From her book ‘Teaching to Build Faith and Faithfulness’, Kathy K. Clayton taught:
Learning with a Community of Learners Provides Reinforcement and Encourages Commitment
. . . . in a final session, the young women analyzed what they had learned as they took a question to the Lord and sought His help in gaining understanding. They discussed the elements of the process that had encouraged their discoveries, as well as what they had learned that would be of lasting value to them. They made pledges to each other to be true to the light they had gained and, hungry to duplicate the delicious process of being edified together, they agreed to seek additional opportunities to study and learn in authentic ways as a group. They agreed that they could duplicate the process alone, but that studying and learning together had been a rich and satisfying experience. They had learned things from each other’s comments that had prompted inspiration of their own. Those eleven young women knew that their questions mattered to their Heavenly Father and that He would enlarge their understanding as they invested honest energy to seek His help.
We leaders also learned some important things about reaching young people today. Our doctrinal belief in the opportunity for ordinary mortals to communicate with Deity resonates with today’s do-it-yourself young people. Old fashioned, canned teaching presentations disregard their hands-on style of learning and their appropriate confidence in their prerogative to seek and receive their own answers to their questions.
Teachers Can Trust Both Learners and the Promises of Heaven
We learned to trust both the young people and the promises of heaven. Our task became that of providing the tools and the environment, and then getting out of the way while the revelation occurred. Young people have questions. Heaven has promised answers. If we have the wisdom and the humility to facilitate those two powerful facts, we will witness miracles.
One of those marvelous young women was asked to speak at her stake conference and share something of her personal effort. Reporting her very active engagement with the process of spiritual learning and becoming, she said: “Individually, I searched for answers. I wrote in my journal, read my scriptures, studied general conference talks and Church pamphlets, and spoke with friends who shared my values. I read and reread my patriarchal blessing, pondering the information I received and, most of all, I prayed. I prayed for guidance that I would look for answers in the right places, I prayed for blessings for myself and for others, and I prayed for the Spirit to direct me and reveal truth to me. Whenever I prayed, the moment I got on my knees, I felt the Spirit penetrate my heart and tell me I was on the right track and to keep going.”
She continued, “I found myself with a hunger for spiritual growth and assurance. I desired so sincerely to do the right thing and I tried my very best. I learned much about modesty, but the striking part of this to me is the knowledge that I can and do receive personal revelation. I feel empowered because I know that my Heavenly Father listens to me and cares about what I care about. I have a greater love for the principle of prayer and a stronger testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith now that I have asked and received revelation through prayer as he did.”
That impressive young woman and her seeking ward friends had learned correct principles, had applied them in a personal way, and had become better able to govern themselves. ~ Kathy K. Clayton, Teaching to Build Faith and Faithfulness, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012) p. 131-32
