Wednesday, December 16, 2009

worried

Brigham went to play at a little neighbor boy's house tonight while I took Mosey to speech therapy. When I picked him up, he told me that he told J about our church. I was a little surprise and asked him more about his conversation. I'm a bit worried about how he came across. Brigham can be a little zealous in his 8-year-old way. We were reading about the "great and abominable church" in our scripture study this week and when I asked him what he thought that church represented, he was quick to say, "all other churches except ours!" Which led to a (I hope) productive discussion on exactly what the great and abominable church is *not*. (i.e. NOT other churches, but instead people and institutions that do not care about God's laws and think that trying to be good is silly.)
He said that he told J that he really needed to go to church and that after he died he would be really embarrassed when he realized that what Brigham had been telling him was right. **Cringe**.
Anyway, I tried to strike a balance between praising Brigham for being a missionary, and also gently giving him some pointers on how to talk to other people about religion.
I sent this email to J's mom, hoping to calm any ruffled feathers that might have occurred. From what Brigham told me that J said, they do not go to church, but they read Bible stories as a family.
Hi M,
Thanks for having Brigham over tonight, he had a good time.
He told me he and J were having a conversation about religion while he was at your house. Brigham tries very hard to be a good boy, and is definitely my most devout child. :-) He's never brought up such topics with other friends, so I was a little surprised to hear what they were talking about.
We have a religious home and so we frequently speak of religious things. I'm not sure how he came across to J, but I know that Brigham can be a little intense about many things, whether about Harry Potter, or multiplication, or God. :-)
It sounded like their conversation was very interesting-- what do angels look like, where is Heaven, what do you do there. I was entertained to hear what some of his answers were. They were not 100% representative of LDS church doctrine. :-)
But I really hope he was not inappropriate and that he did not offend J. I told Brigham tonight that the most important thing to keep in mind when talking to other people about God is to be very sensitive and not say anything that might make the other person feel bad or sad because the thing God wants more than anything else is for all of us to be kind and loving to each other. I told him that he should remember that any time he talks to anyone else about God, his goal should be to make the other person feel good so that he'll want to talk about God again! Brigham said, "I don't really think J will want to talk about it anymore," so again, I'm hoping he wasn't too inappropriate.
Anyway, I hope you understand! Brigham likes playing with J and I will remind him to cool it on the God talk a little in the future.

Was that ok? Too much? Not enough? I would feel terrible if this ends up alienating their family...

4 comments:

StrykerLOVE said...

don't worry that was a nice email and not too intense either. if this mom take offense at that in any way then its her choice and problem and not from what you've written. Also, I think it was a great choice to write to her in the first place. I think I could see how that kind of conversation could leave a strange and confusing impression on both this boy and his mom and it was great you clarified so promptly. But still what a great missionary you have. And who knows maybe this will make it easier to talk religion with this family from now on?!

Rosalynde said...

I think you handled it perfectly, Gabrielle. Your email was pitch-perfect, and I so hope J's mom will respond in kind. Brigham is such a special little boy (like his brothers, of course!)---at his mission farewell you can tell this story and laugh together. :)

Mama said...

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ!" I'm proud of Brigham and proud of you-- I think you handled an awkward situation beautifully and Brigham will learn how to be "zealous but not over-bearing." Wouldn't you LOVE to be able to hear every word of that conversation?! Maybe you could role play some missionary situations for FHE so he knows how to explain the truths he has obviously learned so well and wants so much to share. And we should never underestimate the power of the Spirit to touch the hearts of others... I remember cringing when Eva told me she had talked to Mr. Tubbs at school, so worried about who he was and what Eva might have said and what others might be thinking about her. Foolish me... Give Brigham a hug from me!!

Naomi said...

Amen to what everyone else said. I'd love to hear the rest of the story, when it plays out...