I can’t
believe it has been three months since I last wrote in this blog… So many
holidays came and went and here we are, mid February! This winter in Minnesota
has been colder than usual (at least it’s been the coldest we have experienced
in the seven years we have lived here!)
...and the weather created some
challenges. But hopefully we are now on the tail end of snow falls and freezing
temperatures. Spring cannot come fast enough for me J
Ben is
still excited to be graduating from high school this spring.
In the same way
that Camie and I went to France for her senior trip, Ben and his dad, Keith,
are going to Florida for his senior trip J He is
looking forward to his time with dad and a chance to visit the “Happiest Place
on Earth”. We have to meet him where he is, developmentally, and this trip
meets his special needs.
During
these past four years in high school Ben has participated in what we call “Daily
Seminary” in our church. It is a chance for our youth to study the scriptures more
deeply than can be done in Sunday School.
Just as Ben’s senior trip is tailored
to him and only him, his daily seminary was also designed specifically for him.
Keith and I were called to be his seminary teachers and we have taught him in
our home. As the school year is coming to a close so very quickly, I wanted to
ponder on the past four years of Ben’s seminary.
Why
did we do it? Was it a good thing? Here are two talks I gave at the end of the
first year and the second year of seminary. You be the judge and decide if you
would do the same for your child.
May
15, 2011
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. My name is
Sophie Kingsbury; of this large group of youth, I only teach Ben, my son, who
has autism. Because neither Ben nor I can get up early in the morning, we joke
that we do “After School Special Daily Seminary.”
Joseph Smith said: “All the minds and spirits ever
sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement”. I have witnessed great
growth in Ben this year. It was my duty and privilege to help him grow and
learn.
D&C 29: 46-47 tells us how little children are
not accountable for their sins and are redeemed from the foundation of the
world. Joseph Fielding Smith explained that through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ, they are saved because they cannot sin, because the power is not given
to Satan to tempt them. He further clarified that “He that hath no
understanding” means individuals much like my son, who do not grasp all the
laws of the Gospel, but who want to do their best nonetheless and serve their
God and Savior in the Kingdom.
Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints considers all deficient children with retarded
capacity to understand, just the same as little children under the age of
accountability. They are redeemed (without baptism) and will go to the kingdom
of God, there, we believe, to have their faculties or other deficiencies
restored according to the Father’s mercy”.
So why does Ben still need daily seminary? Again,
because Joseph said that all spirits on this earth are capable of
enlargement. And another answer is given as we continue reading Doctrine & Covenants
29:48: “…that great things may be required at the hand of their fathers [and
mothers.]”
I had to study massive amounts of scriptures and
Church history and digest the information before I could then decide what would
be important to funnel down to Ben, and adapt to his capabilities.
I had to be creative in my teaching, patient and
understanding. We watched cartoons, drew, colored, read D&C Church history
stories, read & rewrote scripture passages, explained and paraphrased
scripture mastery verses and even memorized 17 of them.
In the end, it isn’t so much what Ben learned that
is important. It is that we indeed did it. We did it together. We’ll always
have that time spent together in our memories, the sacred experiences of the
spirit touching us and bearing testimony and even if Ben remembers nothing
else, that will be worth the 160 days spent doing it.
I know that Joseph Smith was right when he said
that all beings sent to this world are capable of learning. It is well worth
the “great things required at the hands of parents”. I witnessed his progress this
year, watching him do things I never thought he would be able to do, like
memorizing scripture mastery verses and reading so much more fluently directly
from the scriptures, complete with old English forms.
What a testimony to me of the love of our Father in
Heaven; He knows us, each one of us and knows the righteous desires of our
hearts; He will bless us and help us fulfill those desires.
In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
May 27, 2012
Good morning, brothers and sisters. My name is Sophie Kingsbury; my
husband Keith and I teach seminary to Benjamin, our son, who has autism. It is
a special class of one and for me, when I was called a couple years ago, it was
truly a case of leaving the 99 to go after the one, because I really loved
teaching the 12-13 years old in Sunday school.
But it has really
been a wonderful blessing to be a seminary teacher to Ben the past two years. Brother
Henstrom has asked me to discuss the blessings of preparing to teach the
scriptures.
One of the
greatest blessings I can think of is that, as I am a convert to the Church, who
was immediately (and sometimes I think mercilessly) thrown into demanding
callings right away, I didn’t have the time to really study the scriptures in
depth on my own. I got baptized and became Young Women president, then moved to
Utah a year later to attend the University of Utah, (yes BYU would have been better
but it wasn’t to be, that’s not where Keith was attending! J), and put in the
Relief Society presidency, and so on and so forth… So having this opportunity and
necessity to really study is a great blessing.
This year as we
have studied the Old Testament in the best way that we could, I want to
especially thank the Macdonald family for loaning us their Living Scriptures
DVDs. What a marvelous gesture that was from them! Ben was able to really
comprehend the stories being taught and relate to them in a very visual way.
When we prepare to
teach, the Spirit guides us and we are also given revelation for other things
in our lives that we might be worried about.
When Ben and I were studying the story of Hannah this year, it touched me
in a very intimate way. It was right around the time when Camie had applied to
several colleges. My mother heart wanted her to attend BYU so badly, so she could
remain connected to the church better than at any other school. I felt that my
heart would just break if she was denied. I went to the temple and was promised
that whatever I wished would come true. In essence the temple worker gave me,
in our language of today, the same promise given to Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:17.
“Then Eli answered and
said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast
asked of him.”
(Old Testament | 1 Samuel 1:17)
After I studied
Hannah’s story again, it gave me great comfort and peace I knew the Lord knew
my wish and would answer my plea, just as he had answered Hannah’s much more
important quest for a child.
“And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace
in thy sight. So the woman went her way,
and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.”
(Old Testament | 1 Samuel 1:18)
I taught Ben all
this year, but countless times the stories actually taught me, and Ben taught
me as well. Ben’s favorite Old Testament story is the story of Ruth and Naomi.
As it is hard for him to express why he likes something sometimes, I have
pondered why he might like this one best. I think it is because he can feel the
pure and loving spirit that comes from Ruth as she devotes her life to her
mother in law and her God, follows her without qualms or much questioning, with
childlike faith.
“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or
to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
God.”
(Old Testament | Ruth 1:16)
Ben is much like
Ruth, trusting, humble, devoted and faithful.
As I prepared, my life was enriched by the
spirit, by revelation from on high, by Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for
the scriptures and for the seminary program.
I know this church
is true and that God lives, that Christ is our savior and died for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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