Choose the Right
I vividly remember the summer of 1985, I was 10-years old and just finished 5th grade. I had really never been away from home for very long, I had slept over at a friend’s house for a night at a time but never longer than one night.
I don’t know how I got roped into going to “Shadow Mountain”, maybe because my cousin Brian Hughes and his friends were going, but never-the-less I was signed up to go!! Shadow Mountain was suppose to be one of those great times to remember, you play games, swim in the river, stay up late in the bunk-beds, tell jokes, play pranks and just have a great time. Well, I certainly did all those things that week up at Shadow Mountain, and the experience was definitely one to remember. But all I remember was a week of misery, I missed my Mom!!
I remember getting up to Shadow Mountain and meeting all of Brian’s friends, they were all pretty nice but I didn’t feel like I fit in with them. The second night, everyone was getting picked up to go back home for a few hours to play in their baseball games, for some reason arrangements were not made for me to go play in my games. At that time I didn’t really care much for playing in the game, but I knew that if I went then I would be able to see my Mom. Well, the week finally ended!! I spent a large part of my time crying because I was soooo home-sick. I cried so much that I earned the nick-name of “Smiling John”, the leaders made that name up for me to try and get me to be happy. I don’t remember any specifics, but recall some of the boys that week doing things that may have not been quite right (maybe swearing, or talking naughty about girls). I knew that I was not going to take part in those activities, because I knew that my Mom would not be proud of me if I did, there was no way that I wanted to disappoint my Mom!
I believe it was the same summer (maybe the next) that I went to my first over-night basketball camp in Price, Utah at CEU (College of Eastern Utah). I don’t think I cried as much, if I did it was at night when no-one could see me, but I was just as home-sick at that camp (and the next few summer camps as well). Once again, a lot of the guys would talk about girls in-appropriately, swear, steal, gamble a lot with money, and even look at inappropriate things on TV. However, this was never a temptation to me as I knew that my Mom would not want me to do anything wrong.
I read my scriptures, said my prayers every night, went to church, but at this time in my life I probably had a stronger testimony of my earthly parents than I did of my Heavenly Parents. I am so grateful for loving parents that taught me what was right and expected me to do what was right and “return with honor” to their home. As I look back on these experiences I learned the following lessons:
It is ok if you are still trying to develop a testimony at a young age, and if the only thing that compels you to do what is right is because you love your Mom & Dad. The important thing, is that you “choose the right”.
I’ve learned that as parents, sometimes all we can do is teach and then pray with faith that our children “return home with honor”. We don’t know how God will work miracles in our children’s lives. In my case it was through home-sickness.
A story for a different time was in the Summer/Fall of 1993 (8 years later, when I was 18), when I gained a burning testimony of my Heavenly Parents and knew the unconditional love that they had for me. I still loved my Mom & Dad but once I knew of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love for me, I knew that I could accomplish the challenges that were before me (specifically serving of mission). I still do not want to disappoint my Mom and Dad, but I certainly don’t want to disappoint my Heavenly Parents. I pray that, for whatever reason we can find, we will always choose the right!
RJ
I vividly remember the summer of 1985, I was 10-years old and just finished 5th grade. I had really never been away from home for very long, I had slept over at a friend’s house for a night at a time but never longer than one night.
I don’t know how I got roped into going to “Shadow Mountain”, maybe because my cousin Brian Hughes and his friends were going, but never-the-less I was signed up to go!! Shadow Mountain was suppose to be one of those great times to remember, you play games, swim in the river, stay up late in the bunk-beds, tell jokes, play pranks and just have a great time. Well, I certainly did all those things that week up at Shadow Mountain, and the experience was definitely one to remember. But all I remember was a week of misery, I missed my Mom!!
I remember getting up to Shadow Mountain and meeting all of Brian’s friends, they were all pretty nice but I didn’t feel like I fit in with them. The second night, everyone was getting picked up to go back home for a few hours to play in their baseball games, for some reason arrangements were not made for me to go play in my games. At that time I didn’t really care much for playing in the game, but I knew that if I went then I would be able to see my Mom. Well, the week finally ended!! I spent a large part of my time crying because I was soooo home-sick. I cried so much that I earned the nick-name of “Smiling John”, the leaders made that name up for me to try and get me to be happy. I don’t remember any specifics, but recall some of the boys that week doing things that may have not been quite right (maybe swearing, or talking naughty about girls). I knew that I was not going to take part in those activities, because I knew that my Mom would not be proud of me if I did, there was no way that I wanted to disappoint my Mom!
I believe it was the same summer (maybe the next) that I went to my first over-night basketball camp in Price, Utah at CEU (College of Eastern Utah). I don’t think I cried as much, if I did it was at night when no-one could see me, but I was just as home-sick at that camp (and the next few summer camps as well). Once again, a lot of the guys would talk about girls in-appropriately, swear, steal, gamble a lot with money, and even look at inappropriate things on TV. However, this was never a temptation to me as I knew that my Mom would not want me to do anything wrong.
I read my scriptures, said my prayers every night, went to church, but at this time in my life I probably had a stronger testimony of my earthly parents than I did of my Heavenly Parents. I am so grateful for loving parents that taught me what was right and expected me to do what was right and “return with honor” to their home. As I look back on these experiences I learned the following lessons:
It is ok if you are still trying to develop a testimony at a young age, and if the only thing that compels you to do what is right is because you love your Mom & Dad. The important thing, is that you “choose the right”.
I’ve learned that as parents, sometimes all we can do is teach and then pray with faith that our children “return home with honor”. We don’t know how God will work miracles in our children’s lives. In my case it was through home-sickness.
A story for a different time was in the Summer/Fall of 1993 (8 years later, when I was 18), when I gained a burning testimony of my Heavenly Parents and knew the unconditional love that they had for me. I still loved my Mom & Dad but once I knew of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love for me, I knew that I could accomplish the challenges that were before me (specifically serving of mission). I still do not want to disappoint my Mom and Dad, but I certainly don’t want to disappoint my Heavenly Parents. I pray that, for whatever reason we can find, we will always choose the right!
RJ
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