Why I went to bed at 9:30 last night

It's week 3 of my new church assignment. Let me tell you how it's going.

First of all, what IS my assignment? It's called early morning seminary, and here's what that means.

I get up at 5:15am 2-3 times a week (Mike and I switch off days), drive to the church, and teach a group (typically only about 5-8) of teenagers for 50 minutes about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This year we are focusing on the history of our church (D&C).

About 6 weeks ago, when the bishop asked to see me, I knew exactly what it was for. Mike's previous teaching partner was moving away, and they needed someone to take his spot; I was the logical choice. (Mike hadn't warned me that he had actually suggested my name, but I'll leave that story out of this.)

I can't say I was excited at the prospect. I was pregnant, and I would have to lose sleep. I would have to prepare lessons on a very regular basis. Those were the things I was focusing on. But I was told that this calling earns you blessings, and I must admit, that was my main motivation for accepting--feeling the need for some o' those.

Then I started. Our class is a combination of 2 wards (congregations), and almost no one from our ward goes, so I didn't know any of the kids. But right from that first day of teaching, I was reminded of something:

I love teenagers.

I really do. If given a choice (which we rarely are at church), I would choose to work with teenagers every time. My prior calling was with the women in the ward, and while it was fine, it wasn't all that inspiring for me.

I feel inspired by teenagers. I just remember so vividly that time in my life--how seminal it was in determining what kind of person I was going to grow up to be. The hard times, the great times, the way church and the Gospel meant so much to me.

So here's my somewhat surprising verdict:

I love my new church assignment. I LOVE it. It's been a while since I've said that. (Probably since the last time I got to work with teenagers.)

I don't feel more sleep deprived, I get more done on the mornings I teach, I feel invigorated, I'm learning, and I get to work with my husband. What isn't great about all that? All those things I've heard previous teachers say, to which I never gave much credit? THEY ARE ALL TRUE. I suppose if I weren't the kind of person who liked teens, it would be different. (I'm pretty sure I had some teachers who didn't.)

And do they like me? I honestly don't know. But what I DO know is that they know I like THEM. 'Cause kids are smart like that. They can tell. And that's so much more important to me.

I will only have this assignment for a few months before I'll move on to something else (pretty sure having a brand new baby will disqualify me for next year). But for now, I'm absolutely treasuring these mornings I have, being reminded of what I love to do.

And perhaps being re-motivated to figure out a way I can make doing that a bigger part of my life, permanently.