Small But Mighty Primary Program

Well, we did our Primary Sacrament Presentation today. The Primary President put me in charge of it this year.I was pretty proud of Nat. The last two years she has refused to participate, but this year she was very much into it (she loves a microphone--who knew?!)

I had to get up at the beginning and say a little something. No small feat for me. Public speaking is not something I relish--I don't get up and give my testimony, and I've turned down the Bishop when asked to do a talk for Sacrament, I've said a prayer twice, but that's it. I try to avoid getting up in front of the congregation at all costs.

I decided to just kind of wing it instead of write out something. First I had to brag a little that my children made up a full 1/3 of the Primary (we only have 6 girls in our whole Primary class). Then I decided to relay my own experience in Primary (here it is in a nutshell): I was born into the church but we quit going when I was 11, so the next 27 years I was completely inactive, but because of the strong foundation Primary gave me, I always considered myself a Mormon, I chose not to smoke or drink, and when I would attend other churches I would come away thinking, "that was nice, but there was just something missing". I told how I felt that the teachings were in my heart, even though I couldn't recall specifics, and because of my strong testimony of Primary, it eventually led me back to church. And then I added how it was kind of funny that when I did come back to church that they gave me a calling to teach Primary, so I was kind of right back where I left off.

The kids did a fantastic job, reading their parts and singing. I saw quite a few folks dabbing their eyes. There's just something about a group of sweet little girls singing about Jesus that is very heartwarming. We have one little almost 4-year-old who literally was belting out the songs. I'll give her credit though, she knew almost every word to every song. Too cute.

The Primary President and I had so many folks come up to us afterward and tell us that was the best program yet. We had visitors from Washington that told us that they had been to 3 other wards during their travels and seen other Primary Programs but ours was the best. It was really gratifying to know that our small group of girls touched so many with their sweet spirits.

One gentleman in our ward (my former home teacher) lost his grown son exactly a week ago today, and the funeral was yesterday. He really looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders as I saw him sitting in the congregation, but as the girls got up and sang and recited scriptures I really saw the light come back into his eyes and saw him smiling. I was very touched that these children could bring him some joy after he suffered such a great loss. He made a point of coming up to me afterward and saying how much it meant to him. He was actually the one who gave me my calling in Primary and he didn't know until today how perfect that calling was for me.

I was really proud to be a part of the program and extremely proud of each and every one of the girls in our very small Primary.