Special Needs Institute & A Thank you to Dacy

So I transferred out of my Institute class into the Special Needs Institute class...and I LOVED LOVED it. I kept finding myself tearing up. Sister Parker has this smile that makes me just want to smile the entire day. She is so cute with the kids and always lets them share how they feel inside. Even if you can't understand what they are saying, which is often the case.

I can feel their testimonies radiate.

One boy, who is down-syndrome, shared his testimony at the beginning of class. It pierced my heart. He talked about how he loves HF and Jesus and that he loves his family. It was simple, but so pure. I almost cried.

One girl, who I worked with was assigned to the closing prayer and I helped her. It was so wonderful. She started her prayer like normal, Dear Heavenly Father...and then she stopped and I helped her say a few things, but when it got to the closing, I whispered in her ear, "In the name..." and she finished the rest. What empowered me was that she recognized how to open her prayer in her HF's name and closed it with our Savior's name. I just loved that. It is such an amazing thing to be around those children of our Heavenly Father.

Here is one thing that Sister Parker said that stood out to me the most.

So the lessons we have in the Special Needs Institute class are very basic. We talk about the simple truths of life. We talked about the Resurrection and she said since she had worked with these children, she never realized how amazing it will be to see these children in their perfect form. (student) will be able to walk and we can understand him. (Student) will be able to be understood. and other examples she shared. I just can't wait to be able to have a conversation with them and tell them how amazing they were to me and how much they strengthened my testimony.

Oh and this is to my roommmate:

Dear Dacy,
Thank you for making me laugh last night.
Thank you for always being my friend.
Thank you for making me smile and talking with me.
Thanks for giving me alone time to be homesick and let off steam.
Thanks for understanding that. :)
Thank you for reading the exerpt of the talk you read to me last night in your scriptures, it was inspiring.
Thank you for talking with me til past midnight.
and most of all...WWWaaahhhhh!!!!
XOXO,
Lauren