Hello, why religion friends John Hilton here. During my freshman year at BYU I was an

economics major and interned with Merrill Lynch. My goal was to become a financial

planner, but on my mission I fell in love with gospel teaching, especially to teenagers.

My mission president had been a full-time employee of the Seminary and Institute program,

and I hadn't been aware that that was even a career option. So I decided to pursue a career in teaching seminary.

At the time at BYU there was a class devoted to helping people prepare to be seminary teachers.

So I signed up for that

class and it was the class I was most excited for. So it was the first semester

after my mission. I showed up at class and had a very discouraging experience. The teacher essentially said, look most of you

probably won't be hired and you probably shouldn't be in this class and I felt

completely deflated. So I dropped the class but then was was trying to figure out, well, what religion class should I take instead?

I remember that before my mission, I had taken a class from Brother Matthew Richardson and really enjoyed it.

So I decided to sign up for another class from him.

As I walked into his class the next day still feeling really discouraged, he looked at me and he said

John Hilton welcome back. It's so great to see you again I couldn't believe that he remembered my name

Having a teacher who knew me and even knew my name made a huge difference in my life.

If I could recommend only one intervention, if you will,

it would be for teachers,

whether you're a primary teacher or a Sunday school teacher

or a college professor to become what some scholars have called

natural mentors.

An adult that somebody could turn to if they needed help.

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