As a mother of three sons, I know the difficulties that our youth face each day.   My dedication to  my family and the youth of the church - the youth of the world  will never cease.  I believe in our youth, I see their strength, their capabilities, but I also see the difficulties they face.  If I can do one small thing to help them stay on or return to the path then I feel I have served well.  It's not always easy!

In a Sacrament meeting, one of the speakers, Brother Peterson, spoke about hunger in the world...not only the physical hunger, but the spiritual hunger. He used the life of Helen Keller as an analogy - Sometimes we are "spiritually deaf and blind". In fact, there are many in the world who have deep spiritual needs. We need to be the Ann Sullivan's of the world....those who have the patience and endurance to help others.

Being a convert to the church, I have an understanding of "spiritual hunger". I will always be grateful to a group of girls in the 8th grade who asked why I wasn't signing up for Seminary. When I told them I wasn't a member (I grew up in Brigham City, Utah where it seemed "everyone" was a member of the church) they said, "Sign up anyway, it'll be fun." So I did. I lasted one day, only because I'd never given a public prayer and was terrified that the teacher would call on me.

Those friends didn't give up. They invited me to mutual activities and dances. I started attending a few Sacrament Meetings. Soon I had the desire to know for myself if the church was true and asked to be taught the missionary discussions. What started out as a question in the 8th grade ended with my baptism as a junior in high school. . After my baptism I moved and lost contact with many good friends but they are in my heart and I will always be grateful.

So, in a small way, this is my attempt to help others who are seeking to feed the spiritual needs of the youth today.