9. If I But Learn to Do His Will

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"Okay, everyone," Brother Riley announced as he stood to shut the classroom door, "What do you guys want to talk about today?"

Waiting for Sunday had proved to be more difficult than I expected. While the summer days usually breezed by, I had spent every moment since Mutual waiting to see Ezra again. As friends, of course. Texting each other daily just wasn't good enough.

The church classroom featured a long table with cushioned chairs surrounding it, their fabric matching the green carpet. The eight of us were clustered together, sitting as close to one another as the chairs' armrests would allow, with scriptures and notebooks spread out on the table.

Brother Riley, a smartly-dressed middle-aged father, returned to his seat at the head of the table. He had recently moved into the ward — two years ago now — and had brought with him an open discussion about the Gospel not unlike Ezra. Beforehand, Sunday school would entail quietly listening to a rehearsed lesson plan and answering question about the provided material. Brother Riley, instead, encouraged a sort of socratic circle, where we brought our own questions and worked out a resolution together.

Ashley spoke up from across the table. "I was wondering about evolution." Jacob rolled his eyes from beside her and she returned a glare. "I mean, obviously evolution has been scientifically proven. So, like, what about Adam and Eve? What are we supposed to believe?"

Just a week before, I had asked Ezra the same question about Eternal Darkness. What are we supposed to believe? The Church would proudly claim a unity in thought on every subject; we were Mormons, and we weren't supposed to ask why. The Church told us what to believe. When the Church changed its stance on certain topics, a rare occasion, it was always blamed on new revelation. Like when, coincidentally, there was new revelation after the Civil Rights Movement that said black people could finally be full members.

"What do you guys think?" Brother Riley asked, leaning forward on the table.

"I'm pretty sure we don't believe in evolution," Jacob said with folded arms.

Ezra spoke up from beside me. "The Church likes to say they support science. So technically they support evolution. They haven't always, though." We were sitting a little closer than everyone else, his arm draped around my chair.

"New revelations?" I smirked, meeting his eyes.

He smiled. "How'd you know?" His curls were pushed back with gel again, a clean style that brightened his eyes and framed his sharp features.

"Then what about Adam and Eve?" Ashley asked, interrupting us.

"God put them here. I don't know why we're having this conversation," Jacob said, looking to Manny for support. Manny just grunted as he scrolled on his phone.

"Maybe God designed evolution?" Evelyn offered. Her manicured hands pulled at the ends of her hair as Ashley texted beside her.

Brother Riley nodded in thought. "Could be."

Alex decided to join in, finally, putting his phone down on the table next to my scriptures. "But then why Adam and Eve? Like, why were they considered the first ones if evolution led up to them?"

"Maybe they were the first ones with souls," I said, taking his freckled hand to play with his fingers absentmindedly.

"So everyone before them were just empty shells?"

Ezra leaned forward, his arm dropping from my chair to my back, to look at Alex. "I mean, we'd be getting into the reason for souls themselves."

Brother Riley smiled as Jacob rolled his eyes. "I know Jacob's got something to say."

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