We Did It!

Yesterday Stephen and I graduated from Institute! Yey us! There was a nice little ceremony at the student ward (even though nearly half of the graduates are married and have been shipped off to the family wards). All the graduates sat up on stage, which meant that Evelyn got to sit on stage as well. She did pretty good up there considering I have had to walk out of nearly every Sacrament meeting for the last 2 months. It must have looked silly though, when Stephen and I had to keep passing her off. We had both been asked to share our testimonies about the Institute program. I got up to speak, and then when I finished, I got handed Evelyn as Stephen stepped to the podium. The same thing happened when they handed out the diplomas. When Stephen shared his testimony, he spoke about his mom's experiences with Institute and how important it had been to her. He had mentioned some bits of his mom's history, like that she had intented to be a nun and that she graduated from BYU before she joined the church. After the ceremony, a woman approached Stephen and said that she thinks she had had an English class with her and that Stephen's mom's testimony had helped her during her own personal strugles and that now, 30 some years later, she still remembered that special young woman. I think that is so cool! It just goes to show you that no matter where you are physically, emotionally, or spiritually, someone is watching you. And if you are living the gospel, that someone, member or not, is using you as an example.