A few weeks after I turned 30, I was crying to Greg one night about how I'm 30 and haven't done much of anything with my life. He suggested looking into the Pathway program the church is running in partnership with BYU-Idaho. I had heard of it briefly when the pathway missionaries came to do a 5th Sunday lesson a while ago, but let's be honest, I have a hard time staying awake and paying attention during those meetings.
For the next few weeks I did a little research on what the Pathway program was and how it might be beneficial. I figured, if anything, it will give me something to do. So I signed up. It will only cost me a little over $200/semester this first year, then that same low price will carry over if I decide to continue through BYU-I. Not too shabby, right?
Some of the requirements for Pathway are to attend an institute class, take 1 online class per semester, and attend a weekly gathering with other Pathway students in my area to further discuss what we went over in our online classes. I was a little worried about that part, but it's actually turned out okay.
Institute started a couple of weeks before the actual Pathway class started as it is on the USU schedule. The Sunday before we were asked to meet with the Pathway Missionaries over my class, just as a quick get-to-know you. Greg and I headed over to the tabernacle where we met with Elder & Sister Nye. They are a sweet couple, and I'm excited to have them as our missionaries.
After meeting with them, Greg and I went up on campus where the Logan Institute building is, so we could get a feel of where to go. We get free parking in the terrace, so that's nice, except for the fact that parking terraces frighten me.I always feel like there is a murderer lurking in them.
The institute building is not only huge, but mega confusing. there are so many random floors, and different ways of getting to different sections of the building. I'm pretty sure I would still get lost if I weren't following people from institute to my gathering. It's so weird.
Greg has been going with me to my Thursday gatherings so that I don't have to try to mess with the tickets. It's been nice to have him go with me.
I am taking a Book of Mormon institute class this semester. It's been really good so far. We were originally supposed to have one teacher, then she got sick and was replaced temporarily by another guy who was absolutely awesome. Then they got a new teacher for my last class. He is supposed to be our regular teacher going forward. He's a younger guy, who is easy to get off topic, but is pretty good still. It will be interesting to go through the next few weeks with him. I really have enjoyed learning more about the Book of Mormon and getting different insights.
Right after institute I head to my Pathway Gathering. There are maybe 20 of us in the class. It's been an interesting experience, but i have really enjoyed it. Each week we have a new lesson for our online class, then when we go to the Gathering, there is a lead student who leads discussion on what we learned that week. We are usually broken up into groups where we can discuss different topics. Normally I would hate those things, but it's actually been really neat. My group has people from all over Cache Valley, Preston, and Tremonton, and we're all at different stages in our lives. It's been a great experience so far. I much prefer the gatherings to the online busy work.
As I mentioned previously, each week there is a lead student to lead the discussion. We were all supposed to sign up for a week, and so I signed up...for the very first one. It was the week Greg was in Long Beach, so it was probably not the wisest of ideas, but it was good to get it over with. My topic was the BYU-I Learning Model and the Honor Code. There is a lesson schedule one can follow, which made it really nice. Teaching and being in front of people doesn't really intimidate me any more, so I think it surprised them how calm I was. It was a really great experience to listen as the other groups discussed the different steps of the Learning Model. We didn't get to the Honor Code part due to time constraints, but it's okay. It was really awesome.
It has been a really neat experience so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing with it and see what more I can learn.
For more information on what Pathway is, visit the church's website: https://pathway.lds.org/
