Children

     When we arrived on our mission in April, we were assigned to attend church in a unit over 2 hours north of here. Our first Sunday there we were asked to teach a class of 6, 7, and 8-years old. After living in Sun City, AZ for more than 4 years where you must be 55 or older to reside, we were more than happy to work with children. In the past several months, we found many disadvantages to our assignment, most having to do with the distance away, but also the fact that we are first and foremost serving a mission. Due to all of the difficulties involved, we are being re-assigned so today was our last day there. Next Sunday will be the ward Primary sacrament meeting presentation so we watched them rehearse today. Information for anyone not familiar with how this works: there is a basic outline for the program with suggested songs and theme and even some scriptures that comes from the General Church Primary leaders then someone in the local unit fills in the particulars. Every child from age 3 to age nearly 12 gets at least one speaking part and all sing whichever songs have been selected. The theme this year is centered on our Savior and the older children bore testimonies and told stories about their own experiences. It was just so touching to hear these children talk about loving Jesus, which I realize cynics might call brainwashing especially in the case of 3 or 4-year olds. But the older kids spoke candidly about their own faith and experiences. One girl talked about how her family reads scriptures together every morning and that sometimes it's hectic or hard to concentrate but she always feels good afterwards as she starts her day with the right focus. (I remember vividly noticing that first when I used to teach early morning seminary. Every school morning I would have a group of sleepy teenagers spend an hour before school studying scriptures in my home. On days when we didn't have class because there wasn't school, I could definitely feel the difference in my attitude as well as that of my own teenagers.) Another girl talked about having witnessed several miracles, her favorite being when her younger sister who was born deaf received a cochlear implant and could hear. She said that modern medicine can perform miracles, too. Then a boy talked about listening to the still, small voice of the Spirit. On a recent trip to Disneyland he got separated from his family and was frightened in the crowd. He said a prayer and felt prompted to go in a certain direction to a certain place and was so relieved to be reunited with his family. At the end of the program, the older 7 or 8 kids (all 10-nearly 12) sang a song called Gethsemane. Despite the heavy subject matter, the song was really more about gratitude and love. One of the girls singing made it about a third of the way through the song then started to cry. It was so touching hearing children speak and sing about God, our Savior, their love for us and their great gift to us of the Holy Ghost. There are those who might call this the results of brain-washing but I would have to reply, "What is the media trying to do to our children as well as to us?" Madison Avenue has paid employees whose job is to try to get us to spend money. There are college degrees in market analysis and how to sway consumers. Teaching of ANY kind could be called brain washing. I think what these kids are being taught will serve them well in their lives.