Teenagers?

Let me take a moment to describe to you how leadership positions are filled within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We believe in modern-day revelation.  With this belief comes the belief that God calls people to positions where they are needed.  He also calls them to positions where they will be able to learn something and grow.  These callings or revelations often come through the leader of the congregation, or the Bishop.
For just under a year, I have been serving in what we call the primary.  This is where the children under the age of 12 go to have a class with singing, then we break into smaller classes to have a lesson.  I was with with kids who were 5 at the beginning of this year and will be 6 by the end of the year.  That is my favorite age group.  I just love all their personalities and how much willing they are to learn.  I could not have been happier.
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to meet with one of the men who asks people if they will accept callings.  This isn't his only responsibility though, so I thought nothing of it.  I went in and met with him and he asked me if I would be willing to accept a calling that would remove me from my position with my little 5 and 6 year-old buddies and put me with the 12 and 13 year-old girls.
Yeah, but that's not all.
This calling would require me to not only be with them on Sundays, but to also take one evening per week, every week, to spend time with these girls.
Hi, my name is Brigette and I student-teach Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 7:45 to at least 3:30.  On Tuesdays I am in classes from 8:20-4:30.  I have homework coming out of my ears, and I have a job.  How could I responsibly add another commitment to that?
Well, I prayed about it and I really felt like I needed to accept the calling.  I felt like God really needs me to be with those girls.  Whether it is to help them with something I can offer, or to help me through something they can teach me, I have no idea, but I can officially say that I am terrified, but I know what I need to be doing.  Starting in one week, I will be spending a significant amount of time with a bunch of 12 and 13 year-old girls I have never met before.

Making Time

Have you ever noticed that throughout your life there are some things that you are good at one year then terrible at the next? Well, when I was growing up, I was great at saying my prayers before I went to bed, but I never said them in the morning and I consistently struggled with daily scripture study.

A year ago, I had it all down. I never left my house without saying a prayer. I never went to bed without reading scriptures or some modern-day revelations, and I always said prayers before bed.

Now, I read my scriptures every day, but prayer is harder for me to feel motivated to do. I wonder if it is in part because I know that prayer should be a powerful thing, so I don't want to skim over it, but I am always under such a time crunch (yes, even when I'm going to bed) that I don't want to devote 15-30 minutes to anything that isn't on my to-do list for school. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds. My Father in Heaven has given me everything, yet I can't give Him an honest quarter of an hour? I can't stand that I feel that way, but I do. I feel so rushed to get to my student teaching, then to work, then do homework, then clean my house, then finally collapse into my bed, and repeat it all the next day.

I think I'm going to make an official schedule of things I need to do before going to bed. I'll let you know how that works out, I guess.

Here We Go, Again

I have decided that, for my own sanity, I need to have a place to just write and vent and be me.  This will be that place.  Maybe.  The plan is to write about once a week, but we will see how much time homework allows me to have for myself, especially since I also plan on using daily exercise as a way to release stress and have some "me time."

If you are a person who gets emails about what I blog, please let me know and I will see if I can find where to change that setting, but I haven't been here for several years so it might take some time and random clicking.

Also, I have apparently decided that I will be using APA formatting on the blog from here on out, which means I don't have to indent (if blogs are formatted the same way as discussion boards, that is; if they aren't, then I'm just not indenting for the sake of not indenting).

I now have to go get ready for school tomorrow.  Here goes week six of student teaching.