Rescue Me!

Our bishop asked each auxiliary to take a Sunday lesson time to teach about the ward rescue plan.  I have to admit that I struggled to find the right way to present that lesson.  I worked on it for at least two weeks and was never happy with my end product.  Fortunately, something  preempted my original lesson date.

The lesson was rescheduled to the first Sunday in November.  As tragic and devastating as it was, Superstorm Sandy gave me a great intro.  I like to make PowerPoints for my lessons.  They seem more visually interesting to me.  Pictures and Pinterest acquisitions make good illustrations, I think.

I started with three pictures:  the first was of a group of people being led out of a flooded area by a relief worker with a boat, the second was a NICU nurse from NYU Langone taking a baby down the hospital stairs by flashlight, and the third was the picture from George Takei of the power strips that someone put outside of their apartment for their neighbors to power up their cell phones.

I asked the girls simple questions:

Who was doing the rescuing?  Who was being rescued?'
Why were they rescuing others?
How were the people rescued?
What was used to rescue people?
What are some of the characteristics of the rescuers?  of the rescuees?

Then I presented the concept of the ward rescue plan, explaining (with input from our bishop who was visiting) about ward council and how we identify members of our ward family who need spiritual rescuing, and how we want to help those people make and keep sacred covenants and return to Heavenly Father. They read  Then I asked the girls the same questions about rescuers and rescuees, using the following scriptures:

John 13: 34, 35
Mosiah 18:8, 9
D&C 18:10, 15, 16
John 21: 15-17
Alma 31:34, 35

The Young Women's auxiliary doesn't have a rescue list per se, but we do have several girls who are, for many different reasons, inactive.  We have the responsibility to reach out to those girls, even if it's difficult.  Elder Robert D. Hales' most recent Conference talk was extremely helpful and yielded many great quotes.

Since then, we've been talking about ways of reaching out and rescuing others.  The ward council is like the National Guard, with an organized rescue plan.  But we can all help rescue others like the person did in providing power to their neighbors.  We can do small things, like genuinely welcome people when we see them at church, talking to them at school, inviting them to activities more than just an offhand way.  Sometimes, it's a small thing that makes someone feel comfortable in coming back to the fold.

As one of my counselors said, "The reasons why people leave are complex, but the solution is simple".  Not that the way back is easy, but it is so much easier than the lives that people live when they're wandering around in the mists of darkness.