The Calling

So...I really feel like I need to share my story. I am going to start from the beginning of Summer 2008. This is where I feel like everything begins. Don't worry...I'll break it into chunks. The first one I'm naming "The Calling."

I had not been to church in quite some time. I was a full time student at UNM and just wrapped up in school, motherhood, and a contentious marriage. Brian and I were not on the same page in a lot of areas. I felt like I couldn't talk to him at all. My life was school and he constantly said that I talked to him like he was a child...unintentionally, I think, on my part. I think I was so used to working with children on a daily basis--be it my own or in the classes I worked in--that's how I related. I didn't get much adult conversation. Anyway, I felt like I was in a rut and just sort of surviving. We fought all the time and kids were always in a tizzy. Not much peace in my home.

Then, in June, I was called to teach a primary class at church. I was a little confused. Why would they want me to teach primary when I hadn't been to church in probably eight months? Brother Warner, of the Bishopric, asked me during my interview for this calling if I had a testimony. I told him I did, but it was very weak. I remembered a time as a much younger person having a much stronger testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and the church. I knew that church callings were not given by drawing a name from a hat. I knew that the Bishopric had prayed and received the answer that I was to be called. I had also been taught as a young person to never refuse a church calling because it was a calling from God. So, I accepted the calling and began teaching the CTR 6 class at church--coincidentally Brandon's class.

I have said many times that when I am through with college and start teaching, I don't want to teach K-3. So, I get a class of 5 and 6 year old children to teach at church. I thought, this was my lesson to learn from this calling. Maybe 5 and 6 year old children wouldn't be so bad to teach. I was right, they were awesome...but little did I know that my lesson was yet to come.

Brian was irritated that I took the calling. He said it was their way of "sucking me back in." I told him it was my decision and that I wanted to do it. He never said another word about it.