Each of you who teach
seminary and institute has the desire of the
heart to be an angel. This is good, but it
is a great temptation to play the part
of the Pied Piper and to figure that you're going
to gather them around you, and that their love for you,
and that you will love them into their testimony,
and to feel if you can become very popular,
you can lead them as their role model and make a
difference in their lives. This is all good. However, I want to say while
this is true to a degree, it is one of the greatest
mistakes when a teacher turns the students to themselves
rather than to The Lord. As teachers, we must
ponder about this. There is nothing more dangerous
than when a student turns their love and attention to
a teacher, in the same way a convert sometimes does to a
missionary, and not the Lord. And when the missionary leaves
or when the teacher leaves, then they conduct their
life in a contrary way. The student is devastated. His testimony falters. His faith is destroyed. The really great teacher
is careful to have the students turn
themselves to The Lord. Once we have touched
the lives of the youth, we have to turn them to
God the Father and His Son, our redeemer and
savior Jesus Christ, through prayer, study, and
application of those things that they are taught
in gospel principles to do in their lives.