The Primary Program

Every fall the ward has a primary program.  For those unfamiliar with the LDS faith, ward is the name to describe specific congregations, for instance we are in the "Ninth ward".  Primary is name for the organization that teaches children three to eleven.  Sunday school principles are taught in age equivalent classes while in a larger setting specific skills such as "public speaking" are practiced in the form of giving two to three minute talks in front of peers.

My children love primary, currently we have four of our five in primary.  Our oldest at thirteen attends "Young Womens" and an age appropriate Sunday school with her peers.

The primary program is an entire Sacrament meeting devoted to practiced parts and singing pieces from the primary age children.  I have to say as parents, the primary program can be a great source of entertainment.  The big bonus?  Spending an entire meeting sitting next to my husband without anyone shorter then we are, trying to wedge their little bodies between us.

Since not a single child of ours could be understood before the age of five, our young children on the stage has always been a great source of amusement.  I remember quite fondly Kate at about age four.  She had a one line part, it took maybe twelve whole seconds to say and she had to be spoon fed every few words to get it all out.  Her marvelous teacher did her part but Kate showing some flair decided to add lib and almost a full minute of indistinguishable jabber cheerfully came forth from her mouth.  Not even Kent nor myself could understand her but she was dang cute up there and held every one's attention with her baby blues.

This year, the twins both can speak better then Kate did those many years ago.  They still needed to be spoon fed their parts and I honestly can't remember what they said but the effort was unmistakable and that for me, was the most memorable part.

The leaders tried to really make the parts personal this year.  Someone went to a lot of effort to keep track of talks the kids gave earlier in the year and used those talks to make each individual part.  The end result was very touching.

Kate spoke of her great great great great great grandpa Butler, who was a body guard for Joseph Smith.  Kate described how this ancestor of hers was told by the Prophet to take his family out of his home without delay and to not spend the night there.  With great faith, he removed his family and spent the night at a neighbors house.  That night, as Kate put it, "Some bad men" burnt his house to the ground.  Then Kate expressed how she knew that if she followed the prophet, she too would be protected just like her great great great (really I don't know how many there should be) grandfather.

The absolute best part of this was that Kate's great grandmother, Betty Robinson, came to hear the kids.  It was a huge sacrifice on her part because leaving the house isn't easy for Betty.  Betty was married to the man that this ancestor came from.  That made it especially special for us, to know that, Betty knows, her great-granddaughter knows of her heritage and is learning from it.

Kent's father and my mother were also able to attend.  Unfortunately Kent's mom has been ill the past little bit and coming just wasn't in her power. 

Ean also did extremely well.  In Ean's part, he described a visual my mother used at a cousin's baptism.  My mom dyed some water red and then put bleach in the water.  The water turned clear again.  Ean described how this visual shows that baptism wipes our sins away.

The really funny part about Ean's piece is that, yes, this was from a talk that Ean was suppose to give.  Ean in a huge fit of stubbornness, completely balked at actually giving the talk and Greg gave it in his place that Sunday.

I think standing up in front of all the adults in a filled chapel to narrate what he saw his Mormor (grandmother) do that day more then makes up for never giving the talk in Primary.

Come to think of it, he's still due for a talk sometime this year.