Teach A Friend & Learning Report

I enjoy teaching my mother what I learn in Pathways because she is also a student and what I teach her may prove helpful to her as she progresses in her educational studies. In talking about career exploration and academic planning, I explained what it says about gifts from God in Doctrine and Covenants 46:10-12 by saying that all are given gifts and abilities by God that we can use to make the most of our time on Earth, but we have our agency to choose what we want to do about what we are given. I also shared Luke 14:28 and said that if we think something is worthwhile and will benefit us, we are more likely to do well at it than if there is not a like for it or clear benefit for us.

When it came to choosing accomplishments that I was proud of, I chose my mission, being able to help my family through the experience my dad had with cancer from beginning to end, and also getting both a high school diploma and also a diploma in Communication Arts: Print Journalism, which led me to self-publish a book and also publish several news articles.

When it came to the experience I had with my dad, I learned many character traits by walking through fire simply because I was learning these traits as I was slowly losing my father and also helping my family deal with it; it wasn't something I could take the time away from the experience to learn, I had to learn the traits while in the experience because of how little time we had to deal with everything.

I then asked my mom why it was so important that we know ourselves when applying for a job and alluded to a statement that Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof said in that it is important that everyone knows who they are and what God expects them to do.

Finally, I shared my personal 'Me in 30 Seconds' exercise with my mother and it went like this:

Hi, my name is Heather Cameron, I am 27 years old, I have a diploma in Communication Arts: Print Journalism, and I am currently a student in the BYU-Idaho Pathways program. Because of serving a local humanitarian mission and also helping my family through the time that my dad had cancer that eventually took his life, I have the ability to adapt to new situations, I have compassion for those in need of help and/or support, the ability to forgive offenses and offenders, and along with many other traits, I also have faith that hard work produces results. 

I began teaching my mother by mentioning that in the actual Pathway class this week, there was a Power Point slide that said that President Kimball said that we need to tell the whole story of our lives, both the good and the bad, because we never know when we will need those experiences to help us make a path for ourselves in life.

My mom said that President Kimball's words make sense because keeping a record of your life shows that you have learned from both the good and the bad. She also said that by keeping a record of your experiences and talking about your experiences, everything can be put into perspective sometimes and you can sometimes see and understand the reason for things happening how and when the way they did.

When we discussed Doctrine and Covenants 46:10-12, my mom said that if we are all given a talent, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to choose whether or not we do anything about it. She then mentioned that my dad learned things about computers through vocational training he received after an accident that ended his trucking career, but he didn't do very well when it came to practicing and retaining the information simply because he didn't enjoy it enough. He did, however, enjoy trucking immensely and because he enjoyed trucking, he was very careful to do a good job at it.

When it came to discussing the accomplishments that I was proud of, my mother actually reminded me that receiving high school and college diplomas and also becoming published through my self-published poetry book and also through my articles are accomplishments that I should be very proud of and not hesitate to share with others.

My mom also touched upon the accomplishment of me helping my family through the experience with my dad and noted that I had learned many character traits from the experience because I had been so involved in the entire process.

I then asked my mom why it is important to know who you are and what your abilities are when applying for a job and she said it is important to know those things because you need to show that you have solid confidence. She added that by knowing who you are and what you are capable of will show employers that you are confident in yourself and in your ability to do a job well.

In conclusion, I shared the concluding thought from the gathering last night and that thought stated that the Savior clearly knew who He was and what His abilities were. If we know who we are and what our abilities are, we can focus more clearly on doing good and living well.

Learning Report

My short-term goal concerning the use of media was to continually evaluate what I watch or view on the Internet and how it makes me feel. Over the week, I carefully paid attention to how I felt when using various sources of media and if I felt good as a result, I continued to utilize what made me feel good and what motivated me to do good. If, however, the media source I was using made me feel like I was losing the Spirit, I immediately disengaged from it and switched to something that would invite the Spirit to return.

I really have been impacted by what I learned in the previous lesson about lifelong learning and that is not limited to this life, but we need to practice our knowledge of the next life that we get now through temple ordinances and through other experiences so that we can be prepared to enter the next life when it comes our time to leave mortality. I also liked that Doctrine and Covenants 130:18 mentioned that  God gives us different degrees of intelligence when we make ourselves open and take enough courage into ourselves to act in faith, thereby letting ourselves be ready for new experiences.

I liked the words in Doctrine and Covenants 46:10-12 that said that all are given gifts and abilities by God that we can use to make the most of our time on Earth, but we have our agency to choose what we want to do about what we are given. I also liked how Luke 14:28 said that if we think something is worthwhile and will benefit us, we are more likely to do well at it than if there is not a like for it or clear benefit for us, as I tend to learn better if I like what I am learning.

 Personally, I try to learn about things that I enjoy doing so that I can learn to do them better and if I don't enjoy something, I try very hard to stay open-minded about it just in case I come to like it, but if I can't come to like it, I will probably stop learning about it and use my time to learn about things that I enjoy doing.