Happy Birthday Rick!

I am grateful for Rick...

When I was in college I said that I always wanted to marry a Seminary Teacher. I was heavily involved in Institute and had a great deal of admiration for those teachers that I worked closely with through my music groups and Institute Council. When I met Rick, teaching Seminary was the furthest thing from his mind. In fact he even said one time, “If you want to marry a Seminary teacher then you had better stop dating me. I will never do that!” He had graduated in Finance and had big plans of becoming rich and famous (okay, at least rich!)

I teased him by telling him that he was much too worldly. After all, I wasn't planning on being rich if I was going to marry a Seminary teacher, right? Well, we ended up getting married (even if he wasn't in the occupation of my choice). He had a good job in the business field but after awhile decided that he really wasn’t enjoying that line of work as much as he thought he would. He hopped around to a few different jobs but was disillusioned with all of them. I was really starting to worry. Then one day out of the blue he said, “I think I want to take those classes at the Institute that teach you how to become a Seminary teacher.” I was thrilled but didn’t let it show. “Okay, if that is what you want to do…”

He loved the classes and soon was working as an OPT to see if he could get hired. Attempting to become a Seminary teacher can be difficult. There are so many wonderful teachers all vying for a few openings. We felt SO good about it though and knew that this was what we both wanted to see happen. Well, imagine our disappointment when hiring time came around and he didn’t get hired! I had just learned that I was pregnant and wanted to quit my full-time job after the baby came. I started crying. I thought that there must be some mistake! Any minute now they are going to call us back and say that they mixed us up with someone else. Well, there was no mistake. We were very discouraged. Rick didn’t give up though and decided to see if he could get permission to OPT one more year. Many times they won’t let you do that but he got the go-ahead and started teaching early morning seminary along with a full-time job teaching computer classes.

Now we had a new baby and an uncertain future. After another year of teaching, hiring time came around again. This time we received good news. Rick was going to be a Seminary teacher in St. George! We were thrilled! That was 11 ½ years ago. Rick is such a wonderful teacher. I have loved to watch him teach both in and out of the classroom. He has also enjoyed teaching at EFY. We have been Session Directors several times and enjoyed that very much. Rick is now the principal at the Middle School here and absolutely loves teaching there. I love the association we have with the other wonderful teachers and their spouses. I never have to send my husband off to work worrying about what negative influences will be all around him. I am grateful for the wonderful examples and friendships of the other teachers. The lessons he gives in the classroom spill over into our home in family home evening lessons and scripture study. All of our children have their scripture markers out and actively participate by reading, asking questions, and marking their scriptures. Everywhere we go we run into students and they often say how much they loved their Seminary class and what a difference it made in their life. I hope so. It sure has made a difference in ours! CES (now called "S&I" for Seminary and Institute) has been such a wonderful blessing in our lives!! I am grateful for the gospel, for Seminary, and for my husband and children. We aren't rich in the worldly sense, but we definitely ARE rich! Happy Birthday Rick!