Sister Beans!

For those of you who don't know I have recently been called as the Primary Secretary in the little ole Paris Branch. I was very excited to be given my first "big calling". It has been a little over a month now that I have had this calling and I thought I would share some of my experiences.

One of the jobs the Primary Secretary has is to do the bulletin boards. Yay! When I was taking Early Childhood Education in high school we put up bulletin boards all the time. So I think it's pretty great that I had a class that taught me how to do a lot of what my calling entails. I got called at the end of November so that meant that my first job was to change the monthly theme and scripture in the class room. No problem, right? Right! Then, for the bulletin board in the hallway I threw up some nativity pictures we had had in the cabinet. Super easy. Well now it is a new year which means new bulletin boards completely. Wednesday it took me over an hour to take down the old stuff. I was able to put up a background, some boarder, the yearly theme, and the monthly theme and scripture. Just enough to make it look presentable today but I am far from done. As for the one in the hallway....well someone had the bright idea to tape up the pictures instead of staple them. They are very nice pictures that can be used next year...well I used wrapping paper for the background. The bulletin board is not looking so pretty right now. Hopefully I can put up enough pictures to cover up all of the rips.

The third Sunday of very month is when the secretary teaches sharing time. Once again I was grateful for the classes I took in high school. We basically ran a preschool which means we did everything...the cooking, teaching, bulletin boards, parent letters, circle time and activity time (which is singing, a lesson, then an activity), took care of money, sanitized everything....pretty much we did it all. I can't even begin to count how many times I taught, either with a lesson plan made up or short notice because someone else couldn't. I was very exceptional in that class, if I do say so myself. So when it came to teaching sharing time I had no worries. I made up a lesson plan like I used in Early Childhood and then one more fitting for the format of the lessons we teach. Lesson plans take all of 30 minutes to fill out, if even that. I looked over it several times before teaching and I was set! My lesson was "Jesus Christ is the light and the life of the world". The lesson started off with talking about Christ's birth and death and the signs that were given for both. Then we played a game...well it was an activity. I had a bag of six things that gave off light. The children had to reach into the bag, touch an object, and try to guess what it was without looking. The activity was pretty fun. After we finished talking about the objects and light I gave them color pages. Color pages are GREAT with little kids. I ended up timing my lesson just right  and I got so many compliments! I can't wait till I get to teach again!

So today I heard a funny story. Children are so funny but wait until you hear this.......So one of the primary children (I won't use names but those of you who know the children in the branch can probably guess who it is) .....one of the children thinks that my name is Sister Beans! Haha! I thought that was too funny! The child told their mom that their teacher is class B is Sister Beans! I have heard some very funny stuff while in Primary but is the funniest yet!

The children are so sweet and they really do know and understand the gospel. It is amazing to hear some of the answers they give and the stories they tell. I am grateful I remember most of the Primary songs I learned when I was little. The children are wonderful but they aren't the loudest bunch when it comes to singing. I am also grateful for the opportunity I get to work with them! I look forward to working more with the children and the blessings that come from it!