15 Dec 2017
Last
week I completed the Family History Library lessons I’ve been taking. Then,
this week, Debbie Gurtler, who is the employee in the FHL responsible for
missionary training, came by and presented me with my certificate.
Of course, the BIG happening of the week was that we got to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert!! It was fabulous in every way! I would have been heartbroken to have gone home without experiencing that. This year's special guests were Hugh Bonneville, and Broadway singer/actress, Sutton Foster. We loved it!!!
We were so excited to hear about the First Presidency's announcement regarding new ways the Young Men and Young Women will be able to serve in the temple! (And the 11-yr olds prepare for the temple) It's inspired. The Lord is preparing his youth!
In previous letters, I’ve mentioned some of
the missionaries who speak at our Monday Morning Mission-wide Devotionals. Each
speaker is given three minutes to (as some say) “tell their life story.” (An
impossible task, of course.)
A
sister we heard from this week, Sister Judy Ryan, decided to tell us the funny
story of how she happened to join the Church.
She
grew up in California, and when she was 7 years old and in first grade, her
family lived across the street from the school playground. One day, she heard a
bunch of kids cheering on a fifth-grade bully named Norma. Norma would often
clinch her hands into fists, raise them over her head, and charge at smaller
children. That day her victim was Teddy Fisher. Judy LOVED Teddy Fisher. He was
also a first grader and he lived next door to her. When Judy got to the group,
Teddy was dirty, bleeding and crying. Judy said something to the bully and suddenly
all eyes were on her – and Norma was charging at her instead of Teddy!
Sister
Ryan explained, “I stuck out my boney little fist and she ran right into it,
belly first. I must have caught her in the diaphragm, because she went down
like Goliath!”
When
Judy looked up, everyone was gone – even Teddy Fisher. Norma seemed kind of
shaky when she got up, so Judy stayed and walked with her a bit. But, then, she
realized Norma was ringing her family’s doorbell – and there, in no time, was
her mom.
At
this point, Sister Ryan explained that her father was a marine who had been
captured in WWII, was a Japanese prisoner of war for 4 years, and also had
spent two years fighting in Korea. But, despite that, the one everyone feared
most was her mom! Her mom had been a marine drill sergeant and, she thought
discipline should be “immediate, corporal, and memorable.” So, when Norma began
wailing to Judy’s mother about her offense, Judy braced herself for the worst.
But,
looking from this fifth-grader to her first-grader and back, her mother seemed
confused. Her mother told her to go to her room until she could sort things
out.
After four
hours, she was summoned to the living room, and, to her surprise, sitting
there were Teddy Fisher and his mother. Sister Ryan’s mother asked, “Do you
want to go with Teddy Fisher to his church on Wednesday after school?”
Judy
continued, “I had spent four hours imagining all the possible punishments I had
in store for me, but being Teddy Fisher’s church body guard was not on the
list. I couldn’t figure out the catch, so I said ‘yes.’”
She
started walking to Primary every Wednesday with Teddy Fisher, and even though
he moved away not long after this event, she loved Primary so much she went on
her own after that. She said, “I loved my teacher! She was from the
Philippines, and her accent was enchanting. I leaned in to every word.”
Sister
Ryan was baptized just before she turned 10 – and eventually, other family
members joined the Church as well. She and her husband are serving here in
special collections in the Church History Library.
This
was such an original story, I had to share. (I don’t think I’ve ever
known anyone else who ended up joining the church because she had a fight with
a fifth-grade bully!)
Our
daughter, Susy, told us something fun about her 3-year old the other day. She
said if you ask her if she’s on the naughty or the nice list for Christmas, she
yells: “I on the HAPPY list!” :-) May we all be on the happy list this Christmas!
