Writing to our missionaries in Primary!

Our ward has a special emphasis on "missionary month" every February. The young men and young women in our ward get to experience a little of what it's like to serve a mission full-time, and to share the good news of the gospel with others.

In Primary, we do some fun things to support the overall theme. We have had missionaries that have returned recently, folks who are serving a mission currently, and folks who joined the church, come and share their experiences.

We wrote the names of all of the missionaries currently serving full-time around the world, and in some cases, pointed to where the missionary is now, on the map. We gave the children stationery so that they could write letters to the missionaries, and put their letters in the envelopes. 

2015 LDS Primary Lesson 1 - God is the Father of My Spirit

'Found some great talks to support today's Primary lesson!

You are a Child of God from President Gordon B. Hinckley on 2003.

Behold Your Little Ones by Boyd K. Packer on April 1973.

Pretend, my little friends, that my hand represents your spirit. It is alive. It can move by itself. Suppose that this glove represents your mortal body. It cannot move. When the spirit enters into your mortal body, then it can move and act and live. Now you are a person—a spirit with a body, living on the earth.

It was not intended that we stay here forever. Just for a lifetime. Little ones, you are just beginning your lifetime.

... Little children, our Heavenly Father knew that we would need help. So, in the plan, he provided for someone to come into the world and help us.

Four Titles by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf on April 2013.

One title that defines all of us in the most fundamental way is son of Heavenly Father. No matter what else we are or do in life, we must never forget that we are God’s literal spirit children. We were His children before we came to this world, and we will be His children forevermore. This basic truth should change the way we look at ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and life itself.

Heavenly Father Has a Special Plan by Elder Yoshihiko Kikchi on April 2000.

Sharing Time - Week 4 - By Living the gospel I set a good example for others to follow

I don't think this lesson needs much elaboration beyond what it is recommended, but I wanted to share the fun visual that I made.

Just fold paper vertically, paper doll style, to cut out two symmetrical sides. Everything else is easy to cut out free-hand.

I only used glue on the blue boots and the black door to the tent. You could put magnets on the back, or velcro tape, and tell the story with visuals, then with motions.

I love this lesson because it is good for helping to encourage conversation.

Sharing Time - The Sabbath is a Day of Rest and Worship

This week's lesson is from Week 4 of the August 2014 Sharing Time Manual.

I love the ideas in the booklet. To supplement the ideas, I found a great article, "Doing Good on the Sabbath," by Julie Wardell, from the September 2007 Friend.

I'd like to take seven paper plates (because they are the shape of the world), and on each one, draw a picture that corresponds to the six days of labor and seventh day of rest to build our world. Children can either choose from a bag, or identify from pictures stuck to the chalkboard, images that represent what is and is not appropriate to do on the Sabbath Day, and then we'll put it next to that particular paper plate.

Sharing Time - Pray in your families - August - Week 1 Lesson on Family Prayer

Lesson 1 this month is about Family Prayer. I love this topic, and all the beautiful teachings from the Savior and the Lord, taught at General Conference and in the scriptures. The tough part of this lesson is to remember to focus on the "family" aspect of prayer, and not on prayer itself. I talked about ways to incorporate this lesson into singing time but I also found a great lesson plan from Sharing Time Idea #1 in the July 2009 Friend, called "Our Family Will Be Strong." I cut out pieces of cardboard, then used a hole punch and yarn, to create a word necklace for each word of the sentence "Family prayer will strengthen my family." Unscrambling that word, and looking up 3 Nephi 18:21, will engage the children, before leading them into a group discussion where I hope and plan to encourage a lot of participation.

I also love the aspect of family prayer that this is a special opportunity to be the mouth piece for your family to Lord. The church provides a great cartoon that teaches this, that I would like to print out for the children to take home. You can find it here.

I also feel I am so much better prepared to teach this lesson because I read this Family Home Evening guide, particularly the story about Sue and Tim.

Also, do yourself a favor and read this talk from Elder John E. Groberg. I loved his books about his mission. In this talk, he talks about his mission and how his family's prayers sustained him in a distant land. I love that he points out that whether single or married, we are part o some family, somewhere, in some way, and that we can share our love for our family by having them know that we are praying for them.

LDS.org images for the lessons each month

Did you know that the church has posted images online that correspond with each month's sharing time lessons?

You can find them here:
https://www.lds.org/callings/primary/sharing-time-2014/photo-gallery?lang=eng

Thank you cards for everyone in the primary auxiliary

Our primary presidency distributed bread to our primary workers and those in other callings that fall under the primary auxiliary this afternoon (teachers, music leaders, pianists, cub leaders, activity days, etc.).

Below is a sheet of the little cards I made (using free Microsoft Publisher templates and clip art) if you'd like to do something similar. We just wrote the individuals' names on the cards, punched a hole at the top, and tied the card to each bag of bread. (Send me your email if you want a PDF version.).

Actual delivery time took about three hours, since our entire ward is in just a few blocks of a neighborhood. We shared the load with baking the bread, which helped to keep it from being too much work for one person, but do expect that to be a decent amount of your Saturday. Primary is a huge auxiliary, so to reach everyone, you're looking at around 50 loaves of bread! We felt it was worth it to be able to talk to our primary folks individually, and to let them know how much we appreciate them. (If you do this, also keep in mind that you may need to bake loaves for special diets, or provide something else for those on special diets.)