Hives

Apparently I have been stressed out.  I say this because I landed myself another case of hives.  Where did they appear this time?  On my neck.  Just the right side.  I can't figure out what I would have touched on just that side of my neck to cause the reaction, but these things aren't meant to be understood.  What was especially entertaining was that the my "boss" was visiting our seminary class.  I say boss, because I don't know what to call him. If you want to get all technical the stake presidency is my boss because it is under their authority that I was called and set apart.  yadda yadda. But, there is someone employed by the church that is the director over -I think abq and RR - that trains us.  Anyway, that person was visiting our class.  Once a month we talk about how to be great teachers so when someone comes to evaluate you - it feels like you are under a microscope- thus a good reason for hives.

My kids don't believe me that I get nervous or that there are things that I either don't want to do or think that I'm not good at.  Every time I confess such feelings and then they witness me in action, they roll their eyes and tell me that I was making up having a problem because you couldn't tell.  Well, this time I had a convenient case of hives.  Were they brought on by news of this visit?  No, I got them 1 or 2 days before I got the phone call......but, it was a nice visual point that I could utilize.

The day before the visit my hives were in full flare up and I was able to tell the class how nervous I was for our visitor and asked them to make our class look good.  Maybe even perhaps shed a tear or two about how much you love your teachers and how they have changed your lives....hahaha  After all, they didn't want my hives spreading, did they?  hahaha

I had warned our visitor that I was planning on showing an 18 minute video about Zion's camp and that it might be more productive for him to visit on another day.  He was undeterred.

The night before this visit to our class, we had a service project that we did together at my house.  We had evaluated our class goals and realized that we had never pulled off a class service project last semester so that was our first priority this semester.  (it was coincidental that our visitor was coming the next morning) The kids threw out some ideas and then we picked from there.   I was really hoping for a food bank type activity because that only would cost me the gas money to get them there, but they had other ideas!

After going over my lesson again I realized that I couldn't use up 18 min of my 30 on a video.  I decided that since I had the kids trapped at my house already, I would just show the video then.  This would enable us to spend time talking about it in the context of the direction my lesson was taking.  I think it's always good to get a visual picture painted for you to help bring all things together.  To help you understand that these events really happened and what they looked like instead of it just being words on paper.

We also put together missionary care packages for each missionary out from our ward.  We have 1 in South Africa and we decided it was too pricey and too risky to send a package to him so we just sent letters instead.  We decided to take the risk and send a package to the Philippines and Guatemala , but we forgot to cover them in Jesus stickers to encourage no riffling through the package before delivery and 1 package was only traveling to CA.   We included some tasty treats and then some practical things like:

Breath mints -you've got to keep your breath minty fresh while out sharing the gospel- we included 2 kinds because people can't hear your message when all they can think about is how bad your breath smells :)

Lotion- you're hands should be nice and smooth for all the handshaking you are doing

Lint roller- you've got to keep yourself presentable when you're representing the Lord....especially after you visit the home of cat or dog lovers

Note book- to write reminders about streets with killer dogs or to remind yourself to bring your lint roller to a particular house of a cat lover

Post it notes- to leave on the door when your appointment forgets you can say "we were here, where were you?"

Band-aids- you will probably incur an injuring when running from the killer dog

Kleenex- gotta have it for those times when you are moved to tears

Wet wipes, you're always on the go and these are great for cleaning off those hands after all the door knocking or service projects....they're even great for cleaning up your shoes

Toothpicks- you're eating delightful meals and then running off to your next appointment....these are to help avoid the embarrassment of food stuck in your teeth when you are smiling big because you're sharing your testimony

hand sanitize- for cleaning those hands after all those handshakes and petting of animals

(Jared spent the activity in the kitchen.  He didn't agree with our service project and the only way to get the dinner was to pay the price of attendance.  After some coercion I did get him to sign the cards for the care packages with "sup, Jared." )

Our class also decided that we should write our testimonies on a copy of the Book of Mormon/ Doctrine and Covenants and deliver it to 2 members of our class that don't attend seminary.  We just had the kids write it down on slips of paper their thoughts on seminary and the scriptures that I then glued into each copy.  

(I utilize the time I spend in my car waiting for Jordyn in band practice wisely.....I glued all the testimonies in the books.  When K and I went to the post office to ship the boxes they rode on my lap.  When we arrived at the post office, the entire system was down nationwide.  Seriously?  Wackadoo.  So we had to go back later and it was "only" 60 bucks to mail 3 packages and 1 letter. Fingers crossed that they actually get them)

The morning after our service party the visitor came to our class.  The kids were adorable.  2 of the students dressed in suits and were saying stuff to make them appear really smart.  It was so adorable I got teary eyed.  The fact that the students loved us so much that they tried really hard to make a good impression was beyond sweet.  I had one of those rare moments where my lesson took a 180 degree turn from where it was intended in the lesson manual, but I felt completely inspired.  

While trying to figure out how I was going to use the 18 min video and then deciding to bale on it because I had something else I wanted to focus on,  it occurred to me that there was an opportunity to show the kids just how cool the Lord is.  To show them how it is that he works.  How he reveals things line upon line.  I decided to do a review of sections 101-104 and then wrap up with 105 (which was my lesson) It's a journey that I highly recommend.  I can give you the quick recap:

101 parable of the watchman on the tower in the vineyard (who's the watchman and who's the vineyard) At the end of the parable they were supposed to gather up some men to avenge the vineyard that had been destroyed.

102 High council to be set up.  Purpose of the high council and disciplinary courts.  They did not currently have a quorum of the 12 apostles, but they needed one.

103 Zion's camp to be formed.  They were told how many they needed and for what purpose (victory and glory)

104 The saints are told about stewardships.  We learned about the word "inasmuch"  what you put in you get out.  We learned about unity through stewardships.  Everyone has a job to do and it's vital.

105  We learn about being agents unto ourselves.  Why did some choose not to join Zion's camp.  What happens when there is disobedience and lack of unity (specifically within the camp)  

There is a quote by Neil A Maxwell about Zion's camp "those who marched in Zion's camp were not exploring the Missouri countryside, but their own possibilities."  

I just love looking at those sections in 1 continuous line.  I love how the Lord first explained the purpose of watchmen.  Then he told us that we needed them.  Then he went about creating the men to fulfill that responsibility.  He did this by teaching them about stewardships and unity.  Then he had them put all that they were learning into practice.  Did they really understand?  Well, some certainly didn't.  Some of those men didn't understand what the Lord meant by avenge or what he was trying to do in His vineyard. Check it out, see what you can see when you read them together looking for the order of teaching things line upon line.  The cool thing is that 9 of the 12 apostles to make up the quorum of the 12 came from Zion's camp and 7 presidents of the 70 came from there....those watchmen the Lord was talking about needing for His vineyard.  

Anyway, it was a really good lesson.....well, my son didn't think so....."what was with the review? Dumb!"  Emma then told me "yeah, you had crazy arms there for a bit too and about whacked me in the head."  Living with 2 of your seminary students can be hard on the self-esteem sometimes :0)  Bottom line.  I survived.  Hives and all.  We got really positive feedback and I will live another day.  

We now need to finish up our service story.....  The exciting part came on Sunday when we tried to deliver the books.  We grabbed the 2 groups immediately following church, loaded up, and headed off to the 2 homes.  One car was going to one house and the other to the other house.  

Everything was going great until the wheel of my car started shaking violently.  I began to worry, but decided to address the problem when it became a problem because I had a car full of kids.  Well.  It became a problem.  I was on a major highway and I needed to turn off into a neighborhood.  I pulled into the middle and that's when I realized we weren't going anywhere......especially with the oncoming traffic coming at us at 60.  When I pulled left to get into the turn lane I realized that my wheel wouldn't turn.  I informed the kids that we had a slight problem to which my front seat passenger said "Yeah, I noticed smoke coming off the car."  Well, thanks for sharing that bit of info with me sooner! haha At that point we all notice the smell of oil burning and I put the hazards on so I could think.  As soon as I pushed the button to warn potential cars behind me, I looked in my rearview mirror to see how many people were going to be mad at me and found only 1 car....which just so happened to be a police officer.  I had 2 big Italian twins in my car who love to joke around and they said "oh my gosh, we totally got pulled over for being Italian."  They are funny boys.  Anyway, what luck.  Another man had seen that we were having difficulty and pulled over and offered his help.  The police officer ended up being a bit of a jerk, but I didn't care. We were enjoying our little trial.  The other man that stopped got in my car so he could muscle the wheel to get the car safely off the highway.  We were also lucky that another member from church drove by, turned around and offered to help.  I had her go pick up a car expert that is also in our ward.  There is a funny story about 1 of the kids that was following us in his own car for this who didn't have his cell phone and got in front of us without knowing where he was going.  He decided to proceed alone and knocked on the wrong door. Realizing that he didn't know where to go or where we were he decided to turn around and try and find us and did.  Luckily that kid takes preparedness seriously.  He has everything you could ever need to fix a car inside his van (he says that he needs it all to help all his friends with their broken down cars).  He just so happened to have steering fluid (who just caries that around?).  He stripped off his white shirt and got under the car to diagnose the problem all while we were waiting for rescue.  My husband soon arrived on the scene in time to meet the car expert and relieve the ym so that he could go and administer the sacrament to someone.  The other car full of kids was called and they came and switched out kids so my car full could go and deliver their book.  My husband and I switched cars so he could go get ours fixed at the car experts house and I took the other car of kids home.  We decided that it ended up being an excellent bonding activity. 

So, to wrap this all up.  I got hives.  Hives remind me of a couple of things.  1 of which is a beehive.  Working together in unity.  That's what my class did.  From helping me have a good lesson so I didn't fail in front of our visitor.  To making the care packages and writing down their testimonies and then delivering them.  When 1 car had trouble and couldn't accomplish the goal, the other one came in and helped.  Hives also makes me think of the itchy skin kind.  You get them because you're body is freaking out about something that it didn't like.  It wants that irritant gone.  You've got to use your agency to follow the will of the Lord in all things or you won't be unified and therefor receive the promised blessings.  Even if you don't understand the reasons yet you have to have faith that He knows what He's doing....especially if it gets really uncomfortable and itchy for a time.....He's getting out those irritants (sins and tendencies toward disobedience) to make you into something great - like a watchman (there are lots of watchmen in the vineyard, not just the ones in the tower).