A Good, Christian Fighting Mother

My mother is the most loving, giving and nurturing woman you'll ever meet, and a closet Nintendo Ninja. 

There are several works-in-progress or half-done sewing projects strung throughout the room.  A light blue, pink and yellow French-rose baby quilt stitched together from my sister's baby clothes is pegged to quilting frames in the left corner.  Looking closely you can see intricate, tiny stitches that would rival the Amish create a detailed quilted pattern.  This quilt has been here for a couple of years. It started as a gift for my sister's first daughter who is now 4.  But, the stitches have to be just right.

The right corner has stacks of cut out aprons waiting to be sewn.  Each was planned with a woman in mind and fabric to match her personality.  The pattern has a retro style to it, with a hole at the top for the neck and a ruffle at the bottom.  Of course they are reversible, because they need to be beautiful on both sides. These are intended as birthday presents for 27 special people. 

In the center of the room is a multi-colored marble maze made of primary colored plastics to entertain children.  It is one of those pull-apart-and-rebuild-again types, where you can construct the maze in whichever order you want: the spiral first, or maybe the wheel, sometimes the funnel or the zig zag. 

Tucked away in the corner behind the quilting frame is an old television with a Nintendo 64 attached to it.  It seems like it would be long forgotten, especially with so many other things around the room, that it almost becomes lost. However, on a special day, you might catch a glimpse of magic in this corner. This is where my mother plays Dr. Mario.  She leans back in the padded banana chair to sprawl her legs wide placing one foot on each side of the old tv on the forgotten armoir and braces herself.  This is her battle stance. Concentration and genius rise in anticipation for the battle that lies ahead. She selects Dr. Mario as her avatar because, that IS the master and main character.  He is the commander and captain of the virus-killing army.  She selects a higher level to play and fire lights her eyes as she gets 3 seconds to see what she’s up against: the amount and array of viruses she will have to kill with copious amounts of colored pills.

The buzzer rings and there she goes! 

Action Plan for Sharing My Personal Essay

1.  Dylan Teague.  Dylan is my best friend from high school, and we still talk occasionally.  He is married and has a son.  I’ve shared the Gospel with him before, but he hasn’t been baptized.  He’s still open to hearing about my religion, and he respects me and the beliefs I have.  I’m going home for Christmas this year, and I’ve already talked to Dylan about spending time with him at his house.  I would like to share my personal essay with him in person, and I’d like to talk more in depth about it than we have before.  I think that would open some doors to being able to share more of the Gospel with him without pushing my beliefs on him, and without being too preachy or weird about it.

2.  Antoni Hernandez.  Antoni is a kid from my mission who I connected with really well.  He has lots of hardships in his life because of poor parenting, but luckily he is currently living with a less-active we reactivated and his wife and kids who we baptized.  I spoke with him recently and he said he just received the Aaronic priesthood and is attending church.  I think my personal essay would really help him see how the Gospel can help all of us make it through our trials.  I’ll try to contact him through Facebook.

3.  Ana Carola Chura.  Ana is a convert from my mission who I had the privilege of teaching leading up to her baptism.  She is an incredible young woman who wanted to be baptized basically since she and the husband of her cousin (she lived with them in the U.S. for a while before moving back to Bolivia) received the lessons from the missionaries.  I would like to share my personal essay with her because her family back in Bolivia is a non-member family, and she has already shared the Gospel with them before.  I’d like to see if my personal essay could be something Ana could use to share the Gospel with her family.  I’ll try to contact Ana through Facebook as well.

4.  Brandon Johnson.  Brandon is a good friend from high school.  He and Dylan Teague also know each other.  Brandon would often work out in the weight room with me after school during the weekdays back when we were in high school.  Brandon told his parents, who then told my parents, that he really agreed with a lot of the things I would say.  Brandon’s parents told my parents to thank me for being a good friend to Brandon.  Brandon also messaged me on Facebook while I was on my mission, mentioning that he missed playing video games together and stuff like that.  I think we have a good enough connection that I could get him to read my personal essay.  I think my personal essay wouldn’t be overbearing or too churchy, and yet at the same time it could get him interested in the Gospel and the church.  I’ll see if I can see him over the Christmas break while I’m home, but most likely I’ll be able to contact him only through Facebook, at least initially.

5.  Tamara and Ronald Thompson.  Tamara is my sister.  She married outside of the church, but her husband Ronald was baptized a little over a year ago.  I think sharing my personal essay with Tamara would be a good way to have Ronald read it (or have it read to him J) and to hopefully encourage him to stay faithful to the church.  Even though Ronald was baptized, he has struggled to stay active.  He and Tamara had the goal of getting sealed in the temple, but that goal has been postponed.  I’d really like to help them out, and since I have such a good relationship with them already, I think they’d be up for reading my personal essay.  I’ll see them over the Christmas break, so I’ll share it with them then.

6.  Marlon and Karina Cruz.  Karina is a less-active we were able to reactivate while I was on my mission, and Marlon is her husband.  Karina’s oldest daughter was already a member, and we were able to reactivate her as well.  We were also able to baptize Marlon and their son, also named Marlon, followed a year later by the baptism of their youngest daughter (when she turned eight).  They are a great family and are still active in the church.  I’m hoping that sharing my personal essay with them would give them something to use to share the Gospel with their friends.  I’ll try to contact them through Facebook.

Assignment: Action Plan for Sharing Content

Let's consider sharing

This semester my students have created short personal essays and also one-minute videos. We are connecting these (the videos refer to and link to the essays). Now it is time to consider audiences. Doing so may in fact help in deciding on final revisions either to the essay or to the video each student is doing.

For their blog post due on Friday, December 5, 2014, I would like my students to brainstorm and list specific people and outlets for sharing their content. If they do not feel comfortable naming those people in a blog post, they can refer to them by first name, or by initials, or indirectly without names ("a certain friend from high school," "a former teacher," etc.). Even if anonymous, I want my students to have in mind individuals and not just general outlets like Facebook.  I want them to develop an action plan for sharing content. The steps for this are:

1. Name Specific People
2. Propose Specific and Diverse Sharing
3. Cultivate Interest by Showing Interest