Our ward traditionally has a special focus in February, on "Missionary Month." We had two missionaries return home and speak in church today, so it was fun that they happened to come back during our missionary month.
While the young men and young women participate in the bulk of the activities, we try to have the primary children participate as well. We don't always do the exact same things but I want to share what we did this year (which has been done before) because I have loved these primary lessons so much.
Even if we did not have an official "missionary month," I would still want to find ways to incorporate some of these ideas throughout the year.
1. First, our primary children have been encouraged to write letters to missionaries in various activities. When the missionaries write back, we read their letters aloud in primary. We let them have fun guessing who has written back based on all the different places in which they are serving. The missionaries have a habit of bearing their testimonies when they write back, and it is such an honor and privilege to be able to read these testimonies to the children.
2. Last week, we invited some converts to the church that are in our ward and/or stake primary presidency to come speak to the children and share their stories. My parents are converts to the church and I love and appreciate the members and missionaries that taught them the gospel so that I would be blessed to have that sure foundation my whole life. So, I am very appreciative of theses stories.
3. This week, we invited the sister missionaries that are serving in our stake to teach today's lesson, which happens to be on Agency - the agency we have to make good choices (be kind to others, for example) or bad choices (steal from others, for example). They did a great job.
4. This year's theme in primary is Families, so we have assigned a child each week (in junior and senior) to share a story about one of their ancestors. This has been an amazing, fun experience, and this month in particular, the children have shared stories about their great-great-great-grandparent who served a mission or was baptized into the church.
While the young men and young women participate in the bulk of the activities, we try to have the primary children participate as well. We don't always do the exact same things but I want to share what we did this year (which has been done before) because I have loved these primary lessons so much.
Even if we did not have an official "missionary month," I would still want to find ways to incorporate some of these ideas throughout the year.
1. First, our primary children have been encouraged to write letters to missionaries in various activities. When the missionaries write back, we read their letters aloud in primary. We let them have fun guessing who has written back based on all the different places in which they are serving. The missionaries have a habit of bearing their testimonies when they write back, and it is such an honor and privilege to be able to read these testimonies to the children.
2. Last week, we invited some converts to the church that are in our ward and/or stake primary presidency to come speak to the children and share their stories. My parents are converts to the church and I love and appreciate the members and missionaries that taught them the gospel so that I would be blessed to have that sure foundation my whole life. So, I am very appreciative of theses stories.
3. This week, we invited the sister missionaries that are serving in our stake to teach today's lesson, which happens to be on Agency - the agency we have to make good choices (be kind to others, for example) or bad choices (steal from others, for example). They did a great job.
4. This year's theme in primary is Families, so we have assigned a child each week (in junior and senior) to share a story about one of their ancestors. This has been an amazing, fun experience, and this month in particular, the children have shared stories about their great-great-great-grandparent who served a mission or was baptized into the church.
