{"chapter_no":"30","chapter_title":"Sunday School Class","book_id":"3","book_name":"Springville","subchapter_no":"0","page_no":"524","page_number":"1","verses_count":0,"total_pages":6,"page_content":"

 <\/p>

Chapter 30<\/p>

Sunday School Class<\/h1><\/p>

 <\/p>

The audience in Sunday School is fascinated by a handcrafted display stand at the front of the
room—Grant shares emotional moments from his trip to China—Through joyful crying, one encounters
the gospel of Jesus Christ at its root level—The <\/i>beautiful <\/i>story of Cosette <\/i>from <\/i>Les Miserables <\/i>is <\/i>brought
to life for<\/i> the class <\/i>through<\/i> the paintings <\/i>of<\/i> Jared.<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

Grant’s first thought after returning home from China was to share his marvelous
experiences with the ward members. After discussing the matter with the bishop, it was decided
that he would present a special Sunday School class lesson, the precise timing of which would be
determined by the Sunday School president. The lesson would be an excellent follow-up to the
talk Grant had given recently in sacrament meeting.<\/p>

 <\/p>

The date was agreed upon by all parties involved and then put on the ward calendar.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Several weeks later, the day for the special lesson had arrived. At 11:05 AM, the
members of the Hobble Creek 2nd Ward sat in their seats, ready for Sunday School class to
begin. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Outside the building, the attractive lawns and flower gardens of the meetinghouse were
proudly on display to all passersby. Rays of the morning sun pierced the glass doors and
windows to the vacant foyer within. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Inside, an unusual stir of excitement and conversation was taking place in the classroom.
President Mark Chandler was in attendance, along with his wife Kathleen. He had just completed
the setup of a wooden display stand at the front of the room. Switching on small corner spotlights
on the top and bottom of the stand, he then dimmed the lights in the room and returned to his
seat. <\/p>

 <\/p>

The stand itself was quite unusual. Hand-carved and crafted by Brother Chandler in the
last few days, it was impressive in its own right––something one might have ordinarily seen in a
museum or a fine art gallery. Most notable to the audience was not the stand's base or platform,
but the covered display area on top where the lighting was directed. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Was <\/i>there <\/i>a painting<\/i> underneath<\/i>,<\/i> and if so<\/i>,<\/i> what kind? <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

Why <\/i>should anyone make<\/i> such a large<\/i> <\/i>effort<\/i> like this<\/i> for <\/i>a<\/i>n ordinary Sunday School<\/i>
lesson?<\/i><\/p>

The atmosphere in the classroom was like that of the Christmas season—a very special
lesson seemed to be forthcoming. Attention soon moved away from the stand to a spot nearby
where Grant introduced himself as the teacher for the day. After reviewing his notes, he scanned
the faces in the audience briefly and began to speak. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“As you can see, we have an intriguing lesson prepared for you today,” said Grant,
glancing over towards the stand. “In a way, today’s lesson might be likened to the quiet time or
storybook period of a kindergarten class. <\/p>

 <\/p>

\"The paintings before you have never been seen in public before, so you are in for a
special treat. I hope you will enjoy them along with the accompanying story.<\/p>

 <\/p>

“To give you a little background, six weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to China
on business for my brother’s consulting company. During the trip, I had a lot of free time to
myself, so I took the opportunity to read again the famous novel Les Miserables<\/i>, <\/i>a book with
which most of you are probably familiar.” <\/p>

 <\/p>

Looking around the room, he smiled again at all the familiar faces. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“Today, however, I am a changed person.<\/p>

 <\/p>

“In the time we have for today's lesson, it will be hard to share with you everything that
happened to me during those three weeks... but I’ll try.<\/p>

 <\/p>

“Over the years, I've always pictured myself as someone active in the Church, striving to
do my best, and hopefully progressing every day in the gospel. And that is certainly true of all of
us here. We strive every day to grow in faith and strengthen our testimonies. <\/span><\/p>

 <\/p>

“During the course of my trip, however, my eyes were opened, and I gained a new
perspective on the gospel. You might say it was a continuation of the theme of my recent talk in
sacrament meeting, if you can think back to that for a moment. It wasn’t any new personal
insight into Church doctrine I received, or a better factual knowledge of the scriptures; rather,
you might think of it as a great storm I passed through––a storm of powerful feelings. I learned
how to feel, and I learned how to cry. Through tears, my eyes were opened more fully to the
beauty of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. <\/span><\/p>

 <\/p>

“It was a very emotional couple of weeks, causing me to occasionally lose interest in the
business activities that I had been sent there by my brother to do. Alone at night in the hotel
rooms I stayed in, I cried on at least two or three occasions while reading stories in the book. The
crying overwhelmed me to the point that I was hardly able to see at times, so filled were my eyes
with tears. And with each of these periods of crying, there was usually a recovery period
afterward that lasted for another hour or two. The recovery periods that followed were just as
beautiful as the crying periods themselves; they provided me a chance to ponder these new
feelings. The crying cleaned out many of the existing goals I had previously set for my life and
created much better ones.<\/span><\/p>

<\/p>

<\/span><\/p>

“It’s also worth noting that while I did cry a great deal, I wasn’t feeling sad at all. The
crying was joyful! I was experiencing the gospel at its root level––the love of God, humility,
compassion, gratitude, peace, increased wisdom and, of course, joy! The Spirit enlightened my
soul in those moments when I cried. I experienced a full spectrum of different emotions,
dimensions of the Spirit that I never knew existed. The crying was my body’s best way of
reacting to all of this<\/span>. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“In our regular gospel doctrine classes, we have the opportunity to learn just exactly
that—doctrine. For surely, there is powerful logic and very sound reasoning present in the gospel
that was restored to the earth for us in 1830. But I must say, I didn’t really discover anything new
in that respect during my trip. <\/p>

 <\/p>

\"I did learn one thing, however, of a factual nature. I learned once again, and more
powerfully than ever, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—our very own
church—is true! <\/p>

 <\/p>

“You might describe my new conversion to the Church like this:<\/p>

 <\/p>

“From the standpoint of science––the discoveries of men with regard to the creation of
the earth and the origin of life––the Church and its teachings stand up fine. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“From a doctrinal perspective––comparing our doctrine to that of other churches and
religions––here, too, the teachings of the Church stand up fine. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“And as we experience life itself through our five senses, enjoying the fruits of the
restored gospel in our daily lives, and seeing the marvelous work done every day by Latter-day
Saints across the world through the many Church organizations, there is a significant amount of
peace we can find there in support of our testimonies.<\/p>

 <\/p>

“But the great power of the gospel, and the lasting desire to fully implement it in our
lives, is not found in any of these areas. To gain a knowledge of Jesus Christ and His mission on
earth, and to develop a strong and unshakeable testimony of this, the Lord’s Church, we must
seek out and receive the Holy Ghost. The full power of the restored gospel is found only there, as
He takes hold of our hearts and quickens our emotions. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“When I returned home from my trip, I was filled with energy and the desire to do much,
much more in life. I wanted to dive into the scriptures like never before, to embrace the gospel
with a greater sense of urgency, to enjoy it more fully, and simply put, to make it the foundation
of all of my life experiences. Such were the great and marvelous things that happened to me
during those weeks when I was traveling in Asia.\"<\/p>

 <\/p>

Grant paused, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“Okay, with those words of introduction, we can now begin the story. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“As you can see, there are paintings on display here that go with the lesson. These works
of art did not come from me. Many of you have met our grandson Jared who has been staying <\/p>

with us. A few weeks ago, I asked him to do a few simple drawings to go with the stories in the
book. What he ended up doing was something quite different. <\/p>

 <\/p>

\"This past week, I came home from work to find a large wooden container in my study
with an envelope attached to the outside. The envelope contained a letter from Jared which
presented a timeline of events over the last few weeks, a chronology of the process used to create
the paintings set before us today. I read the letter once, then twice, reading certain parts even
more. The final paragraph seemed to stand on its own, almost independent of the rest of his
letter. It provided an incredible description of how inspiration and art go together.<\/p>

 <\/p>

\"Jared, in his own way, took a special journey of his own in the gospel. But his
experiences with the Spirit involved paint and canvas. His presentation for you here today is in
art and emotion, not words. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“So, let’s get started. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“Les Miserable<\/i>s <\/i>contains many beautiful parables of the gospel. In particular, I would
like to focus today on the story of the young Cosette. The true depth of this story can only be
appreciated by reading the book. The descriptions of her are some of the most beautiful and
important of any fiction that has ever been written. <\/p>

 <\/p>

“Cosette was an eight-year-old girl. She lived under the care of the notoriously mean
innkeepers, the Thenardiers, a husband and wife described in the book as 'a hideous and terrible
team.' <\/p>

 <\/p>

\"Their roadside inn was located in Montfermeil, a small township along a merchant
access road outside of Paris. The book describes Cosette as follows:<\/p>

 <\/p>

Cosette was beaten unmercifully, that came from the woman. She went barefoot in winter
that came from the man. The poor child was passive and silent. She had a bruised eyelid from a
blow of the Thenardiess‘s fist, which made the Thenardiess say from time to time, ‘How ugly she
is with her black eye!’<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

In the village of <\/i>Montfermeil, it was necessary to fetch water from a considerable <\/i>
distance; the<\/i> end of the village towards Gagny drew its water from <\/i>the magnificent<\/i> ponds which
exist in the woods there. It will be remembered that Cosette was useful to the Thenardiers in two
ways: they made the mother pay them, and they made the child serve them. <\/i>Cossete took the
place of a servant in their house. In this capacity she it was who ran to fetch water when it was
required. So the <\/i>child, who<\/i> was greatly terrified at the idea of going to the spring at <\/i>night, took<\/i>
great care that water should never be lacking in the house.<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

From time to time one of the drinkers looked into the <\/i>street, and<\/i> exclaimed, ’It's as black
as an oven!’ or, ‘One must <\/i>needs be<\/i> a cat to go about the streets without a lantern at this hour!’<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

And Cosette trembled.<\/i><\/p>

All at once one of the <\/i>peddlers<\/i> who lodged in the hostelry <\/i>entered, and<\/i> said in a harsh
voice:--<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

’My horse has not been watered.’<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

The Thenardiess, glancing with a cold stare, and to which Cosette replied faintly, ‘There
isn’t any water.’<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

The Thenardiess threw the street door wide open; ‘Well go fetch some’ <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

Cosette remained motionless, now with bucket in hand, the door open in front of her. She
seemed waiting for somebody to come to her aid. <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

’Get out’ cried the Thenardiess. <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

Cosette went out and the door closed.\"<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

Finishing the story introduction, Grant uncovered the first painting. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Standing in full view, under the display lights of the stand, was something extraordinary!
It was a painting of a sad Cosette clutching the large water bucket in her small hands. She gazed
with longing and a beautiful hope towards a large doll prominently on display in front of a
brightly lit toy shop. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Whispering voices quickly filled the air. This was something to behold! It was
spectacular art and emotion. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Jared had spent untold hours on his own doing stunning work. A small idea or favor had
been requested by Grant; a disproportional and unequal response had been returned back to him
by Jared. A small means was used; a great miracle was the result. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Grant, much like Carolyn, had been embarrassed by how much work that had gone into
the paintings. He felt guilty. It was something he \"wished he hadn’t done.” But with the paintings
now completed and on display for all to see, it was obvious how valuable they were to the lesson.
The Lord had instilled powerful feelings of a different kind within Jared’s artistic expression. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Weeks before, Grant had struggled at the last moment to find suitable reading materials
for his trip and had settled upon Les Miserables<\/i>––perhaps by accident, perhaps by instinct,
perhaps by inspiration. But in hindsight now, everything seemed inspired. In leading the lesson,
he had become a vessel in the hands of the Lord. Assuredly, it was his own personality traits and
mental preparation in play, and certainly Jared’s amazing art work as well, but their ideas were
being magnified. An invisible hand was directing their efforts. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Standing at the pulpit next to the painting, and with small lights focused on the book so
he could read, Grant entered the main subject matter of the Sunday School lesson. It was these
very pages of the book that had overpowered his emotions the most during the trip, causing him
to cry for hours. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Shhh... it was now storybook time for the children of God in Sunday School class, time
for everyone to fold their arms and listen reverently and quietly as the beautiful story was told.<\/p>"}