Digital Only: Young Adults
I Thought I Didn’t Need Institute, but It Changed Everything for Me
When I was struggling to find truth, attending institute was the step I needed to take to feel closer to my Heavenly Father.
While I was growing up, attending institute wasn’t necessarily a goal for me. Although Elder L. Tom Perry (1922–2015) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles compared institute to “a shield of protection around you to keep you free from the temptations and trials of the world,”1 I thought that once I attended seminary, that was it! I thought I had learned all I could. My seed of faith was planted, and I was ready to grow. I thought I had all the gospel knowledge I needed to take on the world.
But soon I found all the temptations of the world were staring back at me. For me, the transition into young adulthood was not easy. Seminary had given me the spiritual tools I needed, but I didn’t know how to use them.
My first few years as a young adult were spent between my home in New Zealand and the United States. I had a scholarship to a college in Massachusetts and, as a student athlete, I found that my time and focus were never directed toward church. Near the end of my studies, I had not gone to church or done anything related to the gospel in over two years.
I had unknowingly made myself vulnerable in my spiritual fight against the world.
And the world was winning.
But things changed when I came home to New Zealand to finish my last few years of study. I started dwelling on my guilt and shame about neglecting my spirituality. And after being away from the gospel for so long, I had questions and assumptions about the Church that were consuming my small seed of faith.
As I walked around my university with my head down, I came across the institute building. With a heart heavy and full of questions and a crumb of faith left, I convinced myself to go in. I was skeptical of the gospel and was reluctant to indulge in anything Church related, but I enrolled in a class thinking that it could help me find some guidance.
That one class started me on a path that changed my life. And from it, I learned four valuable lessons.
1. We Are Loved Perfectly
One of the biggest questions I had when I started the class was “Does God still love me?” I was so conflicted about the choices I had made when I had gone away to school. I felt like I had reached a point of no return. But as I continued to attend institute each week, there was always one message in every lesson that stuck with me: “God’s love knows no bounds.”
We may make mistakes, but the gentle reminder from my teacher that our Heavenly Father loves us perfectly was one of my biggest takeaways coming out of each institute class my first semester. I realized that no matter how much we think otherwise, He loves us and wants to guide us.
2. Heavenly Father Wants Us to Ask Questions and Seek Truth
I had so many questions about the Church growing up, but I never felt like I could voice them out of fear of being judged. And as a young adult, I had even more questions.
When I began attending institute, I was focused more on my unanswered questions than on my faith and the truths I did know. And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and stress and anxiety consumed me, I struggled to feel the Spirit. Hoping to feel something, I decided to kneel and say a prayer for the first time in months. Before I said a word, tears filled my eyes as I was enveloped in a strong feeling of love. I pleaded with the Lord to answer all my questions, lighten my burden, and bring me peace.
Soon after that prayer, my institute teacher sat with a classmate and me and asked us what young adults need, as he was hoping to create classes that would address the most common struggles and questions. It was comforting to know how much he wanted to help, and I opened up about how I had been feeling. As we talked through the afternoon about our needs as young adults in the Church, I found an answer to my prayer in my classmate’s words.
I realized that I wasn’t the only one with questions and that they weren’t anything to be ashamed of, like I had previously thought.
I felt spiritually uplifted after that conversation, and I was confident for the first time that Heavenly Father cared about my questions and that He would help me find answers in time.
3. We Can Learn from Like-Minded Young Adults
Young adults in the Church are on different paths and have different outlooks, and it can be hard for us to find common ground with one another. But the one thing that we do have in common is the gospel.
With my growing involvement in institute, it was amazing to hear from young adults with so many unique experiences finding their spiritual footing in their fight against the adversary.
The isolation I had been feeling started chipping away when I was at institute. Through constant fellowship and conversations about the gospel, I built friendships, and the influence of these friendships blessed and inspired me to keep building my faith.
4. We Must Build Our Own Testimony
As a youth, I went to church because my parents wanted me to. My testimony of the gospel was only a shadow of theirs. But as I continued to grow and seek truth at institute, I learned to stand on my own testimony instead of hiding behind my parents’ testimonies. The seed of faith I had planted years ago started to sprout rapidly since my institute classes provided it with the soil and nutrients it needed to flourish.
Ultimately, institute has played a great role in my conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Institute continues to help me grow my faith and has provided a safe haven for me to ask difficult questions. Although I have been a member all my life, it wasn’t until I attended institute and learned to apply gospel principles in my life that my testimony became sincere and, more importantly, mine.
Participating in institute provides opportunities for numerous blessings for young adults. President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018) promised, “As you participate in institute and study the scriptures diligently, your power to avoid temptation and to receive direction of the Holy Ghost in all you do will be increased.”2
I reiterate and emphasize these promised blessings of institute from our past beloved prophet. My constant battle in trying to keep up with the changes of young adulthood became easier when my testimony of the gospel became stronger. Participating in institute helped me develop my testimony, which truly became my shield in avoiding the temptations of the world, and through the constant scripture study alongside my fellow young single adults, I saw how institute is truly a divinely inspired program from our Heavenly Father.