The Real Test Will Be To See If You Read Through The Doctrine To Get To The Cute Story

On my mission, often the trickiest part of teaching was to get people to feel and recognize the spirit. As I recall, we had entire training sessions on getting people to feel and recognize the spirit. Investigators often wanted an angel to tell them that the Book of Mormon was true and we had to teach that the spirit didn't work that way. The spirit is not in wind, in earthquakes, or in fire, but in a still small voice (1 Kings 19: 11, 12). Paul taught that the effects of the spirit are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, [and] temperance" (Galatians 5:22). And my favorite scripture on how the spirit reveals truth is in the Doctrine and Covenants, when the Lord describes revelation to Oliver Cowdery: "I will tell you in your mind and in your heart" (D&C 8: 2). I think this means that after you think about and study an issue, after you pray about it, if it makes sense in your mind and it feels good in your heart, that is nothing short of God confirming that something is right and true.

I'm not sure that this was the most effective thing to do, but during our discussions with people or after prayers we would ask them, "How do you feel?" To which they would invariably say, "Good." And then we would read the Galatians scripture and say "Did you feel love and peace? These are the feelings that confirm that what you are learning is true." In retrospect, I would have spent more time helping people understand that it is a process and that your own personal study is a big part of that process. Oh well.

We are in the middle of potty-training Talmage. We started about 10 months ago when Talmage saw an elephant go poo at the zoo. It was a Very Significant Event in Talmage's life. First it was funny: "Elephant poo. Funny!" Then it was fascinating, definitely worth a return trip: "See elephant? Zoo? Go poo?" Then it became a demand: "Elephant! Go Poo!" Oddly, the elephant obeyed this command twice. This grew to a delight and interest in poo created by all mammals; every time I pick up Lu's poo on a walk Talmage demands to see it and analyze its color and texture. I thought that if other creatures' poo was amazing, just imagine, IMAGINE, the pride Talmage would feel when he created his own poo right in the potty!

All was going swimmingly until Talmage, in a burst of artistic splendor, went P-O-O in the B-A-T-H. He screamed like ants were climbing all over his body (a recent fear of his) and was sufficiently traumatized that I have to spell large portions of the story when I talk about it for fear that the episode will return fresh in his memory. Talmage was petrified of anything having to do with removing his diaper, and he wore a Little Mermaid swim diaper for months while taking a bath (why Little Mermaid? See here). We called halt on the potty-training.

We've recently picked up the potty-training banner again thanks to a healthy love of treats. Talmage has been sitting on the potty twice a day for the past five days and has consumed about 9.8 lbs of sugar in the process. After reading some literature that encouraged me to set aside some "naked time," Talmage and I headed out to the backyard with him stripped down to his nothins. I had a couple of concerns about this. One, Tyler is panicked that at any time The People might see Talmage naked. Ostensibly, these are the same people who camp out in our front yard and spy on our activities. Two, as mentioned previously, Talmage has heretofore been petrified about The Removal Of The Dipe.

Talmage had been playing naked in his new plastic swimming pool for about an hour when suddenly he looked at me meaningfully and let loose a steady stream of urine. He couldn't have been more proud than if he were a 12-year-old at Boy Scout Camp. I couldn't have been more proud than if he had been a 12-year-old earning his Eagle Scout.

I congratulated Talmage and things started to feel a little familiar when I said, "Did you feel warmth and fullness? These are the feelings that confirm that you are about to go pee." And yes, it is just as tricky to teach a toddler how to feel and recognize the urge to urinate.

All of this reminded me of the entry Sarah Bettinson made in my eighth-grade yearbook: "Feeling the Spirit is like peeing your pants. Everyone can see what you've done, but only you can feel the warmth."