First Day

I was happy to see seven students at seminary today! We have at least one other who will be doing home study. We have a great group of youth in our ward.

Our lesson today focused on our testimonies of Jesus Christ and how important they are.

We learned about rocks. No matter how big they are, their shape, or their size, they are still rocks. One isn't necessarily better than the others. Likewise, our testimonies are still testimonies. No matter how big your testimony is, it's still a testimony and it matters. I demonstrated that one of the small "rocks" was actually a clump of sand. Sometimes our testimonies aren't very strong. They crumble under pressure.

We read Matthew 16:16-19 which talks about how Peter learned that we should build our testimonies on the firm foundation of a testimony of Jesus Christ. We also read Helaman 5:12 which talks about how we will be able to withstand temptations if our testimonies are built on Jesus Christ. Several of our students wanted to sing "The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock" so we did.

Before Friday, I would like the students to find a rock that represents their testimony of Jesus Christ. Hopefully, throughout the school year their testimony will grow and they'll have to replace their rock with a different one.

The next object lesson used three different glasses that represented what happens when people learn about Jesus Christ and their reaction to it. They can be like an aspirin in water and just sit there. This is someone who doesn't do much of anything with what they learn.

Then there's the person who is like an effervescent pain reliever, who really gets excited about the gospel for a while, but mostly fizzles out with maybe just a few bubbles left.

Then there's the person who really reacts to the gospel like baking soda does in vinegar. They get excited about it and overflow with joy and with the desire to share it with others. Which glass are you like?

We finished the class by watching part of the movie "Finding Faith in Christ." The portions we watched talk about how the scriptures testify of Christ and how we can know that He really lives and what He has done for us. He lives and loves us. The entire DVD is wonderful. We will probably watch other portions of it throughout the seminary year.