Lesson learned: Look for the tender mercies

One of my students came to me the other day and asked me for a band-aid. I usually have a strict "no blood, no band-aid" policy and he was definitely not bleeding. In fact, I actually had to ask him to point to where it was because I couldn't see any sign of an owie. But I decided to make an exception to my policy this time and I gave him the band-aid. I just felt like he needed it. I could tell that he wanted some attention from me and I wanted to give it to him. It was little and easy and wasn't really going to fix anything for him, but I knew that it would make him feel better.

This experience with my student reminded me how Heavenly Father shows His love for me. I haven't ever heard the words, "I love you" from Him or physically felt His arms around me. But I have had specific, individual, personal, non-coincidental blessings come at just the right moment when I needed to feel better, needed a little boost, needed to feel loved, or needed a little courage. And that is how I know He loves me.

When I was on my mission in Poland, one morning I read Elder Bednar's talk about tender mercies and it just clicked; he put into words exactly how I felt and what I had been experiencing. My favorite part in his talk was when he said, "Let me suggest that one of the ways whereby the Savior comes to each of us is through His abundant and tender mercies. For instance, as you and I face challenges and tests in our lives, the gift of faith and an appropriate sense of personal confidence that reaches beyond our own capacity are two examples of the tender mercies of the Lord. Repentance and forgiveness of sins and peace of conscience are examples of the tender mercies of the Lord. And the persistence and the fortitude that enable us to press forward with cheerfulness through physical limitations and spiritual difficulties are examples of the tender mercies of the Lord."

I loved this. I loved it because I could relate with all of the examples he gave of tender mercies, especially the "personal confidence that reaches beyond our own capacity" part. At that time on my mission, I was definitely lacking in the confidence department. I was in an area that reminded me a bit of Gotham City, I was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to speak a language full of words like szczęście and przepraszam, I was homesick, and every single day was miles out of my comfort zone. But the tender mercies were there. All along the way. I was so grateful that regardless of the size or validity of my struggle, the Lord gave me the perfectly personal "band-aids" I needed so that I could feel better, feel His love, and keep going.

So the takeaway message from all of this is to look for the tender mercies in your life. I promise they are there. The hard part is that they can easily go unnoticed, unappreciated, or labeled as a nice coincidence. If you can't see them, perhaps try asking Heavenly Father to point them out to you. I'm pretty darn sure that He would be more than willing to help you recognize and understand His love.

Lesson learned: Choose to believe

Friday was the last day before our Christmas break. It was one of those 4 advil and a diet coke kind of days, but it was fun because we did a Polar Express day for the whole first grade. This girl in my class brought a bell to school just like the one that the boy gets from Santa's sleigh in The Polar Express. She came up to me and rang the bell up next to my ear and said, "Miss Bwown! Can you heaw it? Can you heaw it winging?!" When I told her I could hear it, she exclaimed, "Miss Bwown! You bewieve!!" She then walked around the classroom and went through the same process with pretty much the whole class.

Eventually, the bell ended up on my desk for the rest of the day, but I've actually been thinking about that experience a lot over the past couple of days. Her belief was so simple: if you can hear the bell, you believe, and Santa is real. It wasn't complicated. It wasn't tainted by the world's view of things. She didn't overthink it. She didn't question how Santa gets around the world in one night or how he knows if you've been naughty or nice. She just has been told that Santa was real, she has received presents from him, she has read stories about him, and so she believes.

I try really hard to be like the girl with the bell—I believe in God because I had parents who taught me about Him, I have had spiritual experiences where I have felt His presence, I have read about Him and heard others testify of Him, and so I believe. But sometimes I have a tendency to complicate things. I start to wonder how God can really hear all of our prayers all at the same time and have a perfect plan for each of us. I listen to the world saying it's a coincidence instead of recognizing it as a tender mercy. I overcomplicate repentance and forgiveness and the Atonement. I wonder why bad things happen to good people.

But these questions never get me very far. I just end up more confused and frustrated. So instead of asking, "why?" or "how come?" I try to ask, "Will you please help me to understand this when I am ready?" And in the meantime, I choose to believe. I choose to believe that things will be made right in the end. I choose to believe that there is a loving God who is in charge and knows what is best for us. I choose to believe that forgiveness is given every single time we repent and He never grows weary of us. And I choose to believe that prayers are heard and answered no matter who we are, where we are, or what we've done.

Yes, there is certainly a place for asking questions and looking for answers. But I believe there is peace and happiness in choosing to believe, even when it doesn't all make sense... maybe especially then.

"In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith." (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

Lesson learned: Hard isn't bad

I have a kid in my class who pretty much always knows all of the answers. He reads at a third grade level, gets 100% on all of the spelling tests, knows all of the double addition facts, and has, what we like to call, "teacher" handwriting.

But then last week something happened that hadn't ever happened to him before. Things got hard.

We were learning a tricky concept in math that was very much a visual thing and he just couldn't wrap his mind around it for some reason. I could see the panic begin to set in as he realized his classmates were all starting to get it and he was still confused. As we started a worksheet to practice this new concept, he tried the first one but couldn't do it. So then he started looking at his neighbor's paper and copying her answers. After calling him out on that, his chin began to do that quivering thing and he told me, "Miss Brown, this is too hard. I can't do this."

After working with him one-on-one for a little bit, it finally clicked and he was able to finish the worksheet. But he learned more that day than just how to add. He also learned how to persevere through hard things. He learned that if he asks for help, his teacher will be there to clarify and reteach. He learned patience. He learned humility. And he learned what his fellow classmates often feel like on a daily basis.

There are times where we are like this student of mine. Things just seem to be going smoothly, we feel in control, life is good, and then suddenly we hit an obstacle; something slows us down and we're not sure what to do.

I really dislike these moments. I don't like being confused. I don't like not knowing the answers. And I don't like making mistakes. However, I know that we learn the most when things are hard. And I also know that there are certain blessings that only can come to us when things are hard.

When things are hard, we often pray more earnestly, which strengthens our relationship with Heavenly Father. When things are hard, we remember our need for the Atonement, which strengthens our relationship with the Savior. When things are hard, we build stronger relationships with those we trust as we share our struggles with them and ask for help. When things are hard, we are later able to empathize with others who go through similar things. When things are hard, we may ask for priesthood blessings, which is humbling and can strengthen our testimony of the priesthood. When things are hard, we are more willing to slow down, be still, and listen to the Spirit. When things are hard, we learn how to turn to the scriptures and our patriarchal blessings to find direction and understanding. When things are hard and we pull through it, we gain confidence in ourselves and what we are able to do with the help of the Lord (see Phillippians 4:13).

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, "If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

Bottom line: Hard isn't bad. It's through the hard that we learn, grow, are blessed, and bless others.

Lesson learned: With help, you can change

I have a kid in my class this year with some pretty major ADHD going on. And when I say "pretty major," I am not exaggerating. He is constantly out of his seat, walking around the classroom, asking me off-topic questions, and distracting the other students. I know he's got extra ants in his pants, but I also have a theory that he's actually capable of more and is just used to getting away with a lot of stuff.

So this past week I began a project I like to call: Do Everything Within My Power To Get Him To Complete an Assignment. I pulled out all the tools I had in my tricky student toolbox—I put a little smiley face chart on his desk so he could see his progress, implemented the "air fist bump" technique, praised like crazy, did a lot of winking, and even got the class involved to help support him. I pretty much did everything I could to help him realize that he really can do more than he thinks he can. 

The change throughout the day was fun to watch. He needed so much support and so many reminders in the morning, but then as the day progressed, he began to catch the vision. He started checking in with me, asking me if he was doing a good job and wanted to make sure I was watching him. Then by the afternoon, instead of asking me if he was doing well, he was reporting to me and saying things like, "Miss Brown, I did it!" "I did everything today!" "I worked so hard!" I was pleasantly surprised by how well the day had gone. He was so successful because he wanted to do it and was willing to work with me.

Oh man. It's days like these that are exhausting but remind me why I love being a teacher. 

Do you have a bad habit in your life that you want to change but feel like it will be too hard to overcome or it's just too much a part of who you are? It might be something smaller, such as negative self-talk, procrastination, or judging others. Or it might be something bigger, such as an addiction or a sin.

Regardless of the size, I can promise you, from personal experience and from watching the experiences of loved ones, habits can be overcome. But I can also promise you, that you cannot do it alone. You need the help of a Teacher who has a really, really big toolbox full of the exact tools you will need in order to change. Because of the Atonement, the Savior knows what it feels like to be trapped in a bad habit; He knows how hard it is to change. However, also because of the Atonement, He can work with you to "make weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27).

The Savior knows that, at first, you will need a great deal of encouragement, support, and a strong understanding of His love for you. It's been my experience that, as soon as you turn to Him and make the first steps towards change, He will give you that support and send tender mercy after tender mercy to help you get going. As the "day" progresses, it's important for you to check in with Him to see how you're doing. The Savior will encourage you and help you see your progress so that you can catch the vision of what you are capable of. Eventually, your "confidence [will] wax strong" (Doctrine & Covenants 121:45) and you will be able to look back and see how far you've come. The key is this: you will be successful if you want to change and are willing to work with the Savior.

Here's the kicker, though. (And I actually wasn't going to tell you this because it kind of kills the moment, but I think it's true to life so I decided to include it.) The kid in my class who had that awesome day... yeah, the next day he was back to his very all-over-the-place self and refused to work with me. I mistakenly had thought that things were going to be good from now on. I thought that since he had had one really good day, for sure the next day would be good, too.

Fortunately for us, the Savior perfectly understands that breaking a habit is a process full of ups and downs and it doesn't usually just happen over the course of a day. He will be patient with us (as we also must be with ourselves) and He will give us the exact amount of support, love, and guidance we need in order to be the person He already knows we can be.

So be brave. Take a step in the right direction. Go to the Lord and make a change. Rely on His strength throughout the process. Be kind to yourself. And trust that you can do anything with His help.

Lesson learned: Fear not and scoot closer

I have an autistic student who has some pretty major fears when it comes to fire drills. Fire drills make Spencer so nervous that he has his mom come in every morning with him to ask if there is going to be a fire drill that day. On Friday, we had our last fire drill of the year and on our way back into the classroom, I promised him that we were all done and he didn't have to worry about any more fire drills.

Yeah. So it turns out that I shouldn't have been so hasty in making promises. The following Monday, the whole school was invited to watch the fifth grade put on the play, The Wizard of Oz. When Dorothy and her friends finally made it to the wizard, they started using some special effects, such as a fog machine and some strobe lights. I looked over to Spencer to see how he was handling it all, and right then the fog machines set off the fire alarm. Spencer was totally panicked. I grabbed his hand and tried to reassure him as I was trying to get all of the rest of my class out of the gym in a somewhat orderly manner. It wasn't until we were outside, away from the sound, that Spencer was finally able to calm down a bit.

After everything was resolved, we went back into the gym to watch the rest of the play, but Spencer was on edge the whole time. Every time there was a flash from a parent's camera or a loud noise, he looked at me, put his hands over his ears, and scooted a bit closer to me. I reassured him that it was just a camera or just part of the play and that it wasn't another fire drill, which helped him calm down a bit, but he still looked at me out of the corner of his eye for the rest of the play. By the end of it, he was sitting right at my feet and I'm pretty sure he has no idea how Dorothy gets back to Kansas.

It might be because I'm feeling all sentimental as the school year comes to an end, but I really loved this experience. I loved that Spencer saw me as a source of comfort and reassurance. I loved that he felt like he would be safer if he was closer to me. I loved that he trusted me to help him through something that was terrifying to him. I loved that we had that kind of relationship.

Do we have that kind of relationship with the Savior? When we feel panicked, frightened, confused, abandoned, desperate, or scared, do we scoot closer to Him? Do we put our hands over our ears to block out the world and look towards the Savior for comfort and reassurance?

Fear is unfortunately a big part of my life. From small things, like waiting in line to get on Splash Mountain, to big things, like waiting in line to board the plane to go to Poland for 18 months. And I can honestly say that there is a ginormous difference in the outcome depending on whether or not I turn to the Lord in my moment of fear. Sometimes, for some silly reason, I choose to "sit on the other side of the gym" and just wallow in my fear. I let it consume me and I am miserable. Other times, I am blessed with the perspective to know that I need to stay close to the Savior and rely on His strength.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "Who among us can say that he or she has not felt fear? I know of no one who has been entirely spared. Some, of course, experience fear to a greater degree than do others. Some are able to rise above it quickly, but others are trapped and pulled down by it and even driven to defeat. Let us recognize that fear comes not of God, but rather that this gnawing, destructive element comes from the adversary of truth and righteousness. Let us refer to the tremendously important truths taught by Paul: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7) Let us find strength in the strength that comes from him. Let us find peace in the peace that was of the very essence of his being."

Through all of my experiences with fear, and I've had a few, I am finally learning that turning to the Savior is the only way to get through fear. My ultimate goal is to have enough faith that I do not have fear in the first place. But since I don't think that is going to be happening anytime in the near future, I am trying to be like Spencer and scoot closer to the One who has gotten me through all of the fire drills in the past and who will stay by my side until the fear has passed.

Lesson learned: Change takes time. It just does.

I love first grade in the spring. The kids are chatty as all get out but I love seeing how far they have come since the beginning of the year, especially in reading.

There's a kid in my class who started out the year at about the level of a preschooler. He only knew a handful of letters and their sounds. Throughout the year, I have worked with him quite a bit, trying to help him catch up, or at least make some decent progress.

At the end of each week, I monitor his progress and the data gets entered into a graph. If I were to zoom up and look at the progress made from one week to the next, I wouldn't see much improvement and it could be discouraging, knowing all of the effort my student and I have put into improving his reading. Some weeks he improves by just a bit, other weeks he makes major jumps, some weeks he stays exactly the same, and some weeks he gets worse.

However, when I look at the big picture and compare where he started at the beginning of first grade to where he is now, I can see that he has improved. A lot. He still is way behind where he should be at the end of first grade but he is a better reader now than he was in September. 

The interesting part of all of this is that, the other day, I asked him if he thought he was a good reader. He told me no. I'm pretty sure he is comparing himself to the other students and he knows he still can't read as well as them. To help him understand really how much progress he has made, I showed him his graph, told him repeatedly that he really had improved a ton, and showed him exactly how much more he could read now than back in September.

From his perspective, he was behind in September and he is behind now, which probably doesn't feel like much progress has occurred. 

From my perspective, he has come so far.

As I've been going through this process with my student, I realized that learning to read is very similar to the process of making a major change in your life. Just like reading, change takes daily effort but the effects might not be seen on a daily basis. Change usually happens slowly over time. It just does. It involves changing your mindset, changing your habits, changing your surroundings, and changing your attitude. And it involves patience as you take two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward, one step forward, two steps back, and then another two steps forward.

It's also necessary to remember that we cannot change all by ourselves; we need the Lord to be our Teacher and to help us change completely. Gérald Caussé (First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric) said, "If we rely only on our personal abilities, our progress is and always will remain limited. However, when we move forward in the strength of the Lord our potential for progress knows no bounds." (Read the rest of his super fabulous devotional here.) Just as my student would have made little, to no progress without working with me on a daily basis, our progress will be severely limited if we do not frequently ask the Lord to work with us as we are trying to change.

And remember, just because you can't see the change, doesn't mean it's not happening or that Heavenly Father isn't noticing your efforts. It might mean that you are checking your progress too often, comparing to others instead of to yourself, or forgetting that there needs to be consistent effort. Or it might mean that you need to ask your Teacher to let you see your graph.

Lesson learned: No mistake is unfixable

[I've had major writer's block this past week. I've started 5 different posts and none of them are clicking. So for now, here is an analogy that I used in a lesson I gave in church several months ago that actually gave me the idea for this blog. It's a bit longer than my usual post but I couldn't decide what to edit out, so feel free to skim if you'd like...]

A teacher has a project for her first grade students to complete.  The project is to cut out and decorate a snowman. There will be cutting, gluing, and some glitter involved. The students are all really excited once they see the glitter and the completed snowman the teacher created as a model. However, before handing out any of the supplies to her students, the teacher goes through all of the instructions, step by step. She explains that they will have to cut along the outline of the whole snowman very carefully. She specifically tells them not to cut any of the lines in the middle of the snowman.

Heavenly Father has a plan for us. He wants us to get married, have a loving relationship with a spouse, and create an eternal family. Through the scriptures and living prophets, He has instructed us how to use the powers of procreation correctly so we can be happy, healthy, and have an eternal family. He warns us of temptations and weaknesses that may prevent us from attaining these blessings.

The supplies are passed out to all of the students and everyone gets started. Many of the students listened carefully to the teacher’s instructions, and their snowmen are starting to look like snowmen. Other students, on the other hand, were not great listeners. Some weren’t listening because they were staring at the glitter and just couldn’t wait until they got to use it. Others weren’t listening because they thought they already knew how to do it and didn’t need any help from the teacher. Regardless of the reason for not listening, inevitably a student cuts the head clean off the body of the snowman.

As we live our lives, it is up to us if we heed the prophets’ counsel and follow the Lord’s commandment to keep the law of chastity. Some do not listen because they are more focused on what the world has to offer. Others are not listening because they feel they know better and can take care of themselves. Whatever the reason for not listening, those who do not listen may find themselves in a hard situation full of guilt, sorrow, heartache, and shame.

The student quickly realizes that an error has been made—snowmen are supposed to have three sections, not just two. He may try to fix the problem on his own, not wanting to admit to the teacher that he made a mistake. He sneaks some tape from the teacher’s desk and tries to tape the head back onto its former body. Unfortunately, six-year-old taping skills leave him with a less than desirable, somewhat-headless snowman.

Once we realize our mistake, we might try to fix it ourselves, not wanting others to know of our transgression. However, this usually involves lying, avoidance, and deceiving others, and we ultimately just end up making matters worse.

As soon as the student’s desire to get help fixing his snowman overcomes his desire to keep his error a secret, the student brings his snowman to the teacher and shows her what happened. Unbeknownst to the student, she has actually been watching the whole time. She knew he wasn’t listening as she explained the instructions. She watched as he carelessly decapitated his snowman. She saw him “sneak” the tape off her desk and watched as he tried to tape the head back on. She saw all of this, yet she listens patiently as he explains the situation to her.

When we can humble ourselves enough to realize we need help, we can turn to the Lord. Even though the Lord already has seen everything we have done and knows every detail, we still need to go through the process of admitting it to Him as well as our Priesthood leaders.

The student wants his teacher to just fix it for him, but, as any good teacher would do, she turns this situation into a learning experience. She kneels down so she can talk to him face-to-face. She asks him what he did wrong. She asks him why he made that mistake. He admits he wasn’t listening when she told the class the instructions. He tells her he was just so excited to get the snowman cut out so he could be the first to use the glitter. She tells him that he didn’t make a good choice. He looks down at his shoes and sniffs. Together, they make a plan of what he can do better next time and talk about why it’s important to listen to the instructions.

We may be looking for a quick fix, a way to just get out of the situation. The Lord knows better though. He has called Priesthood leaders who are able to talk with us face to face and help us realize the severity of our sins and feel the godly sorrow necessary during the repentance process. They work with us through this process and help us make plans for a better future.

At this point, the student is expecting the teacher to fix his botched tape job, but the teacher has a different plan. She goes to her desk and gets a brand new snowman from the stack of extra copies she had made ahead of time, knowing that someone wouldn’t listen to her instructions and would mess up. Her student’s eyes light up as he realizes he can start all over again and have a snowman that looks just like everyone else’s. No one will be able to tell he messed up. The student begins again. While he is cutting, he remembers his teacher’s instructions and the mistake he made last time, and makes sure to cut along the correct lines so he can have a whole snowman. With a smile of accomplishment, he picks up his snowman and gets in line where the teacher is passing out the glitter.

At some point during the process, we may think that we are “damaged goods;” that we will never be completely clean again. Gratefully, the Lord atoned for our sins so that we don’t have to carry around the scars of our sins after we have fully repented. We are given a clean slate and the chance to begin again. Yes, at times we remember what we did, but that remembrance, in addition to following prophetic counsel, helps us to not make the same mistake again. As we strive to live chastely and give all that we have to the Lord, He changes our hearts, helping us to become more than we ever could alone.

Lesson learned: It's okay to not completely understand

Last week, I taught my students how to tell time. This is one of my favorite things to teach because, in just one week, I'm able to open up a whole new part of the world to them that they couldn't access before. It always astounds me, though, how tricky time is to understand. 

For the first few days, I had a lot of blank stares and I-don't-get-its and confusion. But by the end of the week, pretty much everyone was able to tell time to the hour and the half hour. Interestingly though, even though a lot of them can tell time now, many of them still don't quite understand how it all works. They don't quite understand why there are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute and 24 hours in a day. They don't really understand the relationship between the minute and hour hands. And they only slightly understand why 12 means both o'clock and :00 and why 6 means :30 and how to tell if it is 5:30 or 6:30 when the hour hand is right in between the 5 and the 6. But even though they don't totally get it, my students love looking at the clock and trying to figure out what time it is. They are not put off from trying due to their lack of a complete understanding.  

Carl Bloch - "Christ in Gethsemane"

This experience reminded me of my understanding of the Atonement. Even after studying quite a bit, I still am so far from really understanding it. I don't understand why it had to happen the way it happened. I don't understand how He felt all of the pains and sorrows of everyone who will ever live on this earth. I don't get how His dying made it so we can live again.

There are so many things I don't understand, but as Elder Neil L. Andersen once said in a conference talk, "You don't know everything, but you know enough." I know enough to be able to recognize the Atonement working in my life. I know the Atonement enables me to be able to do things I wouldn't be able to do on my own. I know Christ can heal our hearts and give us a clean slate. I know that because of Christ, all wrongs and injustices in this life will eventually be made right. I know that Christ understands exactly how we feel, even when we feel like nobody could possibly understand.

Last April, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an incredible talk in which he said,

"Please don't hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith."

Just as we don't fault first graders for having a limited understanding of a concept, Heavenly Father will not fault us if at times we have a first grade understanding of a divine concept. Let the things you do know and your faith carry you forward and know that a deeper understanding will come in time.

Lesson learned: I'm all for second chances

Nick had a rough day. He made some not so great choices throughout the day which meant that I was going to send a note home to his parents. He knew it was coming but when he saw me sit down at my desk and take the dreaded orange paper out of my drawer, reality finally hit. After filling out the paper, I looked around for him and saw that he was crying in the corner. When I tried to talk to him, he was doing the thing that happens when you're crying. so. hard. that. you. can't. say. more. than. one. word. without. gasping. for. air.

In this moment, I had to make a decision. Was I going to stick to my guns and send the note home which I knew would result in him getting grounded and me losing the best teacher in the world status for a little while? Or was there maybe a different lesson that could be learned here?

Since I'm all for second chances, I decided to make a deal with him. We talked about what he had done wrong, talked about what he could do better tomorrow, and then I told him that I would leave the note on my desk and we would see how tomorrow went. If it went well, I would throw away the note. If not, he would take it home tomorrow. He was super surprised by my deal but he quickly agreed, stopped hyperventilating, and packed up to go home all blotchy-faced and puffy-eyed.

Nick was a rock star the next day, the note didn't go home, he was not grounded, and I am still the best teacher in the world.

I am so grateful that we have a loving Savior who is also all for second chances (and third and fourth and fifth...). There are times when, for whatever reason, we choose not to listen to the Teacher and we give into temptation, take the easy road, follow the crowd, give into the natural man, etc.

Christ knows that even the good students may make bad choices sometimes. But He also knows what is in our hearts, He knows our divine potential, and He knows exactly how it feels to feel weak and to give into temptation. Because of that, He is pleading with us to let Him strengthen us, forgive us, and remember our sins no more (D&C 58:42).

With Nick, my goal wasn't to see him suffer. My goal was to help him learn from his mistakes, remind him that he is a good kid, and empower him to be better tomorrow. I feel like it's the same with the Savior—His goal isn't to make us suffer for our sins. He already took care of the suffering part. His goal is to help us remember who we really are, get us back on track again, and help us move past our sins and mistakes.

Talk to your Heavenly Father about what went wrong today, make a plan with Him for what you're going to do better tomorrow, and then allow Christ to give you a second chance.

And here's a wonderful Mormon Message about forgiveness and mercy. I would really recommend watching it. It's very honest and powerful.