People Pictures

Some people I will never forget, but I wish I had pictures of them. You know, people that change you forever because of who they are and what they make you wish you could be. I don't have pictures of some of those people, like Nanako from BYU-H or Mr. Trew my 5th grade teacher. I made sure not to make that mistake when I left VA.

This is Bonnie Leavitt. She's amazing. I absolutely adore her. She's the Gospel Doctrine teacher for H'burg 2nd ward. She opens the gospel up and helps you live it, helps you see how you are the same and different from people in the scriptures, helps you "enlarge your memory" and heighten your awareness of how Christian you really are. I miss her terribly and I think I always will. She doesn't teach you the gospel, she teaches you to see how you can and do live it each day. She teaches you so you do more than learn, you do! She also knows gospel doctrine flawlessly. She's a convert who dedicated her life to studying the gospel. She can quote a prophet (ancient or modern) in casual conversation. Her comments in Relief Society were often direct quotes from the scriptures or conference. She can even tell you what side of the page to look on or which column a verse is in while you look something up. She knows her stuff, and she lives it. She's also incredible interesting. I invited her to lunch once just to be able to talk to her because you never get to really talk to someone at church. Like I said, she's amazing and I'm glad I have a picture of her.

Diane Hebdon. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Christ walk into the room and sit next to you? I have. And that is why I got to meet Diane Hebdon. She radiates the love you read about in the scriptures. The love the apostles witnessed Christ demonstrate. When she walks in the room you feel different because she is there. When she smiles at you it is sincere. When she talks to you, you feel loved and heard. It's not something special she does for you, she does it for everyone. Everyone feels loved by her because she honestly loves everyone. She has mastered the art of seeing people and treating people like the Savior would. I'm sure she's not perfect, but she's perfecting the pure love of Christ the best of anyone I've ever met.

These two women have changed me in a very real way. I'm so grateful I got real life, tangible people to help me become a better Christian. The scriptures are a real and powerful tool, and these two women helped me see that using the scriptures as a tool to become like Christ does work, it is possible to be more like Him. Living proof is always encouraging.