Missionary Moment and Mingle

Yesterday was our program. It was beautiful, and everyone worked so hard on it, including the kids.

Saturday we had a pizza party/practice where we bribed the kids to memorize their parts for pizza.  I would say more than half of them had their parts memorized, so that is a definite win!

My friend helped me make some fliers to pass around to remind the kids about the program practice Saturday morning as the week before had been Stake Conference and I knew they had forgotten. When I dropped the fliers off, many parents confirmed that fear.

Here is the cool thing, though. While I was out delivering fliers, I came to a house on my map (I still don't know where everyone lives as we have been in the ward less than a year). The house was labeled with the same name as one of my counselors. Confused by this as I thought they lived in another part of the neighborhood, I knocked on the door. A man came to the door who I did not recognize and who I knew was in no way related to my counselor. I told him I was looking for the [Smith] family, and he confirmed that [Smith] was indeed his last name. We got to talking, and it turns out he has a kid in the primary. I asked him why they haven't been to church in so long, and he said there was no reason, they just hadn't. They were lazy, he guessed. His parents are currently serving a mission, so he and his wife both came from good strong in the Church households, they just sort of fell out for no reason at all. As I talked with him, I was impressed that me finding him was no accident. I know his parents have been praying for him, and I feel I was led to knock on his door. It was really a very neat experience for me, and I am excited to be able to be in touch with him.

I invited him to come to the program on Sunday, and for his son to come to the program practice and at least get some pizza, but they weren't there. Here is the thing, though. It doesn't matter that he wasn't there. I found another child in our ward who is not on our records who had fallen through the cracks. I can absolutely feel the Lord's hand in directing me and helping me to find those who aren't on our records and who aren't attending. The ball is in my court now, to help the teachers get out to visit the people that I am finding. What a beautiful and amazing experience it is to know I am being used as an instrument in the Lord's hands to find his children and help them to feel of his love.

The primary program is such an amazing missionary tool. The primary is like a little gospel sharing army who doesn't have the same fears and reservations that we as adults have built up over the ages. Taking this into account, my presidency and I made invitations for our program and gave them to the children with the instructions for them to invite their neighbors, teachers, bus drivers, coaches, and anyone they wanted to come to the program and learn more about what we believe. After the program we would have an open house with treats and the missionaries would have a little something prepared to share with everyone who came. Then it would just be a mingle where the missionaries could do some contacting, and members could do some greeting and maybe even fellowship.  It is a win/win ward mission experience. We passed out invitations to the Relief Society, the Priesthood, and the Young Women on top of giving invitations to our primary kids. We were very optimistic that we would have a good turn out.

Unfortunately, it was a bust. Leading up to it, I was very excited and worried about the Missionary Mingle, more so than I was about the program. It was the first year of doing it, after all. Sadly, not one person showed up. Not even the missionaries. Some of the primary kids did stop by for cookies, and seeing their smiles certainly was wonderful. Hopefully next year we will have a lot more success. Also, I am hoping to ask some of the other auxiliaries to help us plan and execute it next year. Perhaps with more help there will be a better turn out. This is, after all, possibly one of the best ways that we, as a ward, can have an incredible missionary experience.

Christ's Enabling Power

** This was originally posted on my personal blog Involuntary Smiles, but it is completely relevant for this blog as well.

Woman Praying Vincent Van Gough 1883

It started out simply lovely, Sunday morning.  There was a gorgeous drizzle but the house was warm, and the kids were all happy.  I sat with Faye, playing with her hair while she and Beth ate monster cereal out of the box, scattering it all over my floor and then walking on it.  But I didn't care about that.  Quite frankly, it made me laugh.

And then my phone rang.  

And chaos ensued.  

One of my primary teachers was sick and was letting me know that she wasn't able to get a sub.  She could barely talk, and my throat ached for hers as I listened to the scratchiness on the other end.  I assured her we would find someone to take her class and thanked her for calling and letting me know, rather than just not showing up as some teachers do.

Thinking there would be no problem, I called the helper for that class.  She had had a baby about 2 months prior and had not yet been to church, but had assured me she would be there that week.  I called her to see if she would be there and if she could possibly throw a lesson together last minute. She didn't answer, so I left her a message and set about looking for someone else as we are supposed to have two teachers for each class.

As I was busily calling around to find a sub, I got a text from a sub for one of the other classes who told me that she had a very sore throat and had been up all night and so couldn't make it either.  And yet another teacher let me know that she wasn't going to be there either (she had a 2 week old baby so was excused).  My first counselor, I knew wouldn't be there either as she also had a newborn.  My second counselor texted me to tell me she had a migraine and wouldn't be able to make it either.  That left my third counselor, my secretary and me to pull things off, but I wasn't too worried because the missionaries were going to teach sharing time, so I could help out with whatever.

I called like crazy and eventually, after no one answered their phones, or told me they couldn't sub, it was decided my secretary and her husband would teach one class.  I was still crossing my fingers for the teacher helper to be able to show up and help us out there.

She called me around 10 (church starts at 11, keep that in mind) to let me know that she wouldn't be coming to church, her baby was just diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and so doctor's orders were that the baby stay home for a year so as not to die.  Scary stuff!  I talked with her about possibly releasing her if that would help her, and she said she would think about it and get back with me.  My heart just breaks for her!

By this time, I was a little panicky, but knew we could figure something out.  I decided to start getting myself ready for church.

At 10:30 I got a text from the missionaries saying they were both sick and wouldn't be able to come teach sharing time.

I fell onto my bed laughing to the point of tears streaming from my eyes.  I am not sure if I was actually laughing or if it was a covert way to cry.  Wow.  What a morning!  I frantically threw some things together to prepare a sharing time about the ripples we create in our lives, and through our actions we can fill up those empty chairs that are drowning out our primary (60% inactivity, people). I texted the Elders to ask if there was anything they needed as I remember how lousy it is to be sick on your mission.  They requested soup.  I told them I would make some and get it to them after church.

Half way through primary one of my best teachers told me she had just spoken with the bishopric about being released.  And then I remembered my visiting teachers were coming over right after church.

So, with nearly all of my inner strength tested, we took the kids to sacrament (my ward has that last), and then rushed home to clean.  Because I had to clean up the mess I had made that morning by neglecting my kid in an effort to find subs, and let me tell you, they took advantage of my absence! The house got cleaned, my visiting teachers helped me make the soup, we visited, and then I delivered the soup.

It was a very hard day, but not a bad day.  Just hard.

I look back at that day and really just have to smile.  I wonder if sometimes things like that happen for us to be able to look back on with amusement and just laugh.  I mean, really, could anything else have gone wrong?  Probably.  I am so grateful it didn't though, and I am so relieved to see the very obvious hand of the Lord in that day, supporting me, helping me to not choke and run away to hide. In General Conference this weekend there was a talk given by Cheryl A. Esplin which really hit me. In essence she talked about Christ's enabling power, how part of the atonement is looking and seeing how the Savior carried you. Last Sunday was absolutely one of those times I was helped to serve beyond my capacity!  I honestly couldn't have done it without His help, because seriously, everything seemed to fall apart all at the same time.  What a blessing it is to have an understanding albeit small, of the atonement of Jesus Christ!  What a blessing it is to be able to see it at work in my life! To have been carried through that whole day, I truly couldn't have done it all without help, and how grateful I am for all the help I received, and do receive daily.

For a morning that began so calmly, it sure morphed into the Hulk quickly!

I look forward to the day when my Sundays can be a day of rest again. But I wouldn't trade the things I learned for anything!

Through the Cracks

Google image

I have been thinking a lot about the sweet family I met yesterday.

While talking to the mother, she mentioned that she has lived her for three years.

I asked the bishopric counselor over primary if he could tell me anything about the family, and he didn't even know they existed!  I mean, he knew that someone lived in that house, but he didn't know they were members.

Which got me thinking.

They have been here for 3 years, and they were lost as to the records of the Church.  A few neighbors knew about them, but not many.

When I was a child, I knew everyone in my neighborhood.  Quite literally.  I was a papergirl and so I even knew the families without children in the home.  I knew everyone.  It saddens me so much that my children are growing up in a time where no one knows their neighbors.  People don't go outside anymore.  There is so much less human interaction.

I think if there had been more human interaction, this family would not have fallen through the cracks.  Which leads me to wonder about other families.  How many other families are in our ward that we simply don't know about?  How many other people are feeling lost or alone because we as a society are to scared to talk to others?

And the most important question of all.  What can I do about it?!

No Empty Chairs

Photo Courtesy of In Focus Daily

As a presidency we have been planning a teacher training for a few months now.

Today was the day we finally did it, and I am happy that most of the teachers showed up!

Our theme was Behold Your Little Ones.  We had decided to each take a topic within that theme and to expound upon it.  I was to talk about loving each other as we would a family, and noticing when someone is not there, and doing something about it.  Kati (my 1st counselor) was to talk on loving the children the way the Savior does, and not labeling them, and Natalie (my Secretary) was to talk about different ways we can show them we love them.

I had such a busy week, this past week, that I really hadn't had a lot of time to prepare anything.  Our meeting was to be at 6, and at 5:15 I left my house, walked over to the church, and began praying for the Spirit, and preparing what I was going to talk about.  

I want to share my portion here, as it was very poignant to me and honestly left rather an impact on me.

I pulled out of our cupboard the name sticks we have for the primary.  We have the less active kids and the active kids separate for the mere fact we don't want to have to pull out the ones who don't come every week.  We just keep our regulars in the jar, and if someone who hasn't come for a while shows up, we simply add their name to the regulars.

I am just going to put this down here, as if you, dear reader, were there listening to me.  

I am so grateful for the blessing I have been given to work here in the primary with you.  You are all so wonderful, and I can see the love you have for the children, and I am so happy that the kids are so well loved that they are excited to come on Sundays.  When the Bishop called me to be the President, he told me that there was less than 20% activity in the primary.  I felt completely overwhelmed and inadequate.  And slightly excited for all the missionary work I would be able to do.  Slowly, we as a presidency have been making changes.  We have split the classes so that each age group has their own teacher.  We split the Junior and Senior primaries, believing that doing so would show the Lord the faith we have that the kids will begin to come.  Sort of an "if you build it, they will come," sort of thing.  We have had to convince the bishopric to let us make some of the changes we have been making, but everything we have done has been in preparation for a surge of activity.  

Look at these jars.  The sticks in these jars look nearly even, don't they?  I am so happy to announce that the bishop was sorely mistaken.  We do not have less than 20% activity in the primary.  We have about 40% activity!  Which is so much better than what I was told.  The children in our ward are so special, and I know that each and every one of them have something they can contribute to our primary.  We need to find them and invite them and love them.  We need to help them to have the desire to come to Primary each week.  We need to help make sure they are receiving their saving ordinances so they will be able to return and live with Heavenly Father.  We must prepare each and every one of them for baptism, and once they are baptized, help them keep the covenants they made on their baptism day.

President Hinkley had a family motto.  No empty chairs.  That means that when he is in Heaven with his family, he doesn't want to look around and see a single empty chair.  He doesn't want to see a spot where someone didn't make it.

We should have the same attitude with our primary children.  Each class should have a no empty chair policy.  I know that it may seem overwhelming, because some classes have an intimidating amount of less actives.  We are aware of this.  We have been praying for you, and trying to find ways to help you with the large lists.  It isn't realistic to expect you to be contacting each child every week if you have 20 kids who aren't coming.  We understand that.  For that exact reason, we asked the bishop if we could have Diana work with us.  She was called as a third counselor, but her reason for being called is to help you.  She is in charge of working with you teachers to help your classes have no empty chairs.  Talk with her.  Let her help you with ideas, finding ways to reach out to those children.  She has a very unique perspective and will be able to help you.  We don't want any of you to feel overwhelmed or like you can't do it because there is simply too much.  We as a presidency are here to serve you.  To help you help those seats fill up.

While reading and preparing for this meeting, I read a talk that suggested primary teachers contact the parents.  It mentioned the strength teachers can give to not only the children, but the parents as well.  The parents will see that you genuinely love their children, and that could help them.  Find ways to interact with the parents.  Work together.  Share insights or concerns you may have about their children.  Share with them what their children are learning in Primary.  I think with the unique situation our Utah ward has with less active children, this may be a tool that can help us so much.  If we reach out to the parents, chances are they will begin coming to church as well.  And if not, at least they will be comfortable with letting their kids come to church, because they will know who is teaching their children.  Build that trust with the parents.  Love the children.  Pray for them.  Let us have a face for each and every name.  I don't want to separate the calling on names anymore.  I don't want to have a pile of less actives and a pile of active children.  I want to have one primary.  One jar of names, because the kids who come have reached out to the ones who haven't come and told them that they are missed.  The ones who currently aren't coming will be here every week because they know they are loved and missed when they are not here.  We are brothers and sisters, literally.  We have Heavenly Parents who are so pleased with all of the hard work you do as teachers.  You do so much already, and we are so thankful for that.  But we need to do a little more.  Ask for our help.  Ask for Diana to help you.  Ask the kids in your class to help you!  Let's get them coming to church where they can feel the Spirit and your love.  

I know that if we put forth an effort, the seats will be filled.  I know it will be hard, and daunting, but I know that we can get these seats occupied with children.  And if we can get the children to come, eventually the parents will come.  Strengthening the primary means strengthening the ward.  We will be able to see miracles happening before our very eyes, I promise you.  We have already seen miracles.  Today we had 3 less actives come to church, 2 of whom we didn't even know about.  No one even knew they were in our ward.  If we have faith and work hard, these chairs will not be empty, and we will witness miracles!

As I was walking home from the church after our meeting, I saw my friends as they were leaving their house.  We visited briefly because the wife is my visiting teaching companion.  In the course of our visit, they told me about a family who lives across the street from them.  A mother and father who are members, but whose records are not in our ward.  The children want to come to primary, but the mother works on Sundays, so can't take them.  The mother wants them to go to church, but the whole work thing makes it rather hard.

I was so excited to learn about them!  I walked over to their house, introduced myself, and talked with the mother for a while.  We talked about her kids, what we could do to help them get to church, and who she knew in the area that she could maybe trust to take her kids if she couldn't go.  Understandably, she didn't take me up on my offer to stop by and give them a ride as she had just met me.  But she did say she would love to have their teachers come by to visit them during the week, so she could meet the teachers and get to know the people who would have her children in their care. It was so wonderful to be able to find another family that we could work with.

I know that learning about that family was the beginning of a miracle.  Or more of the No Empty Chairs miracle that we are already witnessing.  I feel so blessed to be trusted with such a sacred calling, and to be able to be a part of this holy work.

Unexpected Callings

As previously stated, when I was called as primary president, I was told that the primary has less than 20% activity.

I am happy to say that this statement is wrong.  We actually have about 40% activity and 60% less actives.  Which is still a lot, but it is a lot less daunting than what I had originally thought.

Since May, I have requested that the bishop call about 6 new teachers in addition to the ones we already had, as we split all the classes.  We will be requesting that 4 more are called at the beginning of the year as we feel it would be best to split the Valiant boys and the Valiant girls.  We feel this way will be better for re-activation efforts.  That isn't even mentioning the nursery or cub scouts!

On Sunday, our CTR 4 teacher requested that we get another helper in her class as the kids are wild and crazy and honestly hard for 2 teachers to handle, especially during Sharing Time.  Funnily (or sadly), the two worst kids in that class are my daughter and my first counselor's daughter.  Go figure. They are just a couple of Chatty Cathy's who are incredibly enthusiastic about everything.  Not necessarily bad, but very distracting for all the other kids in the class.  If all goes well, we will be getting a third teacher for that class.

For the past few weeks, it has been me, my very pregnant first counselor, and my secretary.  My second counselor was released a few weeks ago.  She has a lot of health problems and many other things on her plate right now, the calling was a bit too much on top of everything else.  We have been ridiculously overwhelmed of late without her, and today I was informed that we now have a second counselor!  On top of that, we submitted a name for a third counselor.  We had originally asked for a less active specialist, but because that is a calling I made up, we changed the name to third counselor (because we knew we would be working closely with her) and submitted that.  Tonight I was notified that the name we submitted for that suggested calling has been accepted, she has been called and she accepted!  We are so excited to have help again!

When we did have a full presidency, we were still not able to visit any of the classes, but now, with our third counselor, it will be possible.  I cannot express my joy to be working with these two special women who have accepted the call to help us in the primary.  I am overjoyed!

I know that miracles are happening, and it is such a privilege to be able to witness firsthand the Lord's hand in this work.  We have great plans to help the children make it to church and to help their testimonies grow.  What a blessing it is to be a part of such a great work.

Inspiration causes Perspiration

I was gearing up to teach a 5th Sunday lesson, taking the first lesson from September since we will be losing a day due to the dedication of the Ogden Temple.  This way we would be right on track.  However, after not having a chorister for a month and a half, we are so excited to finally have one, and want to do all we can to help her get on track.  We tried to teach the kids the songs during the time of no official chorister, it was just hard for them to actually learn them when there were so many different teaching styles.  Because of that, we decided it would probably be best to let our wonderful new chorister have the whole time to go over all the songs and find out which songs they know, and which need work.

We are so excited to have our chorister!

An idea I have been toying with is that of a third counselor.  Actually, I was initially calling it Less Active Specialist, but after counseling with my counselors, we decided it would be better to call it a third counselor because we will need to work closely with her anyway, and it will sound a lot less overwhelming to the one being called.  Firstly, we need this position because we have 60% of our Primary is less active.  When I was first called, I was initially told it was less than 20% activity, but having gone over the roles and learning about the families and kids more, I have learned that it is actually more like 40% activity.  Which is a huge difference!  That said, the majority of the less actives are in one class.  The teachers are amazing.  It is a couple, and the husband is a former bishop, the wife a former Relief Society president.  They are wonderful with trying to contact all of their less actives each week, on birthdays, etc.  But they are older, have health problems, and expecting them to contact 20 kids on their own each week is just not fair.  In thinking about that, I was trying to figure out a way to help them.  I realized releasing them would not fix the problem, it would just shift the burden from them onto someone else.  And we don't want to lose them!  Which is how I came up with the idea of Less Active Specialist.

The Less Active Specialist would help and encourage teachers to contact the kids not coming to their classes each week, and try to help them find new ways to help those kids be more comfortable.  Also, with the humongous classes (there are actually 2), they could help the teachers with that responsibility of contacting the kids.  That way it doesn't rest on the shoulders of one teacher.

As a third counselor, she could help us out exponentially!  My second counselor is very nearly having a baby and so will be out caring for the baby often.  As it stands right now, we don't have enough hands to be able to do all the things that need to be taken care of on Sundays.  We have the person conducting, who the bishop has requested sit behind the pulpit as the one presiding over the meeting.  We have the person who does the Sharing Time, and then there is the floater who is the one who breaks up chatty/fighting kids sitting in the Primary congregation, monitors the halls for straying children, and reminds the kids who are playing in the bathroom that they need to get back to class.  She also checks on the nursery periodically, and watches the doors for a picture of Jesus which tells us that there is a problem in a class that we need to step in and help out with.  We are also supposed to be visiting classes, but that is not feasible right now.  We really don't have enough hands.  Our Secretary, well, I don't know exactly what she does, but I know she is very busy and I am just grateful I don't have her job.  She is our life float and without her, we would be so lost on Sundays!  If we had that third counselor, we would be able to rotate and do classroom visits, which would, I think, help us be more in tune with the needs of both the teachers and the children.

I'm going to be honest, I don't envy the Sister who receives this call.  It will be a lot of hard work.  A lot.  But as they say, 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.

Now to convince the Bishop that this is a genuine need, and have him call the person whose name we submitted.

It's a waiting game.

But at least I have more time this week, not having to plan a Sharing Time!

Keeping the Sabbath Holy

Sunday is right around the corner, and with that comes Sharing Time.  I haven't been slacking this week, I have honestly been praying and thinking, trying to come up with a way to teach the children this week's lesson.  The truth is, I have been having a hard time hitting on the right thing. However, last night we had a Presidency Meeting, and in that meeting we talked about the behavior of some of the children during Sacrament meeting.

Before I go on, I have to say, I know that they are little kids, and sitting still for a little kid can be incredibly difficult.  I get that.  I have a four year old who never runs out of energy and I always go into Sacrament meeting with a secret dread, because I never know how she will act or what she will do.  So I understand the difficulty of getting the kids to behave during that meeting.  I am not using this as a platform to judge or to preach.

We are counseled to follow the Spirit, and to prepare a Sharing Time that is beneficial to the needs of the children in our own particular wards.  While there are many fun ideas out there for keeping the Sabbath day holy, I think I am going to focus our Sharing Time on being reverent during Sacrament meeting.  At least for the older kids.

I am going to try to have either our Bishopric counselor or the Bishop come in and talk to the children.  We will begin by singing To Think About Jesus (CS 71). The Bishop or whoever is there will then talk. I want him to talk about why we have the sacrament, how it relates to the Atonement, and how it relates to us. I want it to be a discussion, not a lecture, and I really want the children to learn the importance of this sacred ordinance of which they participate each week.  Once they understand the importance of it, I think it will be easy to talk about how to behave during the sacrament.  And then, of course, I want to tie it all in with something along the lines of "partaking of the sacrament is one of the ways we can keep the Sabbath day holy."

I am praying that the Spirit will be there, and that the children will be able to feel the importance of how their behavior effects not only how they view the sacrament, but how it disrupts or encourages others.

For the Junior Primary, we will do something much more fun.  I am borrowing an idea that I found from a lady named Stephanie Perrin.  I am going to have my husband draw a picture of a child. I am going to cut out little dots from colored paper, and have activities written on the dots.  If the activity is not keeping the Sabbath day holy, I will have them place the dot on the child.  There may be a few songs thrown in there for variety.  We will then talk about keeping ourselves "unspotted" from the world, followed by testimony. I think they will have a lot of fun with that one, and it should go fairly smoothly as there are a lot of kids in Junior Primary.

Finally, I will pass out a coloring page I found on Melonheadz LDS Illustrations blog for the kids to work on during Sacrament meeting because we have Primary first and Sacrament last.

Presidency Meetings

Last week's Sharing Time was a phenomenal success!  I have been told by several parents that their kids have been talking non-stop about Scripture Power, and even pretending to be the Super Hero.  That makes me so happy!  Most importantly, though, even though we were able to have fun with it, the Spirit was still there when I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the power of the scriptures.

To be honest, I am struggling a bit with this week's topic, Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.  I have had a lot going on this week, though.  I found out that my second counselor is being moved to another calling, and so I have had the added stress and worry of finding a new counselor.  When I was called in May, we had only lived in the ward a few months, so it was very easy to rely on the inspiration given me from the Spirit.  I had the ward list, prayed about finding the names, and then went through and stopped on the names I was impressed to.  It was very easy to do it that way and I wish I could do that again.  I know, it is a silly problem, and I know that I will find a counselor soon, I just wish it were easier.

We have been in the Primary presidency for three months is all, really.  I know that every presidency works differently, and so finding an agenda that worked for us took a lot of trial and error.  Last night we had a presidency meeting, and I am pleased to say, I think we may have finally hit on an agenda that will work for everyone of us!  I have never shared a document online before, so I really hope this works, but here is our agenda that was pieced together from many that I found online.  It seems to be the perfect outline for us to follow.

Primary Presidency Agenda

Hope this can be of some use to you and your primary!

Scripture Power

Image found here

I am so excited for this week's Sharing Time!  The theme for this week is Scripture Power.

I want to rush into the Primary room with my son's cape on, that I will put a giant SP on the back.  I am debating the whole mask around the eyes but that might be a bit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtley for me.

Good morning, boys and girls.  I am the new super hero in town!  My super power is the most powerful one of all, and with it, I am able to thwart the most evil of all evils.  My muscles are so big, my sleeves can scarce contain them (flex here).  What?  You don't believe me?  Gasp!  Well, I will just have to prove it to you!  My super power is Scripture Power!  With my scriptures, with just the words written inside this leather, I can change the very course of a man's life!  You don't believe me?  Let me tell you a story of a man.

A few years ago, I met a man named Tony.  He was a mess.  He smoked a lot, drank a lot, didn't ever have any money, and was living with his girlfriend.  He was miserable!  One day, he found a box outside of his apartment door.  The box was filled with books.  Books that the next door neighbor had accidentally left when he moved out and the landlord was getting ready to throw them away.  Tony glanced at the box of books, picked up the small blue book with the gold lettering on it, tucked it into his back pack and walked away.  He forgot about the book.

A few months went by, and Tony found the book in his backpack again.  He was selling doughnuts in the park and it was a slow day.  He was tired and bored, so he sat down in the shade of a tree and began reading.

He read, and read, and read that book.  While he was reading, he decided he probably shouldn't be smoking.  It didn't feel right to be smoking while reading that book.  So he quit.  Right then and there, Tony quit smoking, and he continued reading.  A few days later he decided he should't be drinking alcohol.  So he quit.  He went into his kitchen, took out all of his alcohol and dumped it down the drain.  A week or two later, he was nearly finished with the book and decided he needed to move out of his girlfriend's apartment and he needed to break up with her.  He felt like what he was doing was wrong, so he tried to change it.  He finished reading the book, and decided he liked it so much, he would start over.

One day, while he was reading, a man approached him and asked to buy 5 dozen doughnuts, but they needed to be delivered to his house the next day.  Tony was happy to comply, and the next day showed up at the address the man had given him with 5 dozen doughnuts.  The man opened the door, and took the doughnuts, and invited Tony inside.  On the wall was a picture of a man, the same picture that was inside his book.  Tony got really excited and asked the man who the picture was of.  The man smiled, and invited Tony to sit down.  He introduced him to two men who had the same first name, Elder, and told him the picture was of a man named Joseph Smith, and the two Elders could tell him all about it.

Tony was baptized shortly after that.  He still sells doughnuts, but now, he uses the superpower that he gained from that little blue book to try to help other's change their lives.

I am Scripture Power, and unlike other Super Heros, I share my power with all who want it.  Who wants scripture power (holds scriptures high in the air)? What do you have to do to get it?

Now, Scripture Power is incredible, because it can even fight off the evilest of the evil.  The Devil himself.  A long time ago, when Jesus was on the earth, he was communing with God, and the devil thought he would be able to trick Jesus into worshiping him.  But Jesus had Scripture Power.

Have Sr. Primary read Matthew 4:1-11.  Have leaders of Jr. Primary read the same.

Anytime the devil tried to tempt him, Jesus said "it is written..." and then quoted a scripture to him.  What gave Jesus strength?  How?  Jesus knew his scriptures very well, and so wasn't able to be tricked.

Discuss how first we must obtain the word.  Next we have to understand, believe and internalize it, and then, after we do those things, we will have the strength of Scripture Power, able to fight off all kinds of evil!

Share the Books of Mormon the Elders bring by.  We are going to share our Scripture Power so that more people can have the great spiritual strength to resist temptation, like Jesus did, like Tony did, and like we can do.  Ask the kids to write their testimonies in the scriptures, and we will give them back to the Elders.  We need to pray for the missionaries, that they will find people who will appreciate and be touched by the testimonies and want to learn more.  The Elders will come back in about a month to share with us what happened to all those scriptures.

Bear testimony on the power of the scriptures, and how they can help us in our lives. Pass out Scripture Power handout.

Reading chart found at ds4bs.blogspot.com 

*** When I went in to the primary room, wearing my SP cape, I had the pianist playing A Young Man Prepared from the Children's Songbook.  It is the most super hero-y song I know of in the church music.  It went really well, and the music gave the perfect touch! ***

August 2014 Week 2: Family Home Evening

I figured the best way to teach about FHE was to have FHE with the kids.  After Singing Time, I had the kids stand up and follow me to the side of the room.  The Senior Primary got to sit on chairs in a semi-circle around me because there were only 6 there today.  Junior Primary had to sit on the ground around me.  I borrowed a FHE board from one of my counselors, made little name tags to hang from her board and intended to write the kids' names on the name tags and hang them on their assignments.  But I forgot where I put the tags, so we just used our imagination.  

I assigned a child to do one of the parts of FHE:  

Opening song: Families Can Be Together Forever (someone led the music)

Opening prayer

Scripture: I taught them how to use the topical guide to look up a scripture on the topic being taught

Lesson: I had that

Activity

Treat: they got to pass out the treats, but when doing this at home for a regular FHE, the child would get to help make it

Closing Prayer

The opening song and opening prayer are fairly self explanatory.  For the scripture, we looked up Family in the Index of the Book of Mormon.  We found a scripture (3 Ne 18:21 Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.)  I asked them how they did on their challenge to help their families have family prayer every day went, and then we segued into other things that protect us besides family prayer.  I told them about The Family: A Proclamation to the World.  We talked about what a proclamation is.  It is something that you announce, boldly and with conviction, for all to hear. How important the Prophet and the General Authorities must have felt this information was for us.  Nearly 100 years ago, in 1915, the prophet of that day Joseph F. Smith began FHE.  He said, "If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result.  Love at home and obedience to parents will increase.  Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them."  We discussed how just like family prayer, FHE can give us the added protection we need in our lives.  I don't know how to make a pdf (I will learn this week, though, so I don't run into this problem anymore) so I will just copy and paste, but I made a letter to the parents regarding FHE.  It had an outline on how to have a successful FHE which I learned as a missionary, and it also had a lot of links to sites that could help them plan and prepare for FHE: 

Dear Parents,

Today in Primary we learned about the importance of holding a weekly Family Home Evening. We have been promised by the prophets that if we do, we will have more love at home, the children will be more obedient, faith will increase and children will gain the power to combat the evil influences and temptations in their lives. (Joseph F. Smith in Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [1965–75], 4:339).

In an effort to help you in your endeavor to hold a weekly Family Home Evening, we are providing a few resources to make it as easy as possible. As we know, it is sometimes difficult to engage children in a weekly FHE, an example of a good schedule which will help retain their attention is:

Opening song:

Opening prayer:

5 minute gospel lesson

15 minute activity

Closing song:

Closing prayer:

Treat

There are many resources to help you with this wonderful program. Some are:

• The Family Home Evening Resource book which can be purchased at the Distribution Center, or accessed online at https://www.lds.org/manual/family-home-evening-resource-book.
• Family Home Evening Charts and Ideas found at https://www.lds.org/children/resources/type/fhe-ideas.
• The Family Home Evening web page at https://www.lds.org/topics/family-home-evening which has links to lots of resources including videos, music, the Gospel Art Kit, teaching tips and much more.
• To make a rotating wheel to keep track of who has done what, one can be found at https://www.lds.org/friend/2013/07/family-home-evening-wheel.
• Some more cheap or free sites to make FHE charts are: http://confessionsofaslackermom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Chart.pdf and http://confessionsofaslackermom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Chart.pdf

We hope this list and the attached lesson plan help you and your family!

Happy Family Home Evening!

The Primary Presidency

And then it was time for the activity.  The boy who had the activity came up and helped me.  I had him stand next to me and then explained that I would represent the temptations and evil influences, and I would try to beset him. (I then explained that beset meant to try to trip him up, make him fall).  It was very easy to put my arm around him and pull him a few steps away from where he was standing.  I then had him chose 3 helpers who linked arms with him, and together they tried to withstand the "Evil influences and Temptations."  They did a little better, but I was still able to move them.  And then he had all of the kids come up and link arms in a circle around the small group that already had their arms linked.  I showed them that there is strength in numbers and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get to the original boy who I had tried to move.  I explained that FHE is kind of like that group of linked arms.  We have extra protection and strength when we spend time together as a family and learn the gospel together.  I challenged them all to have FHE weekly with their families, to set aside a night that worked for them (Monday nights possibly) and spend time getting to know their families so that they could have that protection around them.

Next I had the treat helper come up and pass around a box of cookies.  I think that was the kids' favorite part, though they did have a lot of fun with the activity.  

Finally, a child said the closing prayer, and they all went back to their seats to be reverently dismissed for classes, or to wait for the other classes coming in for Closing Exercises.

I think it went really well for both Junior and Senior!  I love being able to share my testimony with so many children every week.  I hope this helps someone at some point in time!  I know it is late for this month's, but lessons do tend to recycle.

In the beginning, I was called

My name is Amy. I was called as the Primary President in May 2014.  I was sustained on Mother's Day.  I have to admit, I was completely shocked when I received the call.  I fully expected to be called to be a Primary teacher when I was called into the Bishop's office, just 4 months after we moved into the ward.  Because that is how it seemed to always happen.  We arrive in a ward, I get put in the Primary for a year or two, thus making it difficult for me to get to know any of the adults.  It was a pattern, and I found comfort in it.  I love teaching Primary. The kids are delightful and usually leave me laughing.  If not laughing, then learning something.  It is a nice cooshy job for me.  President was the last thing from my mind.  I have never even been in a presidency.  Not since I was in Young Womens, anyway.  Somehow being the Laurel Class President didn't seem to count.  And so, with much trepidation and fear, I began on this little journey as Primary President.

Once I received the call, I immediately felt the mantle on my shoulders.  It is very real.  I was surprised how real it is.  As I walked through the grocery store, I could feel it.  As I cleaned my house, I could feel it.  As I went about my life in the usual way, everything somehow seemed altered.  The children in my ward became very important to me, although I had not met most of them.  I learned that my Primary has less than 20% activity, and so, with my new counselors, we decided that would be our focus.  To assist the teachers in their endeavors to bring all the children under their care to church and into the fold.  We decided activation would be our motivation, and so, we figuratively rolled up our sleeves and set to work.

The first thing we noticed was the lack of reverence in the primary.  Now, I need to emphasize, I think the previous presidency did a fantastic job.  I will never ever say anything bad about how they ran the Primary, or how things worked with them.  They were valiant, and faithful, and honestly, had their hands full.  Because less than 20% activity, remember?  It is daunting and overwhelming to look at the less active list.  But the kids who were attending were learning, and the Spirit was there, and they were just fabulous!  I really admire them and hope to live up to their legacy.

That said, we decided to gut the primary and change everything.

My first week, we learned that there were four classes.  The Sunbeams, the Ctr 4-5, Ctr 6-7s, and the Valiants (8-12).  Also, all the children were meeting together.  Because there were only about 20 kids in attendance total.  So I can see why they did that.  It makes things easier to have all the kids together.  And the presidency before that did the same thing, back a couple of generations of presidencies.  It had just always been combined like that as far back as anyone could remember, and so everyone just passed it down like that and didn't change anything.  Also, it is very hard to find people in the ward who will accept a calling to serve in the Primary.  Which is another reason things were done that way.

After our first Sunday, my counselors and I decided it was too hard for the teachers that way.  They seemed to be doing a lot of crowd control, and rather worn out by the end of Primary.  So we decided to split the classes into each individual age group minus the Valiant class.  Although the Valiants are the biggest class, only about 5 kids show up.  On a good week.  It took a long time, and lots and lots of reminding the Bishopric that we needed new teachers, but we eventually got them all.  And then, beginning last week, we decided to split the Primary into Junior and Senior.  I was the lucky one who got to teach Sharing Time this week, so I was sort of the guinea pig.  But it was amazing!  The older kids, who previously had sat in the back and looked bored out of their minds were actually participating and joining in the discussion!  Since we usually only get 6 Senior Primary kids, I make them all sit in the front row and their teachers sit behind them. They grumbled at first, but now they seem to really like it, and I can see that they are learning, and the Spirit is there, because there aren't little wiggly kids sitting in front whispering and distracting.  It was glorious. And Junior Primary!  That was also wonderful.  I was able to better teach on their level, and engage them completely, rather than trying to teach to both and not engaging anyone.  The Junior Primary was as interactive as ever (because little kids don't care if it isn't "cool" to raise their hands) but it somehow seemed to flow a lot better.  I love the split.  It is such a difference.

Now that we have things split up, we are working on going out on visits with our teachers.  We have each been assigned to a teacher or two (depending on the amount of less actives in the class) and are going to go out this week to hand out invitations to the Ogden Temple Open house to the less active children.  The ones who haven't been coming to church and so might not know about it.  I am excited to meet them and hopefully be able to discern who is ready to come to church.  The next step after that is to set up a car pool system with members of the ward so that if the parents aren't ready to come to church, at least the kids will still be able to go.

I am trying to work with the local missionaries.  I asked them if they were teaching any families with Primary aged children.  They are not teaching families, but they are teaching a primary aged girl right now and so I am trying to set up a time when I can go with them to the lesson.  She has a baptism date set, and so I am going to try to get as many Primary kids to her baptism as I can.  For fellowshipping, yo.  I want to work closely with the missionaries because I feel they will be key to our plan of filling the empty seats in our Primary.  I will update as I go.

I had the idea tonight to call the ward missionaries and see if they are working with anyone, and if they are, to see if they have Primary aged children, and to see if they need fellowshipping as well.  I have high hopes that this will be another way to help those children come to Primary and learn and be loved.

I am excited to have this calling, overwhelming though it may be, and be able to get to know all these wonderful giant Spirits that are in our ward.  What a unique blessing and privilege I hold, and I have absolutely seen the Lord's hand in this work so many times!  I am humbled and thrilled to have the Lord's trust in this calling, and know, with His help, we can work miracles!

On this blog I plan to share any ideas I come up with.  I will be posting my Sharing Time ideas (hopefully far enough in advance that anyone can use them for their Sharing Time), our goals, and anything else I think is pertinent to Primary.  I hope that this little blog of mine can help other presidencies out there in teaching these wonderful children the gospel of Jesus Christ!