First Missionary Lesson!

One of the most profound gifts of Sam learning to spell to communicate was to realize he's "in there" and enroll him in Seminary and have him fully participate in church. A year ago my husband and I discussed baptism for Sam and we didn't come to an agreement. I've been feeling recently like we needed to revisit the topic and as I was speed-reading the Book of Mormon to obey Pres. Nelson's challenge to the women of the church, it hit me SO clearly. In 2 Nephi 31 it talks about why Jesus needed to be baptized, and I thought, if perfect Jesus needed to be baptized, why not practically perfect Sam?! And I remembered that because he is older than eight, this would be a convert baptism that would require missionary discussions. I thought about logistics re: having another male present in the home and it popped into my head to have the 16-year-old priests do it! I texted the missionaries and they said that would be OK and they would do all the scheduling (which was a big load off my shoulders)! And I've asked the church young women if they'd like to join in as well and the missionaries will handle that scheduling, too!

Today was the first lesson. I asked Elder Garner and Elder Molen for some questions ahead of time for Sam so I could prepare them to work on the 3 boards. I also had him spell applicable words to keep his momentum and engagement going. He did great!! I had the missionaries and Quinn sit behind us so they could watch him spell his answers. They did such a great job teaching and it was SO COOL to hear three deep male voices cheering Sam on from behind us as he successfully touched each letter! He had his normal challenges with initiation, looking, and hitting the right letter, but that was even more exciting for the guys as Sam got closer and closer and finally hit the letter! The energy was fantastic!!

Another special thing was that Quinn has been helping Sam with his therapies for several years and has always been a good friend to him, but it had been a while since he had been over and he had never seen Sam spell. He LOVED doing this and helping and he asked to change seats so he could have a better view. :)

I was nervous having Sam spell in front of so many new people but he sat still for most of the time, and was more serene than normal. We sat and listened to the missionaries without spelling for longer than we would during a normal letterboard lesson, but that felt right and it was fine. During one of these longer gaps, Sam actually pointed to the boards that were sitting on the desk, as if to say, "Hey, Mom, let's get spelling!"

No, Sam is not fully open and answered prepared questions with my prepared answers, but this was a huge first step. The number one purpose for having Sam spell during these lessons is for him to get a sense of being included and a full participant, and he was!

The missionaries were so wonderful! These 18-19-year-olds taught Sam gently and confidently. They talked to him like a regular person. They taught him while sitting behind him and watching him spell, a very unusual arrangement, and they didn't miss a beat. They powerfully testified of our Savior.

A note about the set-up of the questions. We know that Sam knows all the right answers but just to make it a little more interesting, I had him choose between two prepared answers that started on the same board. The most important thing about today is that WE DID IT!

Spell:

MISSIONARIES
QUINN
ABRAHAM
GETHSEMANE
BLESS
ATONEMENT

Questions (I'm just going to type out the two choices and Sam's answer will be in caps):

Who is God?

IMMORTAL FATHER AND CREATOR or bodyless being

Why do we need prophets?

LEAD THE CHURCH or notarize documents

What was lost during the Great Apostasy?

Jewelry or PRIESTHOOD AUTHORITY

After much confusion, what did Joseph Smith decide to do?

Run away or PRAY

What did Angel Moroni instruct Joseph Smith to retrieve and translate?

THE BOOK OF MORMON or Webster's dictionary

How does God answer our prayers?

Voicemail or through SPIRIT, SCRIPTURES, OTHER PEOPLE