Eddy Yujra

July 12, 2022 11:15 AM

Confidence, Capability, And Competence

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Confidence, Capability, And Competence

Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for the beautiful music. Brother Hollingsworth, thank you so much for the kind words. This morning my daughter asked me, “How long is going to be your talk?” I was trying to explain and said, “It’s going to be about thirty minutes” and she still couldn’t understand and then I said, “It’s going to be like five pages.” She looked at me and said, “I need to go back to school. It’s going to be recess time.” So, I promise to you, you’re going to be back to your recess time. I’m going to be fast. It is truly an honor to be here. I admire each of you who is making a sacrifice to learn and to work hard to progress in your lives.

SMI Method

I often meet with current and former Ensign College students. It's not surprising when former students tell me that they are using their class projects and class reports to accomplish tasks and projects at their current jobs. Those students will usually tell me stories about how exciting it was to know exactly what to do at their jobs because they have already done similar projects in their classrooms. Those success stories result from a teaching method that President Kusch implemented in 2016. This unique method of teaching is called Subject Matter Immersion, or SMI for short.

“SMI is for everyone. It’s designed to help students succeed. Ensign College graduates will be prepared to lead in the world of work, not simply finding a job. Students will not be provided with a “course syllabus” on the first day of work. They will be required to be self-starters and prepared for the challenges presented to them by their employers.”

The best example to explain how the SMI Method works might be when accounting students are given shoe boxes filled with different receipts on their first day of school. Students are welcomed to the world of accounting and their goal is to prepare an income statement. This could be a reflection of what they may find on their first day at work too. There is no syllabus, no textbook to memorize, only a shoe box with many receipts to organize.

“Students who have developed confidence, capability, and competence will have a better chance to succeed at work after they graduate.”

Now, if only we could have an SMI Method to prepare us for our life challenges here on earth, that would be fantastic. Well, we already have the best method: The gospel of Jesus Christ is the method that will help us prepare and succeed in this life and be ready to go to our next estate.

Gospel of Jesus Christ

I had excellent life teachers. Those were my life changing gospel teachers that guided me throughout my life to show me and teach me about confidence, capability, and competence. I have three stories that will illustrate how blessed I am to be around such wonderful people.

I was born in Bolivia and I grew up in the highest city in the world, La Paz, Bolivia, at 13,615 feet, about 4,150 meters above sea level. To give you a perspective, Mount Timpanogos near Provo is only 11,000 feet high.

Although, from an economic perspective, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and the second poorest on the American continent; Bolivia is a paradise full of mountains, valleys, and Amazon forests. Bolivia has 37 official languages, more than 200 unique folklore dances, about 4,000 varieties of potatoes, and many hard-working and humble people.

Story #1 Confidence

1 John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.”

I am the oldest of four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. My grandma died while delivering my mother. My mother was her only child and she was an orphan until she was about two years old when her godmother gave her away to a couple who lived in the farmlands, far away from the mines where my mother was born. My mother was baptized when I was about four years old. She divorced and decided to raise her children by herself, following the gospel’s teachings.

My mother loved to work at events because she could get paid and sometimes get some free food for our family. I remember my mother was helping in the kitchen of a big wedding in our ward. At the end of the wedding reception, the bride left her wedding ring in the kitchen and forgot about it until later. When she was in the middle of her trip, she called her mother, asking her to find her wedding ring.

They couldn’t find the wedding ring in the kitchen and assumed my mother had taken the wedding ring with her. The next day, early in the morning, the bride’s mother, her relatives, and some church members stopped by my house and started yelling at my mother. They even entered my house looking for the wedding ring and couldn’t find it. They left my home and called my mother a thief.

At that time, I was about ten years old, and I was furious that they blamed my mother without any proof. Later that afternoon, some friends stopped by my house and told me that they had found the wedding ring in the kitchen. However, no one came to talk with my mother. The next day it was Sunday, and I was waiting for them to apologize to my mother, but no one said anything to my mother during or after our church meetings. Finally, when we were walking home, I couldn’t wait any longer and asked my mother, “Are you angry that no one has apologized to you? Why are we even going to church if we are treated that way?” My mother looked in my eyes and answered: “I’m not angry. Yesterday I prayed so they could find the wedding ring, and they did. I go to church every Sunday because I want to thank Jesus Christ for the food and shelter, we were blessed each week.” I will never forget the strong testimony, humility, forgiveness, and the confidence to trust in the Lord that my mother showed me with her actions that day.

Story #2 Capability

Moroni 7:33 “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.”

After I returned from my mission, one of my priorities was to help my family because my mother was the only one who was working full time. At that time, my family was living in a small room with no running water, no electricity, and no plumbing. In Bolivia, like in many other underdeveloped countries, finding a good-paying job could take several months. Many people create their own small businesses instead of waiting to find a job. Life is a little more challenging when you don't have an extended family. My whole family was my mother and three siblings at that time.

I was attending my last year of accounting school and teaching seminary classes at church in the morning. I had little success finding a job and after looking for more than a month, I suddenly remembered that my new bishop, who had just moved into our ward, told me that if I ever needed help to find a job, he would gladly help me. When I met with my bishop at his work office, he told me that there were no job openings. The only job available was to help his boss's wife who was sick, and she already had four people helping her at her home. Although I was looking for an accounting job, I felt I should accept that job that did not pay well and was not related to my degree. That job changed my life in less than one year.

In my new job, helping this adorable senior lady, I met with her daughter who invited me to join her new graphic design company. After a few months of working for her company, I networked with her boyfriend who told me that his mother had a store in the richest part of the city and needed someone for a graveyard shift. I’m so glad I went talk with my bishop that afternoon and applied for that job. I was able to move to a new place with lots of jobs and business opportunities because I was following the promptings of the Spirit. As a result, I had three sources of income now: I was working in a graveyard shift, I had my onsite computer repair business and I was an accounting consultant for small businesses in that area.

My bishop and my family taught me that we can reach goals that look impossible to achieve. Along with my family, I cherish those times when we had to work hard, while going to school and doing our homework by the light of candles late at night. We worked together and we created family ties that will remain forever. Everything is possible with the help of the Lord.

Story #3 Competence

President Thomas S. Monson has said, “Our responsibility is to rise from mediocrity to competence, from failure to achievement. Our task is to become our best selves.” Thomas S. Monson, The Will Within.

One year after I was married, I was called to be in the Bishopric in Bolivia. During one of our Bishopric meetings, we were talking about BYU. I commented that I always wanted to go to BYU, especially when I had mission companions that spoke about returning to BYU and finishing their education. I told the bishop and the first counselor, who were Americans, that I did not have much money, didn’t know English, and I was already married. The first counselor answered, laughing: “You are describing half of the students at BYU right now. You can go to BYU if that is what you want.” It looked like an impossible goal, but I went and talked with my wife, Luz, anyway. Luz told me we should go to the temple to receive the answer about going to BYU. At that time, we had to travel for almost three days to the nearest temple. Once we were at the temple, we felt that warm feeling that the idea of going to BYU might work after all.

It is hard to obtain a visa to the U.S. and even harder for those who do not meet all the requirements. The night before our appointment with the U.S. embassy in Bolivia, Luz had a dream and woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that she had just dreamed about the three questions we would be asked at the embassy. I tried to memorize those questions, and we went back to sleep. Early in the morning, we went to the U.S. embassy, and when the time came for us to be in front of the embassy officer, and we listened to the first question, we couldn’t believe that it was the same question that Luz had dreamed. We just looked at each other and smiled. That day Luz showed me the competence I should acquire to be brave, have faith and always ask for divine help to reach our goals. My wife has that special connection with her Heavenly Father—yes, all women have that special connection with their Heavenly Father.

In 2020, Ensign College and President Kusch received the Beacon Award for Excellence in Student Achievement and Success for its adoption of Subject Matter Immersion in the classroom from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The SMI Method seeks to prepare students to be ready for work when they graduate. It helps them to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in their careers, which are confidence, capability, and competence that will make the big difference for them.

I feel very blessed to have had many challenges in my life; those challenges allowed me to witness and learn from great life teachers, life changing gospel teachers, like my mother, my siblings, my wife, church leaders, and friends. We all have excellent life teachers, life changing gospel teachers all around us. I encourage you to see the good in others and find joy in life, despite the challenges. Watch your parents, siblings, friends, church leaders and co-workers closely. Many of them can show us how we should become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

I am grateful for my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He made it possible for everyone to return home if we use His gift of the Atonement. You will be able to accomplish all that the Lord has in store for you because you were designed for greatness. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

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