Come, Come Ye Saints...

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I am a REALLY shy person except when you put me in front of a classroom full of kids. I don't know why, I've always been great with kids (babies and animals, too). It's a gift, I think. I've never had a problem entertaining even the nastiest little buggers, often for extended periods of time. Maybe that's why I felt drawn to teaching. Really, what is teaching besides an extended child-care experience with a text-book (especially in middle school- yeesh!).
Anyway, I don't know why I'm always confused when they call me to be in teaching/child-related callings at church. Except for a brief respite in the middle when I went inactive for a while, I've been pretty much in a teaching or primary-related calling since I was married. I was Enrichment leader for a while, but STUNK so they moved me to the Primary, where I also stunk, but less obviously. I've been there ever since.
I'm currently the 2nd counselor/boy scout person for our branch. That would be cool, except our Scout Master is a total dead-beat and has basically dropped off the face of the planet. After asking for a replacement like a dozen times, the branch presidency finally caved this evening. It was the Blue and Gold Banquet and he totally no-call/no-showed. NOT cool. The nice thing, though, is that our Primary President is like the coolest lady ever and realizes that as busy as I am I can't run scouts, teach Sharing time, and run my jobs all at once, so she pitched in a lot. Basically it was her and me running the show tonight- good thing I have the color-guard ceremony basically memorized, right? I did the decorations, conducted, passed out invitations a week ago, and Veronica (the P.P.) did the food and games. It was possibly the best Scout Activity we've ever had, although we were missing all the chants and badges and stuff (the S.M. has all that stuff and won't return my calls).
The coolest part, though, is that the Young Men were working on some sort of camping-related merit badge in the building, the Activity Days girls were there, and the good ol' Young Women were also doing their thing. The chapel was packed, and I mean PACKED.
The thing is, there must be a couple of YM and YW who have caught the missionary fire and are spreading it around. I saw literally 12 of my current and former students of all ages (from 16 down to 12) wandering around with good LDS boys and girls. Wow. There was Eddie, Alan (who I know by his former Gang Tag- Inches), Emmanuel, Kyler, Isaac and Alexis (brothers), Jessie, Jesus, Jose, Gaby, and Alan's brother, whose name escapes me. ALL of these kids are either converts or investigators. As in the case of Alan and his brother (why can't I remember the darn kid's name!?) they are often the only members of their families involved in the church. Most of them have a police rap sheet or a parent or sibling with one.
The really astonishing thing is, I see most of that group at church every week. And it's growing, which gives me a feeling I can't describe. My kids weren't the only ones there, either. There were literally 35+ Young Men plus about 20 Young Women... for BRANCH activities.
Like I mentioned, most of the kids I teach at school are either in a gang, trying to get in a gang, or have family members that are or at one point were involved in gangs. Everything I own is either stolen or tagged or destroyed by the end of the school year. I only have maybe a half dozen students out of 150 that have actually read a book cover-to-cover in their lifetime. Most of the time, I feel like I'm just wasting my time. But tonight when I was walking down that hall full of young men who were high-fiving me and saying "hey, teach!" it really sunk in that despite all the hardships and the struggle I go through trying to educate a group of kids that society has labeled "unteachable," every once and a while something might sink in.
Now I'm not taking credit for those boys there tonight. They are all the product of an AWESOME missionary program that someone in our branch is running; the product of brave young mens' missionary effort. What I am saying is that seeing them there gave me something I haven't had in my life for a LONG time- hope.
In these dark and desperate times the gospel of Jesus Christ provides a ray of truth and goodness that even a hardened youth like Inches can feel- truth that can inspire them to wash away the labels and the hatred and reclaim their names and identities.
Now, spreading that kind of goodness and truth and light? That's something I want to be a part of.