This Sunday I finally received my calling in our new ward at church. I was asked to be the priests' quorum adviser. Essentially, that means I'm in charge of the spiritual development of the four 16- to 17-year-old boys in our congregation. Mostly, that's going to take the form of preparing and teaching a lesson at least every other week, but it'll also entail going to a lot of activities, from chapel cleanup to merit badge training sessions to camping trips to service projects.

My dad has always been stuck in some calling relating to the young men, and now I feel like I'm following in his footsteps. I'm getting flashbacks of the time, three years ago, when I took a 70-mile canoe trip with him and a bunch of teenage boys down the Green River in Utah. Halfway through the trip I realized that whenever I was talking to the boys in an authoritative manner, I sounded exactly like my dad, right down to the voice inflections and specific word choice. It frightened me, really. But then, when you consider that my dad was the only Cubmaster and the only Scoutmaster I ever had, it makes some sense that his voice is the voice of Scouting authority to me.

I'm not explicitly a Scouting leader (though I'm sure I'll always be called upon to help out), but I'm sure my dad's voice will come through in a lot of the things I say to the boys. But that's okay with me--my dad has a lot of good advice for young men.

I hope I can really develop a good relationship with these kids. They all seem happy, well-adjusted, polite, and even well-behaved, considering they're teenage boys. I guess my ultimate goal is to help them prepare for a mission and establish habits and values that will be the foundation of their testimony in years to come.

So basically, the eternal salvation of four boys is in my hands. No big deal. I'm already psyching myself up for the responsibility to get my forthcoming daughter to heaven. Except with her, I'm responsible for everything about her.