The One

A single moment – a split-second experience can change us.  Forever.

Several years ago, when my husband Tim taught early morning Seminary, we attended a training for Church Educational System instructors.  It was held at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.  At the time we lived in Colorado.  So we made the 500 mile drive from Northglenn, CO to BYU campus in the hopes of filling our minds and notebooks with knowledge about the scriptures the students would be studying that year.

In the three years we attended we were never disappointed.  There was always more to learn than we had time to soak in.  I loved learning and feeling the Spirit that was present during those classes.  And there was one class I’ll never forget.  Well, that isn’t exactly accurate – I have forgotten the topic of the class, but I haven’t forgotten what happened at the beginning of the class before the “official” teaching began.

The instructor asked those in attendance where we were from.  People had come from all over!  Then he asked who had come the furthest.  It was determined that a woman from Nova Scotia was the “winner.”  She had traveled all the way from Eastern Canada! 
The teacher said, “That is wonderful!  Welcome!  How many students do you have in your class back home?”

Her response: “One.”

The class simultaneously gasped.  One student.  She came all that way, to learn everything she could, so she could go home and teach one person. 

We were all amazed and needless to say, humbled by this great woman.

She was willing to prepare a lesson everyday…for one person.
She was willing to get up early every morning…for one person.
She was willing to study and learn and share her testimony…with one person.

I wonder who that student was.  I wonder how his/her life was changed by that woman from Nova Scotia who loved the one.  I wonder how many lives will be changed as a result of that one student learning about the gospel and gaining a testimony through Seminary. 

It is difficult to know where the influence will end. 

But it all began with one.