Stand Up And Shine (SUNS)

Our girls went to girl's camp last week.  I was able to go up on Thursday with Steve and Matt and spend some time with these young women.  Their theme was "Stand Up and Shine", or SUNS.  We had a very spiritual testimony meeting that kind of centered around the theme of being a good example and being a light for others to help and uplift others and offer hope and friendship, otherwise, anything positive in enabling these girls to nourish their relationships with their Heavenly Father and Elder Brother.  They went up to Payson Lakes, and it was so pretty.  I shared an experience with them that I had when I was a 14 year old boy.  The young women were talking about the importance of girls being good examples to other boys to help them stand up for the right.  Well, my experience related pretty well to their topic.  So, I'll share it here

Throughout junior high and high school, one of my best friend's name was Caya.  She was not an LDS girl but was rather a Jew.  All children of God are blessed with the light of Christ and know the difference between good and evil regardless of what religion one belongs to.  And Caya, although not of my religion, was one of these individuals that was really good and Christlike.  And, Caya knew I was a mormon.

Caya and I shared PE class together our sophomore year, and we were playing some basketball.  The game we were playing was getting pretty competitive and intense.  As we were playing, I let out some swear words.  As the game came to a halt for a minute, I started walking over to her at the bleachers.  While I was walking towards her, she asked me, "AREN'T YOU A MORMON"?  That self-reflective question tore me up as it hit me to the deepest core of my soul, and it hurt.  I was completely ashamed of myself.  I was not being a good example or doing what I knew to be right.  Caya knew what mormons stood for and she knew that I was not doing it.  It was amazing to me that someone not of my faith seemed to know more about the values of my faith than I did.  I am eternally thankful to a friend who helped me realize the importance of being a good example.

From that moment on in my life I always strived to be better with my language and the example I set, not only as a mormon but as a follower of Christ.  It was because of the influence of a righteous young woman, even though not of my faith, that helped me stand a little taller and be a little better.  Caya made me be better.  So, here in Utah where many of the teenagers are members of the church and know the morals that the church teaches and stands for, these girls can help these teenage boys stand up for what is right and do what they know to be right that these young men can become what Heavenly Father wants and needs them to be. 

From that point on, I always tried to be a better example, and especially around her.  I always wanted to share the gospel with her but found it extremely difficult to do so because of being so ashamed of the bad example I set years earlier.  I wanted to and just couldn't until we were seniors after graduation.  Upon graduation, Caya and I got together one night and were discussing our futures.  She was going to head to the army and I was going to go on a mission.  We talked for a while, but at the end, I gave her a present.  I told her not to open it up until I had left her house because I was still afraid of what she might think.  I wrapped up a Book of Mormon.  She did not open this "gift" until I had left.  She went to the Army and I left for my mission.  It was while on my mission, after a few months, that I received the letter from her letting me know that she had read the book and that she was going to be baptized into the church.  Her question to me was both a blessing to me and to her.