Sophia giving Martin Luther King a kiss
A friend wrote me, “Do you still feel called of God to be there?”
Yes. Oh yes.
Check out the photo of the speaker I’ve posted at my blog entry below entitled “General Conference: The Sequel.” I took the photo while I was watching Conference in Marshallese with the other members of my branch. Even though I couldn’t understand much, I just enjoyed feeling the Spirit. At one point I thought “I should get a picture of this – at least it will show the chapel in Ebeye with the TV in front and a General Authority speaking.” I snapped a photo of someone I didn’t know with a name I couldn’t pronounce – Russell T. Osguthorpe. After I got home, I looked at the photo and thought, “That was dumb. I should have gotten one of President Monson speaking – you know, prophet to the whole world.” But when I was sitting in the chapel, the idea just came into my mind and I took the picture. Whatever.
This week, the magazine came with the conference proceedings. I discovered that Pres. Osguthorpe’s talk was entitled “Teaching Helps Save Lives.” My prompting to take a picture during his talk was as if God wanted to make sure I particularly noted that talk, reminding me why I’m here.
In Osguthorpe’s talk, he quotes President Monson: “The goal of gospel teaching is not to ‘pour information’ into the minds of class members. . . . The aim is to inspire the individual to think about, feel about, and then do something about living gospel principles.” (Ensign, 11/09, 15, italics in the original).
Today I happened upon this scripture: “Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls. Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men, for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.” (Doctrine & Covenants 100:4-8)
Maybe my students will remember the difference between a noun and a pronoun; maybe they’ll remember which personal pronouns go with which gender. Or maybe they’ll remember the feeling they felt when they heard for the first time Dr. Martin Luther King declare:
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together. We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream. [Amos 5:24] And when that happens, all God’s children will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’”
