My Take: Someone So Awesome They Made Me Look at My Life and Commit to be Better
Gentry was one of my kids my first week as an EFY counselor this summer. When the girls and the boys first met together, I thought he was going to be one of those talkative take-over types who thought they were so cool. I'm so glad I was wrong.
Dear Gentry,
I already wrote you a note thanking you for your great example, but constantly looking back on that week at EFY only reinforces my desire to become better. Thank you for stepping forward to lead the group, but making each and every one of your fellow participants feel important. You were reliable and caring and wise beyond your years.
At the Thursday night testimony meeting, it was a result of a rare strike of luck that our company was placed in a room alone, just us. I remember that when you bore your testimony, you cried. I so wanted to bear mine, and I've never had that strong of a feeling before, so when a Field Coordinator who was in just listening to our testimony meeting told us counselors we could get up, I jumped up first. I cried the whole way through, too. I don't think my eyes were dry once during the whole meeting.
But what really spikes in my memory is as we were leaving the building to return to our rooms for the night. I thanked you for your testimony, and you laughed a little and said something about if I could have even heard it, since you were crying. I told you that I could feel it, and placed my hand over my heart. My eyes welled up again as you told me you could feel my testimony, too, even before I bore it.
I guess you were just the right combination of assurance and encouragement that I needed right then. Once again, the teacher learns more than the student.
Thanks for coming that week, Gentry. Thanks for showing me what kind of person God wants us to be. Thank you for showing me that living the gospel is the most exciting and invigorating thing I could do with my life. Thank you for making me want to be better.
Sincerely,
Hilary
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