Often in Primary, we have children who are visiting from other wards, or who are non-members attending for the first time. Not long ago, a little girl was brought to our Primary that we didn't know. She was about four, and was very apprehensive. As soon as the grownup left, she started to cry and wanted to leave. I picked her up and held her on my lap, and told her how much I liked her dress and pretty shoes. Then she thought it would be alright if instead of leaving, she helped me by holding onto the projector cord while I showed a filmstrip about Joseph Smith. It wasn't long before she felt comfortable enough to stay the rest of the time.

As I held her, I thought back over many years to the time I was a little girl of five. Our family had just moved to Ontario, Oregon and were attending the ward for the first time. In those days, long before the block program, Primary was held during the week, and on Sundays, the young children attended a Jr. Sunday School while the adults attended their adult Sunday School at the same time. Sac. Mtg. Was held in the evening, so we made the trip to church twice on Sunday.

My father took me to the Jr. Sunday School room and left me with my teacher, Sis. Bishop. I was very shy and when he left, I started to cry. Sis. Bishop picked me up and held me on her lap, a very simple gesture, yet I have remembered it all my life.

It was in that same ward during Primary, which was held after school that I had my first experience with sewing. I learned how to stitch through strips of crepe paper, and then to pull on the thread, gathering up the paper into what resembled a Hawaiian lei. It was very difficult for me. I learned how to sew on a button, and how to blanket stitch. We girls also were taught how to properly set a table, and how to make edible roses out of radishes, and carrot curls, by slicing thin strips of carrots and putting them into ice water, which made them curl and look pretty in salads.

I remember sitting in hard folding chairs in the chapel of the rented ward building, and looking over to the section where the big kids sat, and envying them. They would wear special bandelos aroung their necks, onto which there would be sewn badges they would earn. These were the Homebuilders, Trailblazers, Bluebirds, Meadowlarks and Seagulls.

Even when I was old enough to attend MIA, I was still in Primary. In those days, teenage girls were used to help by teaching classes, and doing the music, to help the adult Primary leaders.

While on my mission to Scotland, where the missionaries ran the branches, we organized Primary and Youth groups. The first Church job I was given in Laron's ward after we were married was to be the teacher of the Guide Patrol in Primary.

After our children were in Primary, I would record their experiences in each of their Experience Books. On Sept 26th 1979, a Wednesday, one child told me..."I went to Primary today. I went in my class. Sis. Bailey is my teacher. She looks different now. She got her hair cut. We talked about Pres. Kimball. I LOVE Pres. Kimball. He is so cute!"

Nov. 23 1980...I went to Primary. Sis. Vicky McCombs is my teacher. I am in Star B class. Today we learned about stealing."

Sep 30 1976...We goed to Primary to see Heavenly Faver. I fink he was dere. My teacher gave me my own tiny Book of Mormon, and 32 papers.

In Primary children learn some of their first lessons in loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and how to be obedient to the things they ask us to do. Learning to be obedient is one of the greatest lessons we can learn.

I recently worked with Cassia County Schools, in tutoring teenage young people, who have been unable to attend school. Out of the eight girls, one was suffering from severe jaundice, and one recovering from surgery on her neck. Five of the girls were unable to attend school because they had new babies, and one had been injured in an auto accident caused by a drunken driver. The majority of these young girls' problems had been caused by disobedience to God's laws. Again, learning to be obedient is one of the greatest lessons we can learn. I remember hearing a man say once about obedience..."A bishop had better be careful about what he asks me to do, because I am going to do it!"

We have a good Primary in this Heyburn Ward. We are proud of our boys and girls, but we expect a lot of them. Because of our wonderful teachers, our children have learned a lot. They have had wonderful opportunities to learn. Parents...do you know who your Primary child's teacher is? Do you talk about what they have learned in class? Is your child reverent in Primary and helpful to their teacher? Does their teacher ever go home discouraged and saddened by the actions of our children?

We were disappointed at one time to learn that one of the children from our family had aided and abetted a reverence problem in a class. The leader had been hesitant to tell us, so I felt very sorry that I had not explained to her that we wanted to know if there was a problem. We wanted her to know that if there was, we would see to it that the problem was taken care of. Now and then we have heard of teachers who have had to ask to be released from their callings because of the rude behavior of some of the students in their classes, which is a terrible thing. Please ask your child's teachers if there is anything you need to know.

We have great teachers in our Primary. Often it is very difficult for them to serve, but faithfully show up anyhow. Sometimes they come carrying unborn children. In one Primary in another town, five of us in Primary were expecting babies, and the amazing thing was that four of us were expecting babies the end of January!

I owe a debt to the Primary organization and the Church. I love these young people, and it is never a slight thing, when they, so fresh from God love us.