Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Special needs mutual

Preston goes to a local special needs mutual once a week. They assign him up with a buddy (youth) who watches over him and helps him throughout the night. It is a calling for the youth and you would think most would not like this calling but everyone ends up loving it and so grateful for the opportunity to work with these special kids. It is a great opportunity for the youth to interact with these kids and for kids like Preston who have autism, interact and associate with peers and "normal" kids. He really enjoys it because, quite honestly, they let him do whatever he wants. He already has earned a merit badge with them. Yippee!
They did a road show for all the parents one night. The theme was Who is your hero?  Each one of the special needs kids would go up and say in the microphone who their hero was. Some with and some without help from their buddy. Preston, who is very shy in uncomfortable situations, would not say anything so he whispered to his buddy who then replied "Preston's hero is Elijah." Now to those who do not know Preston probably thought-Wow, he must really love the scriptures and love the prophet Elijah BUT to his parents, who know him well, know he actually whispered...My hero is Aliza (his baby sister). Yep, makes you want to cry.