September 20, 2026
Seminary has actually been pretty great—even with delving into Isaiah. But it’s also been hard.
The students are starting to get tired. Attendance has dropped off a little, and tardies have gone up. The other morning I mentioned to Britney that only 15 of my 20 students were there and that some of them have been coming in late (possibly sitting in their cars in the parking lot??). She said, “The honeymoon is over.”
And I think she’s right. Ha.
I’m feeling it too. Seminary takes HOURS of preparation. On my off week, I study and mark up all four lessons for the following week. A couple of days before each lesson, I go through and adapt the slideshow and figure out what I want to use. Then the day before I teach it, I review everything again, which usually takes another 45 minutes or so. I'm hoping I can adapt quickly and adopt a better plan.
And then there’s the sleep—or lack thereof. I can go to bed at 9:30 and still toss and turn until 3:30 in the morning. THE WORST. Apparently knowing that my alarm is going to go off ridiculously early is not conducive to actually falling asleep.
One thing I’m still trying to figure out is how to add more activity and movement into the lessons. The manual gives a pretty good lesson with scriptures, quotes, videos, questions, etc., but sometimes the activity suggestion is basically, “You might pair up the students and have them read these scriptures together and answer the questions.”
Which is fine. But I keep hearing from previous Seminary teachers that the kids need to DO things and move around, especially that early in the morning. And I know that if I were a student, I’d appreciate doing something besides sitting in a chair and reading scriptures every morning too. So I spend quite a bit of time trying to come up with ways to get them moving, interacting, laughing, or experiencing the principle instead of just talking about it. Sometimes I come up with something great. Other times...not so much.
My dad asks me almost every day how my lesson went. And mostly I've felt they've gone well so I usually answer with something like, “Pretty good,” or “Good enough.”
The other day he teased me, “Ugh! You’re killing me with all of these good lessons!”
But I ended the last lesson with one student pretty frustrated with me (phone issues), so I've been worrying about that.
I’m also trying to remember the little wins—especially on the mornings when I walk away feeling like the lesson as a whole didn’t go quite how I had hoped.
Sometimes the wins are actually pretty significant. One student shared her testimony about repentance and told about a good friend who had made a pretty big mistake but changed course. Another student gave a devotional about the good things he can get from going to church and reading the scriptures even though he isn’t really sure yet how important it all is. He pointed out that reading is good for your mind, so even that alone is a reason to keep reading the scriptures, and going to church and being with people is good for you socially. I appreciated his honesty and vulnerability.
Some other wins: a handful of students staying after class for a few minutes, talking and laughing with each other and with me. An object lesson that was a lot of fun (caramel apple/caramel onion for the win!). Someone making progress on memorizing a Doctrinal Mastery scripture—or two. A student participating who doesn’t normally say much. A moment when they seem genuinely interested in what we’re talking about.
I’m learning that maybe I shouldn’t measure a Seminary morning by whether all 20 kids showed up on time, whether everyone actively participated, or whether I got through everything I had planned. Some mornings are just going to be better than others.
The honeymoon may be over, but I think we’re settling into the real thing now. And despite the early mornings, the HOURS of preparation, the teenagers sitting in their cars instead of coming inside on time, and the nights when my brain refuses to shut off...I think it's good for me. Also, I know it's really important for them to have this time to learn how to study the scriptures, build their testimonies, and know that their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.
A few pictures from this past week:
My father-in-law told me he would spray paint gold rocks, write "Isaiah 1:18" on them and give them to his students. I loved the thought of the students having a concrete reminder about repentance. I reached out to my friend Cindy White, who during Covid, had painted and left and inspirational rock on our doorstep. I was planning on 1. having the students paint some or 2. painting them myself or 3. or painting them with Cindy. Well...she was amazing and painted these rocks for the whole class. It was really sweet seeing them gathered around the table choosing the rock they wanted to take home.
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
This was pretty awesome. I started with an interactive game that got everyone up, moving around, and talking to each other. I was hoping that would get them awake and energized enough that I could convince a couple of them to volunteer for a caramel apple-eating contest. It worked! What they didn’t know was that the “apple” on the left was actually a caramel-covered onion.
The student on the right is my nephew Hudson (and thus why I am posting this picture), and he lucked out with the apple. He also figured out that the other one was an onion and watched in shock and horror as the other student proceeded to take a huge bite. š The other student realized after just one bite that it was, in fact, NOT an apple. He was a super good sport about it!
We then had a lesson/discussion about how the world sometimes tries to make evil things look good and good things look evil. I hope this object lesson sticks with them and reminds them how important it is to stay close to God so they won’t be deceived.
My co-teacher came up on Wednesday and baked 25 waffles while I taught. I brought the toppings: ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, and chocolate sauce. Then we ended class about 15 minutes early so we could all enjoy some food together.
