally stood up. The microphone was passed to me. And I asked Colonel (can't remember his name) if he was aware of the pornography that was being broadcast on one of the televisions at the gym. He tried to brush me off because it was obvious that he had no idea what I was talking about. I explained to him what was being shown, and that I didn't think it was appropriate for teenage dependents to have access to that kind of television. In fact, I thought it was illegal. Thinking quick, he told me that anyone who found something offensive could certainly look away to which I explained that the televisions were all next to each other.
In the end, he cut me off and I was asked to pass the microphone back down the row. I didn't stay for the rest of the meeting but got up and left.
One of our friends, Lyle Swapp, happened to sit in on the big committee meetings that are held with the commander every morning, and the following morning my comment was the first thing discussed although not for the reasons I was hoping for. The people wanted to know who I was and why I would bring up something like that. In other words, instead of focusing on the issue at hand, it was becoming a witch hunt.
I didn't know what the repercussions would be, but as I look back on it now (and as I could share with the young women), in that moment, I literally stood for truth and righteousness. I knew what was right, and I went up against what was wrong.
Two days later, TV1 was turned off.
**cue cheers from the cutie young women to which I took two large curtsy bows**
As I was describing this story to the young women, I was drawing funny things on the board (flags, stair steppers, buildings, me standing, stick figure style). We were laughing, they were listening, and in the end, I believe they understood what exactly integrity can mean.
The Spirit put that story back into my head (I haven't thought about it for years), and the Spirit directed me in how to best tell it. There is power in how we act and what we say when we listen to the Spirit, and when the Spirit is there, the power of the devil is not. Christ knew what he was doing when he told the disciples to "take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak".
And I say THESE THINGS in the name of the Savior as well.
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