Donuts

Maysen gave a talk in church today.  She was asked on Friday.  She didn't want any help with it at all.  She did awesome.  As we were walking to church, I noticed that Maysen wasn't carrying anything at all.  I asked her if she had any notes.  Nope.  She didn't need them.  I had so many people come up to me and tell me how impressed they were with her.  Sister Beaudoin said that she needed to get in debate - she is a natural public speaker.  Maysen was a little disappointed that her Sunday School teacher, Brother Kimball, wasn't there.  He would have enjoyed listening to her.

I recorded Maysen's talk.  This is what she said:

Good morning everyone.  I'm Maysen Smith and I was asked today to speak on one of the Young Women values.  I chose Choice and Accountability and so today I'm going to be telling you the donut story. I heard this talk the first time several years ago back in our old ward and I liked it.  I'm very excited to share it with you all.

Our story begins in a seminary class on a Friday afternoon.  The class has just been dismissed and Brother Wood, the seminary teacher there, grabbed an athletic boy as he was heading out the door.  He said, "Jonah, how many push ups can you do?" and Jonah says, "I think I can do 200."  Brother Wood says, "Have you ever done 300?" and Jonah says, "I can try."  Brother Wood says, "On Monday, I want you to do 300 push ups while we're in class, I'll let you know when."  Jonah said, "Okay" and went home.  He did some practicing over the weekend and he got to about 250.

Monday came and Brother Wood brought boxes and boxes of donuts into the class.  He said, "Alright. Who wants a donut?"  Everyone raised their hand.  Brother Wood pointed to the first kid in class and he said, "Mary, do you want a donut?"  She said, "yes".  Then Brother Wood said, "Jonah, would you do ten push ups so Mary can have a donut?" Jonah shrugged and said, "Okay, sure."  He got down, did ten push ups and he got back into his seat.  Brother Wood gave Mary a donut.

Brother Wood then moved on to the next student.  He said, "Amy, would you like a donut?"  She said, "yes", so then he said, "Jonah, would you do ten push ups so that Amy could have a donut?"  And he did.  Brother Wood moved on through the class asking kids if they wanted a donut and asking Jonah if he would do the necessary push ups to give these kids donuts.

Finally he reached one boy and he said, "Brendan, would you like a donut?"  Brendan said, "no".  Brother Wood then said, "Jonah, would you do ten push ups so that Brendan can have a donut?"  Brendan said, "No, I don't want a donut.  I want to do it myself.  I want to do my push ups."  Brother Wood said, "No, Jonah will do your push ups."  So Jonah got down on the floor again and did ten push ups.  Brother Wood gave Brendan a donut.  "Well, I'm not going to eat it." Brendan said.  Brother Wood moved onto the next student in his class.  He said, "Jessica, would you like a donut?"  She said, "No."  Brother Wood said, "Jonah, would you do ten push ups so that Jessica could have a donut?"  

Well, he moved on and on through the class.  More kids were starting to say no, that they wanted to do their own push ups; but Brother Wood never let them.  He made Jonah do push ups.  There were about 30 kids in the class, which is about 300 push ups.  By this point Jonah was staying on the floor because the effort was too much for him to get off the floor and get back in his seat and get on the floor again.  More and more kids were saying no, that they wanted to do their own push ups. Jonah had done about 270 push ups by this point.  More and more kids were starting to come into the class.  They were sitting on the radiators around the room, everywhere they could because they ran out of seats. Brother Wood was starting to get nervous.  He didn't know if he would have enough donuts and he didn't know how long Jonah could continue to do push ups.

Jonah kept doing push ups and kids kept getting donuts.  Sometimes they wouldn't eat them.  Sometimes they would.  When Jonah had done his 310th push up, another kid walked into the class.  Everyone in the class shouted, "No Ronald!  Go away!"  Brother Wood said, "Ronald, would you like a donut?"  Ronald goes, "Of course!"  Jonah did ten push ups for Ronald and Brother Wood gave Ronald a donut.  Every push up was a lot of effort for him as the last few students received their donuts. On the very last student Jonah just barely managed to do his final push up before he collapsed on the ground in total exhaustion.  Brother Wood turned to the class and said, "So Jesus Christ suffered for our sins."

This talk has to do with Choice and Accountability because I think that we choose what we want to do.  We make our choices and we are responsible for them.  Jesus suffered for us so that we could all live in heaven again.  The same with Jonah, who did those push ups for his classmates.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.