Primaries Around the World

The new 2008 theme for primary is I Am a Child of God - "All of you are children of the most High." (Psalm 82:6) I have been spending countless hours on different websites looking for ideas from other primaries on how they are going to incorporate this theme into their Sunday routines. I was on sugardoodle.net the other day and came across a yahoo group called, "Primaries Around the World." It is essentially a group of primary presidents from all over sharing information about their primary in their part of the world with other primaries. What most people have done so far is post a photograph of their primary children and an information sheet about what it is like to go to primary where they live. The children also share pictures, their testimony, favorite primary song, etc. I am working on our picture and info sheet to share from the Walled Lake Ward and I introduced this whole thing to the children last Sunday. This coming Sunday we are going to learn about a primary in La Paz, Bolivia. In their ward they ride a bus or in a taxi to church. Every Sunday we will spotlight a different primary from a different part of the world. I put a bulletin board just outside our primary door with a world map. As we learn about each primary, we'll post their picture on the bulletin board, with a string connecting it to it's spot on the map.

The whole idea has really touched me and, at the same time, has reminded me how we are all brothers and sisters here on earth. This month we are teaching the children about how they were created in heavenly father's image and that he has a plan for each of us. It is such a beautiful message, and I have felt the church shrink a little in my mind as I have been communicating with these different women from all over the world who are doing just what I am for the children in their primary every week. They, too, are planning a sharing time, a baptism, a primary program, or a even a visiting teaching message. We all have the same purpose in mind - whether we speak English, Spanish, or Japanese - and that is to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. To do what He cannot do here and to serve in whatever capacity we have been asked. He loves each of us. He knows each of us and he knows what our potential is. I hope that the children will begin to make that connection as we learn about some of Heavenly Father's other children around the world.