I completed the article and with a little bit of feeling crackling in my voice, I put down the magazine and looked at my little girl.  She peaked over the top of the laptop monitor at me and said, “I had to do that exact thing this year in middle school.”  I was shocked by both facts that she had to decide whether to sit at the “Popular Table” or not, and that she had been listening.  She then proceded to tell me about her experience of  having to decide whether to sit with the popular girls with bad language and popular clothes, or sit with a group of girls that had her same morals and standards.  She even told me which table was the popular one at her school.  I grinned and felt warm inside knowing that she had made the hard decision and that she knew how to choose good friends.  The story would have been great if it had ended at this point but somehow, it got better.

Out of the next room behind the wall and on the couch came a lower voice that said, “I had to make that decision too”.   It was my 13 year old boy from the living room.  He had been eavesdropping on my reading and wanted to chime in with his version of what had happend to him.  He loves to play sports and all of the popular kids were on his baseball and basketball teams.  He was popular but, year after year these teammates began to change.  Eventually, Andy had to make the decision to leave the “Popular Table” and move to a table with boys with his same standards.

I am so happy to hear that both of my kids have made the hard decision to find friends that have the same standards and values that we have as members of the LDS Church.   It is not an easy choice because the appeal and the pressure from the “Popular Kids” is hard to resist.    I am blessed to have two wonderful kids that have made the tough decisions. These decisions will guide them to a happier and more fulfilling life.

When I was at “The Y“, I worked at the MTC too but I did not have the cushy job of sorting mail for the missionaries. My job was a little more gritty and unpleasant. I worked in the dish room. Yep, I washed the dishes of thousands of missionaries. I would wake up really early in the morning, like 4:30am or something crazy like that and washed dishes. I remember putting in earplugs because of the noise of the dishes clanking together and the noise from the dishwashing machines, drying machines and disposals. I would put on green rubber gloves, a plastic apron and stand by a conveyor belt. I was assigned the job of cleaning off all of the major pieces of food off of each plate, bowl and cup. Then I would stack each piece nicely on another convener belt so that it would go through the washer correctly. On some of the days, I would work at the end of the washing line where I would have to take off the clean and dry dishes and stack them. At that time, I would have to wear cotton gloves because the plates and bowls were so hot coming out of the rapid dryer that they would burn your skin. After a couple of hours of staking hot dishes, the gloves would be soaking wet. Even though it was not fun work, it did help pay my way through my classes. So, if you want to know what missionaries eat, or don’t eat, I could tell you. I must say, I don’t think I have ever put that work experience on my resume.

I tell you this story so that I can tell you this other story. I was walking out of the YMCA last week and a young adult stopped my and called me Brother Carter. He looked at me intently and asked, “do you remember me?”. I looked really hard but could not place the face. He told me that he was in my seminary class in 9th grade. He said he had served a mission for the LDS Church and was now married. Wow, that was cool. I asked him if he remembered anything from his days in my class. He said that he did and mentioned a “magic square” that we used to memorized the Doctrine and Covenants scriptures. It was just nice to know that he remembered me and remembered some of the scriptures we worked on.

We came across a wonderful website that shows all of the different LDS schools that are available. It shows how many students attend the school, the different colleges that are available, tuition costs, admissions standards. It was just great. So, if you have any kids looking at going to college at one of the LDS Colleges, you definitely want to visit this site.  It has information on BYU Provo, BYU Idaho, BYU Hawaii, College Prep, LDS Business College and the Institute of Religion.

http://www.besmart.com/

I thought I would also mention that by doing this little assignment for school, he was able to complete a Duty to God requirement. The requirement is on page 22 of the Teachers DTG program item number 7. It was nice to use one of the School assignments to pass this one off. And, because the website is so cool, it was entertaining.

It always irritates me that more people do not take the time to look nice when they go to the school to meet their student’s teachers. As much as we don’t want to admit it, first impressions do matter. It really amazes me that people will show up to the open house in ripped jeans, tee shirts, and flip flops. My sister told me one time that whenever she goes to the school, for whatever reason, she always dresses up nice. She noticed that, even thought they shouldn’t, teachers and administrators will treat you differently if you show up in sweats vs. showing up in a suit. I don’t doubt it one minute so I have tried to follow this philosophy ever since.

Last year I wrote this blog post about the subject.