Young....Simply Amazing!

The young people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are truly amazing! Here are just a few lessons I've learned from them.

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YOUNG....Simply Amazing!

Ok, so I’m going to be upfront, Doug and I have to speak in church on Sunday, and my week got away from me, so I’m hoping to kill two birds with one stone, so if you’re in our ward, you may want to bypass this episode, as you may hear a lot of the same stuff. 

But I do love the topic we were given to speak on, it’s one I could share my feelings on all day long.  The young people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints hold a very special place in my heart!   
We had the wonderful opportunity to serve with the Young Single Adults in the church in a ward specifically for them.  In one of the YSA wards, the acronym for Young Single Adults. They are the unmarried young men and women from the ages of 18-30.  

I couldn’t have loved that time with them anymore!  We laughed, we cried, we played and played and learned and loved.



So I’d like to share just a few of the many, many things I learned from them.  My goal here is to see if you don’t agree with me in my thoughts that our young are simply amazing. See what I did there?  YSA young single adults…YSA Young are simply amazing, ba ha ha!

The first thing is  the young people of the church seem fiercely independent.  There was quite a stigma, as I’m sure there are in a lot of YSA wards, that most people are there to find their eternal mate, and while I’m sure that is a goal for each of them, and marriage is a priority, we had an amazing Relief Society President, Angela Lewis, that really impressed me, and influenced how many felt about being part of it all.   She stood up in Sacrament meeting during one of our first weeks there and said with confidence, I’m not here to find my future spouse, I’m here to learn the gospel with and from my peers, those that are in the same boat I’m in.  I’m here to fellowship and develop leadership skills and strengthen my testimony.  It was so brave of her, and when she took the lead and stood as an individual, instead of just another single sister looking for a husband, courageously bringing her gifts to the table, she gave others permission to do the same.  Interestingly enough, we had more organic relationships fall into place and more engagements and marriages take place over the past 2 years, than had happened in years.  

Our young people are not afraid to stand alone.  The wives of the Bishopric always tried to sit with those who sat alone, and it didn’t take long to realize that many of them, were just fine, they didn’t need us to feel like active participants.  Many of them didn’t feel lonely or uncertain, or awkward.  Many of them simply came to learn the gospel and partake of the ordinance of the Sacrament independent of their families or their family wards. 

In for the strength of Youth, it says: “God has a great work for you to do. He will bless you in your efforts to accomplish that work.”  I see the young people believing that and carving out their own futures and their own testimonies, in a very personal, independent way.  It’s amazing to me!

 I also learned that it’s ok to ask questions.  I participated in the Pathways program about 5 years ago, and It was amazing!  I can’t recommend it enough, but I’ll never forget one lessons about questions we may have, and why that’s not only ok, but good.  I will be honest, I was kind of uncomfortable.  Somehow in my mind, questions always seemed to indicate a lack of faith on my part.  

Well, with more information readily available at the touch of their fingertips, than our generation still understands, our young people recognize what our leaders are teaching us about asking questions.    Elder Neil L. Anderson in his 2008 General Conference address titled You Know Enough, teaches that faith is a decision, and our faith can be strengthened by asking the right kinds of questions.  

I love what the study manual Teaching in the Saviors Way said; “The Savior asked questions that invited learners to think and feel deeply about the truths He taught.  Our questions can similarly inspire learners to ponder gospel truths and find ways to apply them in their lives.  An inspired question is an invitation to learners to discover gospel truths on their own and to evaluate their understanding of and commitment to those truths. Inspired questions can make learning the gospel a more engaging and personally meaningful experience”.

Our young people are used to asking questions instead of taking things at face value.  Because they’ve grown up being able to get their questions answered in 2.5 seconds, they realize the importance of asking the right questions and turning to the right places for those correct answers. Their courage in finding out for themselves is amazing to me!  

That leads to another thing I learned by watching them…. The Come Follow Me for Youth Program works!! 
I was so richly blessed to be able to work with the Young Women of the Stake for many years, and during that time, they introduced the Come Follow Me program for the youth.  I’ll never forget sitting in a training in Salt Lake City with Sister Elaine Dalton, at the time the Young Women’s General President.  She used the analogy of riding a bike, and she said something like, for those of us who’ve ever taught children to ride a bike, you remember the hours of literally hands on practice.  Can you imagine trying to teach them with your words alone?  How could you ever explain the principle of balance?  “ok so I’m going to teach you the principle of balance… when you go around a corner, you’re going to have to lean a little bit and keep peddling and so forth and so on”.  Simply put, a person can’t learn to ride a bike without getting on the bike.  So it is with our young people, they need to be on the bike.  They need to have personal experiences with less preaching and more individual experiences and opportunities for real conversion. 

Going from Young Women’s to YSA’s gave me the unique vantage point of seeing how when given the opportunities and responsibilities of  leading, these young people were better prepared to lead out in wards and better prepared for their future roles.  It is, as always, truly awesome to me how inspired our leaders are, and how well suited these programs are to our young people. 

I could truly go on and on about the lessons I learned from the Young Single Adults, and the youth, but the last one I’d like to share is from a powerful Relief Society lesson.  We were sitting in a big circle, all able to see the faces of those we’d gathered with.  I can’t even remember the lesson, but it was even before the emotional resilience program was introduced, and it was so powerful to watch what happened as sisters drew courage from one another, and shared. I remember the teacher admitting to struggling with bouts of depression, and as she shared a spiritual experience she had based on counsel from her our Bishop, you could visibly see and feel the evidence of the Spirit in that room.  Tears came and hands shot up as one by one sisters shared experiences of how they turned to their Savior for peace during difficult or anxious times. 

 I saw first-hand how validation can be a powerful tool to opening hearts and allowing others to feel their Savior’s love.  
When those sweet sisters realized that their feelings were shared by others and that they weren’t alone, in their experiences, there was a sweet awareness that God know us and knows what programs and people we need to learn from. 

Our young people need validation.  Doug and I were visiting a member of our Stake Presidency, President Lewis, a few weeks ago, and we were talking about the young people and he said people need to know that the youth, are coming, they’re finding their way, even if it looks a little different that it did when we were their age, and I couldn’t agree more!  They need to know that we see them, we hear them, and we believe in them, exactly where they are.  That doesn’t mean we need to agree with their positions or opinions, but we can love them and teach them to trust that love by our consistent actions.  We can be safe places for them to be themselves and know that like Jesus, we can truly love them while not having to agree with everything they’re doing or saying.  He taught us that lesson perfectly didn’t He?

I look at my own children, and all of them but the youngest are technically millennials, or Gen Y’ers, and they exhibit the same amazing characteristics.  We could all stand to take notes from many of the young people in our lives.  I know they are on the earth at this time, as some of our most valiant spirits to lead and teach us and move this work forward. 

I will forever be grateful for young people I’ve had the opportunity to serve with, and those I’ve grown to know and love, and those who I’ll thank my Heavenly Father daily that I get to call them mine,  and the powerful lessons they continue to teach me. Lessons learned from their simply amazing examples!