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Remember back in July when the session of FSY that Malia attended was the one session that was lucky enough to get a live concert? And remember that the concert was recorded to be broadcast worldwide in August? Well, tonight was the night in our neck of the woods! The broadcast was available to watch a week ago and Malia streamed it almost as soon as it was live, but this evening youth from multiple stakes in our area gathered at a nearby city park to watch the concert. In addition to the recording, several of the artists who participated were on hand for live performances. One of them was a singer that Malia met at the FSY concert and she made her way over to meet him again this evening. And was super excited about it!

The two performers who were on hand for live performances sang two of Malia’s favorite church youth music songs as well as a simple vocal and guitar rendition of “Be Still, My Soul” that Malia loved. That is one of my favorite hymns, and I’m so glad she has discovered the power of the message it conveys. The audience was invited to sing along for “A Child’s Prayer” and Malia loved that as well. Basically, the entire event was fantastic! She was texting me in all caps about the highlights as they happened, which I pretty much love.

The ward youth leaders organized carpools over to the park and told the parents they would drop their girls off at home around 9 o’clock. When it came time to leave, the concert was not quite over yet and Malia didn’t want to leave early. So, she texted Kevin and with some coordination confirming parental permission and the understanding that we would need to pick Malia up, she and Morgan (one of her good friends) stayed after the rest of our ward left and enjoyed the rest of the concert.

While I was never a fan of pop style church music as a youth, it speaks to Malia, and I think that is wonderful. Anything that helps strengthen her, teaches her gospel principles, and invites the Spirit into her life is ok by me. And if it is something that she can get excited about, that’s even better!

For the Strength of Malia

Malia has spent the past week at her first ever FSY session. She arrived home this morning, exhausted but exhilarated by her experience. Other than the heat triggered migraine she had on Monday, she had an amazing week and came away having gleaned several truths that were exactly what she needed to learn. It’s one of those times when she was in just the right session with just the right teachers and leaders to learn exactly what the Lord wanted her to know. Seriously, no mistakes were made when she was assigned to that session. And when she shared her two big takeaways, my heart was filled with gratitude for the tender mercies that gave her exactly what she needed to deal with some of the difficult things in her life.

She did start off the week with a bit of exasperation though, for her at least. She roomed with Ellie, a friend from school that she considers one of her best friends. One of the interesting things about Malia and Ellie is the fact that they look very much alike. Ellie’s hair is red instead of Malia’s brown, but the resemblance is such that they get asked all the time if they are sisters. They even have teachers at school who mix them up. A few weeks ago, Malia got one of Ellie’s graded papers passed back to her even though they are in different class periods with the same teacher. Last week a classmate from school/church saw Ellie in mountain bike gear from afar and the next time he saw Malia at church he asked if she was a mountain biker. And things like that have been happening all year. The girls are not amused by the whole situation but the rest of us think it’s hilarious. We have told Malia just to milk it. Anyway, when she arrived at BYU on Monday, the “are you sisters?” thing came up a lot. They ran into a family that was in our ward until the boundary changes in the fall, and knowing that Malia doesn’t have a sister, they asked if Malia and Ellie were cousins The girls were once again a bit steamed about it, but Kevin advised Malia to take that one moment of irritation and then to just lean into the situation and make it fun!

Every session of FSY has different session leaders and the leaders for Malia’s session were a seminary teacher from American Fork and his wife. This particular brother’s teaching style really worked for Malia. She told me that the way he taught really caught her attention and she was able to learn so much. The sessions are large at BYU and while not all the kids had an opportunity to meet the leaders in person, Malia had the opportunity to talk to them one on one just long enough for her to express her thanks for being exactly the people she needed this week. And being able to convey her gratitude made her happy, which is another wonderful life lesson learned!

One of Malia’s highlights from the week was the fact that her session was the only session that had a live concert on the schedule. It was comprised of a number of church member artists who compose and perform youth music and was recorded to be aired worldwide in August. She met several of the performers, including one of Matthew’s favorites, and he was a little bit jealous of that. 😉 I think my favorite moment from that event was the fact that Malia was geeking out a bit about meeting Emily Belle Freeman, the current young women general president. Malia thought it was so cool to meet the “young women president of the whole world!” And you know what? It actually is pretty cool! In addition to her brush with fame, she came away having added some spiritually uplifting music to her playlists. In my opinion, that’s another big win. Pop style gospel music has never really been my kind of music, but if it strengthens and lifts my daughter, I can’t see any bad!

Malia has been struggling in our new ward. There are a multitude of reasons why, but this week, she got the spiritual nourishment and the insights she needed in that regard. One of the things she learned was that there are earthly angels all over and that belonging in a ward is not the same as belonging in the church. She may not feel like she fits into our current ward, but she definitely fits into the church. Another of the things that really stuck with her was the topic of one of the devotionals given by her session leaders. The catchphrase was to be a member of the crew rather than a member of the cruise. Those who are members of the cruise are there for all the fun stuff, but the members of the crew are actively involved in all the planning and prepping and work. Basically, the takeaway was to be anxiously engaged in the gospel, to be actively working to move forward in the gospel rather than just being along for the ride. And that analogy really worked for her. I think it is a clever one as well, and a good reminder for all of us.

Spending a week surrounded by kids who are all striving to live the gospel in a world that is hard was a huge blessing for Malia. I could see a new light in her eyes, a new confidence in the gospel that wasn’t there when she left home on Monday morning. I know that’s exactly what the program is for, but to see it working in the life of my child is a huge blessing. So here is a heartfelt thank you to all those counselors, teachers, leaders, advisors, organizers, and participants who made this week exactly what it was designed to be: for the strength of my youth.

For the Love of the Deaf Community

After his first week as an FSY counselor and even though he had a tough group of kids who gave him a run for his money and left him seriously sleep deprived, Nathan was perfectly willing to do it all again. That is a good thing since this past week was his week as a counselor for FSDY-For the Strength of Deaf Youth. It was a full weekly session held entirely in ASL and designed to allow the deaf and hard of hearing kids an opportunity to have the same amazing experiences their hearing counterparts have. Youth from all over the country were invited to participate. Nathan came away tired in a completely different way as thinking in ASL 24-7 takes a lot of brain power. And native signers, like native speakers of any language, sign with some serious speed. Nathan told us that by the time they got to the end of the day, one of the kids would sign something and while he knew he should be able to understand, his brain just couldn’t process any more. 😂

For many of these kids, they are the only deaf person in their families and wards and often, there is no interpretation available so while they may go to church, they really can’t access what happens there. Yes, there are some that lip read, but even with good lip-reading skills there is only so much they can understand. As such, having the gospel presented to them in their own language is life changing for many. It allows them, some for the very first time, to understand the sweet simplicity of the gospel and hearts were touched. Nathan loved being a part of that. There were a few kids that he wished he could encourage to look up from their phones and participate so they could fill their spiritual Dixie cups with the wealth of knowledge available to them, but as a counselor, that was not his job. So as much as he would have liked to, there were times when he had to remain silent knowing that if this or that youth would just engage in what was going on they might find exactly what they needed. That was hard for him. But overall, the experience was an amazing one. And within a few days of the session, new videos hit social media and I had all kinds of people from the ward sending me messages telling me they saw him on Instagram or Facebook. That was fun! 

Nathan has developed a great love for the Deaf community. As he spends more and more time with them, he has a greater desire to serve them and help them to progress along the covenant path. I feel like he has been given a gift in his ability to learn ASL and become fluent so quickly, and he is using it to help move the work of the gospel forward for a group of people who have limited access to the many programs and resources that most of us take for granted in the church. Because the Deaf and interpreting communities are small, he has met a lot of people who work in leadership positions high up in the church and they are encouraging him and looking forward to him joining their ranks. He has hopes to interpret for General Conference at some point, and considering the new connections he has made this week, I suspect that sooner or later we will see his face on the ASL feed.

For now, he is taking a much-needed rest. He is mentally and physically tired but elated as well. He feels like he is making a difference. 

Blackjack Leads to Jesus

When the FSY program was first introduced a few years back, Nathan was super excited about it. Unfortunately, Covid delayed the program by several years which means Nathan never got to go. It was just one more disappointment associated with the pandemic. Well, this past week that wrong was somewhat rectified. Nathan was able to experience his first ever FSY session, just as a counselor rather than a participant. Nathan originally applied to be a counselor for just the one week that the ASL FSY will be held, but after looking for a job for months and with no prospects on the horizon, which we all think is weird due to the many help wanted signs posted all over and is in no way due to complacency on his part, he opted to pick up an extra week so he can have some kind of income over the summer. He was assigned to a session at Boise State University, so on Sunday he drove to Provo to catch the shuttle to Boise. Yes, I know that seems like a lot of wasted travel hours since Logan is so close to Idaho, but that is the way FSY travel works. You catch your transportation where and when they tell you to.

When Nathan returned home this evening, he had loads of stories for us. Apparently, the group he was assigned to ended up being the worst group in terms of behavior, attention, and medical issues. It made for a wild and crazy week. With illness, attempted late night forays outside of dorm rooms after lights out, kids flashing gang signs in group photos, and a bunch of other random stuff, Nathan was pretty worn out by the time the kids went home. However, he still managed to connect with that tough group of boys and came away glad that he had chosen to participate. 

The catchphrase Nathan came home with that he felt summed up his week is “blackjack leads to Jesus,” which definitely requires some explanation. On Wednesday evenings of FSY, they have a late-night pizza night for the kids. After consuming their treat, Nathan’s boys settled down to play cards and asked him if he wanted to play blackjack with them. His initial reaction was to say no because that is really not his thing, but the Spirit told him to stay. And he did. He played blackjack while the boys bet using the snacks they brought from home. Nathan told me that his relationship with those boys changed that night. Somewhere between dealing the cards and complaints about lost Poptarts, Nathan and those kids bonded. They were still a handful, but things were different for the rest of the week. So, listening to the Spirit led to blackjack led to bonding led to a more respectful youth group led to a more uplifting experience as they let the gospel sink into their lives just a little bit. Hence “blackjack leads to Jesus.”

Overall, and despite being seriously sleep deprived, Nathan enjoyed his week and would do it again, which is good since FSDY begins in just over a week!

Matthew also spent the past week experiencing FSY for the first time. Getting him there took a lot more planning and work than it did for Nathan though, since we had to figure out a weeklong food plan for him in a situation where he had no control over his schedule, was away from home, and could not safely eat any of the food being prepared for everyone else. We have long since learned that freezing individual meals prior to trips is a great way to go since eating granola bars and fruit snacks three times a day for days on end gets very tedious, but in order to make them an option, you need to have a way to keep food cool and a way to heat it before eating. 

We listed all Matthew’s allergies and requested accommodations way back in January when he registered (which I actually did while sitting at the computer for a good half the day trying to get the one weekly session that did not conflict with marching band or our fantastic vacation), including that we would supply a microwave and small refrigerator if needed. I was in contact with the accommodations team on multiple occasions as they worked to find a solution, but it was less than a week before his session started that we finally got it all worked out. This is still really new for everyone running the program too, and they were figuring things out as quickly as they could. After exploring several options, they settled on one that would fit all of Matthew’s needs. 

BYU runs two full sessions of FSY at the same time. The only difference between sessions is which dorms the kids are housed in. The solution was to move Matthew from the session he was registered for to the other session which would put him in a dorm room that already had a mini fridge as well as its own sink. There was a microwave in the lobby so that covered all his bases. Since it was a last-minute move to one of the rooms reserved for just such last-minute needs, Matthew also had the room all to himself which is always good for his mental health. Having a roommate that he doesn’t know and who is unaware of his food needs always stresses Matthew out. And with good reason. Over the years we have found that people who have never needed to think about all the implications of having severe food allergies, there can be a serious learning curve about how to manage food safely. Something as simple as touching a food item can make it unsafe for Matthew to eat, so having someone who doesn’t know and understand the drill in close proximity to his food makes him nervous.

With the logistics squared away, Matthew was able to jump into everything else with both feet. He really clicked with his group and the entire week was a huge spiritual boost for him. One of his counselors was named Matt and another of his group members also claimed the moniker so having three of them with the same name was kind of a fun coincidence. My Matthew arrived home today tired but spiritually renewed. He will be eligible for one more session of FSY in two years. Although he will have recently graduated high school and won’t be able to register until after the younger teens, I think that if he can make it work schedule wise, he just might go again.