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.