Rita is a leader of a gaggle of
little 13 year old girls from Abomosu Branch. She is tall, thin, and from a
single parent family. Her father passed away 12 years ago. These little girls
have become good friends with Sister Dalton who takes time with them doing activities.
She has gained their trust and she has genuine love for each girl in this
little gang. About once a week these girls will knock on our door right after
their school lets out. They all attend the Presby Junior Hi. They are best of
friends and usually if you see one, the rest are close at hand. This past week
we had a teaching experience with these young girls. When they come to visit
Sister Dalton, they just spread out throughout out living room. They all had
their 4 year group sheets so Sister Dalton instructed them in the finer points
of Family History. They were all excited and had a wonderful time writing what
they had knowledge of about their own families. After sometime, hugs were
exchanged and another date for next week was recorded. They would have left but
always Sister Dalton has a treat for this her favorite gaggle of girls. It was
a good time had by all.
When they left this time, one of
my scripture marking pens was missing. I scoured the living room for my missing
pen, but it was nowhere to be found. We concluded that one of the girls had
taken the pen before they left. We prayed how to approach this with Sister
Daltons cherished girls. She was crushed and yet realized this could be a
teaching moment for this little gang. After church, we asked Rita to come over,
alone, to our home. She came with her bubbly self and plopped herself on the
couch. We ate a muffin and shared how wonderful she was and how we had trusted
her in our home. She was most gracious and says she felt loved in our home,
something she had rarely experienced in her 13 years. We began to speak about
the principle of honesty and we referred to the Strength of Youth pamphlet and
read from its pages. We then explained our concern for the missing pen. We
asked if she had seen any of the girls using it at school? She was most serious
when she said that she would never take anything from our home. They were not
hers. We shared our concern, though it was only a green pen, it had great value
to me and the marking of my scriptures. We informed her that if we thought we
could not trust her or her friends, we could not have them visit here in our
home, only at the chapel on Sundays. She verbalized her feels of her friends
and how they had begun to do just little things that were not right in her
eyes. We counseled her to stand up and be counted for only good actions rather than
be caught in a web of covering up for her friends. She told us that she will
find the pen and promised to return it as soon as she could. Sister Dalton
hugged her and thanked her for being a good girl, and sometimes we need to do
hard things to be on the Lords side.
Last evening she returned with news of the pen. She had
confronted all of her friends and one had confessed of taking the pen before
leaving our home. She was sorry but had lost the pen somewhere and could not
find another to replace it. She had no money and wanted the pen for school
because no one else used green ink. Rita
was saddened by the action of one of her friends, and begged that we allow them
back into our home. We told her of the need to associate with good friends with
high standards she lived. We also helped her to realize that out trust was now
broken and it might take a little time to have that back. She understood and
committed to once again finding and returning the pen. We parted with hugs and
a muffin to go, and felt as if we had begun a tender teaching moment that we
pray will be of great value throughout these girls’ lives. I would hope we all
are patient and teach correct principles to our children and friends, so they
too, will be blessed with honesty and integrity. It will serve them well
throughout their lives.
Their picture is
above
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