Lessons I Learned in Primary

This is the valiant girls primary class that Malia and I teach. The pictures were taken with a phone...hence the poor quality- sorry! As you can probably tell, there are a couple of characters in the class. I taught 5 year olds last summer by myself and it was a breeze, but this class would not be the same if Malia didn't team teach with me! We have had a lot of fun and have really grown to love each of the girls.

Malia, Maya, Lisa, Mary, me, Amanda, and
Elizabeth (with her head on the table).

All of the girls are daughters of my professors except Maya, which means they are all really smart! In fact, I feel like all of the primary kids here are really smart. Some of them know details about scriptures and church history that I easily forget. I can honestly say they have taught me a lot, and in more than one way. For this reason, I dedicated a space in my journal for lessons I learn in primary, and I want to share a few with you.


Funny moments...


Sharing time question: "How can we use our hearts and minds to obey Heavenly Father?
Mary Stratford (Ancient Near East Professors daughter, age 10): "Well, you see, the Egyptians believed that you thought with your heart, not your mind, so really, they are the same thing." Hahaha...I think her dad has practiced lectures on her.


In the middle of sharing time, I looked up to see a bare bum running across the the front of the classroom. It was the primary presidents daughter (probably about 4 yrs old) and she had lifted her dress and taken off her underwear. The first counselor looked mortified.

Opening prayer given by one of the younger boys: "Bless the food and that we will go to church and that I can do really high flips and jump high and you can watch me do really cool flips and Sophie can watch me do really cool flips and that everyone can watch me...[more about flips and jumps]...amen." hahaha

Tender moments...

One of the sweetest things about being in primary is getting to hear the children sing every Sabbath in singing time. I specifically remember two songs. One was "Love is Spoken Here." I remember thinking about my family and how grateful I am that I grew up in a home where kind and uplifting words were spoken. Another was "I Love to See the Temple." You know the saying that you don't appreciate what you have until you don't have it anymore? Needless to say, it will be good to be close to a temple again.

I asked the girls in my class what they learned from general conference. Mary told me that she couldn't remember what they said but that she remembered that she thought about something that wasn't related and wrote down. "Ok, I would love to hear it," I told her. She responded," We need to grateful not only for the big things, but the little things too, because the little things count." She added, however, that we shouldn't be so focused on the little things that we forget the big things..."like Jesus." Oh the wisdom of a child who you think has too much energy to ever pay attention.

One Sabbath for sharing time we talked about the Atonement. The primary president had all of the children go out onto the balcony so they could look at the Garden of Gethsemane while she talked about it. That is one of those experiences you can have here in the Holy Land.

Gethsemane- photo taken by Tyler 

On our last day of teaching, Mary said the closing prayer, and in it, she prayed that we would remember each other and that our memories would bring us happiness and comfort. Then in sharing time, Elizabeth handed me her journal which had boxes with faces drawn in them and labeled at the bottom. The title to her page was "My friends are..." I looked down to see a box added with my name under it. "Will you draw your picture for me?" she asked. It melted my heart a little.

It has been such a blessing to teach in Primary while I have been here at the Jerusalem Center! I am so grateful for the the opportunity that I have had to learn and grow from these amazing children.

Lisa came and explored the city with us during free time!