My EFY counselor interview

So yesterday I was interviewed to be an EFY counselor. It was so incredibly exciting and probably the funnest interview process I've ever heard of. First I went into a room with nine other people in it. There we were supposed to fill out name tags and some information about ourselves, get to know each other, and as a group create an ice breaker game.

After this we were led to another room where we were split into two groups and given a scripture mastery scripture. From this scripture we were to come up with company names, company goals, what we would want our EFY kids to remember from our name, and what we would want other groups to think of. My group got D&C 8:2-3. We talked about different company names that could inspire remembrance of the power of the spirit of revelation. We ended up using "Red C" (a name I came up with) to symbolize when Moses parted the Red Sea, but also the red was to help remember heart and mind and that they must both be open to receive revelation and they must be in agreement to use it, and C was for commitments and decisions, because in high school (which is the age all EFY kids are, but also college, which is the age of the counselors) you make so many life-changing and important commitments and decisions. Our main goal we had for the kids was prayer. We wanted them to be able to have at least one meaningful prayer a day. We came up with a few ideas of how they could go about doing that: pray on your knees, say a prayer completely of thanks, say a verbal prayer, write out the things you would like to talk to Heavenly Father about before you started to pray, spend time before and after praying to open your heart and mind to the Spirit.

We were then each individually given a topic to teach a one minute lesson about. We were given 7 minutes to prepare. My topic was on Dress and Grooming as outlined in the For the Strength of the Youth pamphlet. (I luckily had copy with me and was able to use it as a resource.) For my lesson I focused on mainly the respect we show ourselves, others, and our Heavenly Father from dressing properly.

After preparing our lessons we were taken to another room to present our lessons. Before we were to teach we were put back into our groups to create a cheer with our company name. We were given about 10 minutes to do this, so we brainstormed for a little bit and ended up using one of the things I had said in passing (yeah, the fact that I was just saying it for no real reason was a little embarrassing). So we sang ours (naturally, it was a song.) "We can 'C' clearly now the water's gone, there are no more obstacles in our way -- Go Red C!" So as we sang it we acted out Moses parting the Red Sea (yeah, kind of lame...but oh well).

Finally we were able to teach our lessons. We were timed to keep us all at one minute. It was hard, because these were all topics that we loved and wanted to be able to share that love we had for them. But it was amazing to be able to hear the testimonies of all these people I had never met before. Everyone there was absolutely incredible. There was such a spirit of unity and comradery that was so uncharacteristic of a job interview. You could tell that everyone in that room hoped that everyone else could also be an EFY counselor. There was no feeling of competition. Everyone just wanted everyone else to look good, and that was evident by the way the lessons were taught. It was surprising, but even though everyone's topic to teach was different, nearly everyone brought elements of other's lessons into their own. I found it absolutely fascinating.

After we gave our mini-lessons we were each asked a question about something in relation to EFY. The answers were as impressive as the lessons. I don't exactly remember everyone's questions and answers but the spirit I felt in that room was astounding.

My question was "what do you think the hardest thing is facing teenagers today?" It seemed more like the type of question you would get in a class as an essay topic, but I had only a minute to answer it. I said that it was probably their own futures. I was of course thinking about my own life, and that one thing seems to always be at the back of my mind whether I was a Sophomore at Orem High that was worried that I wouldn't make it through high school, standing giving my graduation speech at UCAS, already in possession of a college degree, let a lone a high school diploma, making the choice between attending BYU or UVU, or now, rounding the corner to attaining my BA degree, preparing for a mission, and wondering what on Earth I'm going to do with my life, my biggest obstacle had been my future. So that's what I said. I told the interviewer that even though teens have a million different things thrown at them daily, and a million different decisions to make, the mystery of what the future holds in store for them is a tremendously difficult thing to face. She then followed up the question by asking me how I would be able to help them if they came up to me and asked me for support/guidance. I said that I would listen to what they had to say and then relate to them times in my life where I have had similar problems...I mostly said that cuz it's exactly what I do anyway.

After the little interview we all went home (one of the girls I was interviewed with was kind enough to offer me a ride home). I just wanted to share that with you all. I thought it was so incredibly fun and such an amazing spiritual experience.

~Manda