Our Primary Program

Now that it's been almost a week, I'm finally ready to post about our Primary program. Not that I didn't want to post about it sooner, just haven't had much time this week...so here goes...

First of all, as I have mentioned before, we have a small, young Primary, so our program really isn't a stressful production. We practiced during Sharing Time for 2 weeks and then had one extra practice on the Saturday before. I will just say here that I love our little Primary kids! Overall, our program went really well and the kids did a GREAT job! There were a few snags, however. To begin with, the microphones somehow didn't work when it was time to start. As the Bishop and my counselor were fixing the problem, someone hit a button, piping the Sacrament Meeting speaker from the south chapel into our chapel. (Yes, we have 2 chapels in our building--many of the BYU stake buildings are built this way. You can fit twice as many wards into the one building.) So, we heard a nice talk about something, (can't remember what), as the issue was taken care of. The next issue was that no matter how many times we had practiced, the kids didn't remember the 2nd and 3rd verses of several of the songs. I loved that regardless of how well they knew the words, they still sang their hearts out. In fact, one little boy just sang and sang while several other kids were singing different words. I was grinning from ear to ear just watching them give it their all!

In spite of all of this, I felt a few miracles happened during the program. First of all, I have never felt the spirit during the Primary program like I did this year. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention in the past? Maybe it's that I know the real words to each song? Or maybe it's just that I've spent enough time with these beautiful children over the past 5 months to know what's in their little hearts--and to feel it as they expressed their thoughts? Another miracle I saw was that on the last song they sang, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," (now one of my favorite Primary songs), the kids actually sang "righteously" and "reverently" on the correct verses! This hadn't happened before in any of our practices--and I will admit I was shocked and pleased all at the same time. The last miracle was probably my favorite, by far. We have one little boy in our Primary who has some learning disabilities. In the past, when assigned to give a talk, this little boy barely mumbled in front of the other 14 Primary children. However, in front of an entire chapel full of adults and kids, he clearly spoke, "I love the temple!," with great enthusiasm. I thought my heart was going to burst!

Knowing that we're moving in a few weeks, I know that my time in Primary is drawing to a close. I'm really sad that I will have to leave these kids and the wonderful Primary organization! I'm grateful for the opportunity I've been blessed with to be a part of it all for the past few months. And, I hope I will enjoy future Primary programs even more because of my experience with this one.