My Beehive Advisor/Shauna Polatis
and my mother/ Monica bracken are two of the greatest teachers I know. Shauna
Polatis, my Beehive Advisor, showed me loving direction within and outside of
church. In her role as an advisor she applied the characteristics of a great
teacher, and in turn was a great example to me of how to be a great teacher.
One of these characteristics she taught me was that to become a great teacher
one needs to give themselves to the Lord. In those early young women years as a
Beehive, when I first was questioning the Church and finding out for myself if
it was true, she not only taught but also taught to nourish, like the Lord
would have done. She was an example and a disciple of Christ at all times. Elder
Holland said, “A true teacher is always in character. She is her pupils’
teacher wherever they see her. Their eyes are upon her as such.”
The second woman
that I want to mention, my everything, is my mother. Monica Bracken has been
the one that I have learned the most about selfless service. She’s given
everything for her family and inspired her kids to learn and yearn for the
gospel of Jesus Christ. My brothers and I have made many mistakes and she has
shown endless love and compassion and taught us to learn from our trials. These
women are a great influence for the world. The women we should all be looking
towards because they have the essence of a master teacher, Jesus Christ.
In
the movie, “Waiting for Superman said, “I was like what do you mean he’s not
real. And she thought I was crying because its like Santa Clause is not real
and I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.”
When I heard this man say this I couldn’t help but think, “We have something
way better than Superman. We have the Savior of the world, the one great master
teacher of the world.” Jesus Christ is our advocate. He’s the one who died for
our sins. He has enough power to save us, and through his teachings we can
learn how to become a disciple of Him and teach the way he taught. The way
Christ taught was so loving and so compassionate. That no matter what walk of
life you come from you have that, you have His love.
I
have had many master teachers in my life, and it doesn’t stop with the two that I have mentioned. My list is long and continues to grow. What I have
learned from each teacher is that the best quality to have is to show love and
support no matter what you, as the teacher, might be feeling. When the Lord
asked, “Peter, do you love me?” In the recent conference talk given by Elder
Holland, he said, “So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor
to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to
share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give
in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back.”
That’s what I have learned about being a master teacher. We are obligated to
teach, teach everyone, and through that teaching we show the love that our
Father in Heaven has for everyone here on this earth, and with that, we can do
great things.
