Graduation Speech: Stephanie Lebaron

Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Stephanie LeBaron, and I have been a member of Lake Ontario ward for about nine months now. Originally, I am from Calgary, Alberta, and growing up there, I was surrounded by family members and friends both in the gospel and out. As soon as I hit the ‘mid-single years’ though, the peer group that had supported me through my teens and twenties seemed to slowly dissipate. Whether friends got married and started families, moved away, or took up with other people, I found that I was sorely lacking in a core group of individuals that were having similar experiences and living a parallel lifestyle as a mid-single member of the gospel. And while Calgary is a large city with a strong legacy of church membership, it does not have a dedicated ward for the mid-singles to attend.
Imagine my delight then, when I discovered after moving to Ontario, a ward such as this, practically in my backyard. I think there is something so valuable in meeting with a wide cross section of intelligent, humorous, adventurous, and creative individuals that also share a love and dedication to the gospel of Jesus
In times of terror and uncertainty, opportunities for good works abound. 1 Corinthians 13:13 reads: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” These three ideals are so inter-related, you cannot have one without the others. My grandpa had a farm when I was a child, and we used to go out and help him with milking the cows. The three legged stool we sat on wouldn’t have been nearly as comfortable, grounded or stable had it only had one or two legs. The three principles of faith, hope, and charity similarly give us a stable foundation in these rocky