Latter-day Saint Laurie Sandal was first called to teach early morning seminary in the fall of 2000. A mother of four, she was assigned to teach a small group of 15- and 16-year-olds in the small town of Elko, Nevada. There are only two interstate exits and one high school.
Sandals had a degree in education and had served in other youth callings within the church, but the call to teach seminary still seemed daunting.
Before her first class, she wrote in her diary that her stomach was swollen. “I have prepared for hours for the first lesson alone, but I am still not confident. I want my students to have a good experience and enjoy seminary. I want them to understand what you have done for them. I want them to read it and love it. [scriptures]”
According to documents provided by her daughters Heather Sandal and Lisa Baker, Laurie Sandal devoted her entire life to her seminary classes, spending three to four hours a day tailoring her lessons to the students she taught. It is said that he sometimes spent a lot of money.
Now, 24 years later, “Sister Sandals” is retiring from teaching, but only after strengthening the testimony of hundreds of local youth.
Sandals teachers are central figures in the Church Education System’s religious education program for youth ages 14 to 18.
Last August, President Russell M. Nelson issued a special personal invitation to the youth to attend seminary.
Attending seminary, he promised, “will help you come to know the Savior Jesus Christ and deepen your conversion to Him and His restored gospel.” What else will happen? In seminary, you can begin learning how to receive personal revelation and what changes it can make in your life. …Your desire to become an active member of the Lord’s youth battalion gathering Israel will increase. You are responsible for strengthening your own testimony. Then your faith will be solid. ”
At a training session for religious educators in January, Chad H. Webb, administrator of the church’s Seminary and Institute of Religion, said seminary enrollment has increased by 22,000 students in the past two years. .
“The percentage of students currently enrolled in seminary is the highest we have ever reported,” Webb told teachers. “Thank you for accepting President Nelson’s invitation to help gather the generations.”
However, as enrollment increases, so does the need for teachers. I am a sandal-like teacher who wants to teach about Jesus Christ.
And teachers’ influence goes beyond enrollment, Webb continued. “The real difference is the influence you have. Every day, life changes. [students] Accept your invitation to attend your loving and faith-filled classes, study the scriptures, and hear God’s voice. Thank you for exercising faith in blessing a growing number of Heavenly Father’s children by providing them with the much-needed spiritual support. ”
Several of Sandal’s students recalled the positive influence she had on their lives.
Chelsea Nielsen Decker, one of the students in Sandals’ class from 2005 to 2006, said Sister Sandals had a reputation. She said, “I remember her upperclassmen saying, ‘Wait until you find Sister Sandals.’ She’s amazing.'”
Sandall’s teachings were not flashy or grandiose, but “hers were powerful,” Decker said. “You could tell she loved the gospel and she knew the scriptures.”
Although it’s been almost 20 years, “I still have special memories of the object lessons she gave in class that have stayed with me even after all these years. She connects with teenagers. He had a method,” Decker recalled.
Romney Golding Hoyt, who attended her class in 2013-2014, recalled studying the Book of Mormon that year. She said, “I could see that she loved the scriptures and the stories in them, which really helped strengthen my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how powerful it is.” I did.”
Hoyt said Sandals’ classes were also an important part of his missionary preparation. “Every time someone got a mission call, she told us to come back and put a little sticker of your picture on a map of where you’re going. We all sang “Called To Serve.” I had always planned on going on a mission and I loved how excited she was about it and how she encouraged all of us to go on a mission. ”
Last year, 17-year-old Savannah Simpson told her parents that she had planned to leave the church after graduating from high school, but that her seminary experience had made her reconsider. She told her father: I know the gospel is true, and Sister Sandals helped lead me there. ”
In announcing changes to the seminary curriculum last January, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy and Commissioner of Church Education, said that seminary teachers “are part of the important life preparation of our youth. and is part of what they need to become disciples of Jesus.” Christ in the coming season of confusion. ”
— Laurie Sandall’s daughters Heather Sandall and Lisa Baker contributed to this article.
