Wednesday, August 25, 2010

"Faith in God" is a Gift

I have a new calling in the Church. When I say new, I mean new. It was created out of a need. It seems the Faith in God award program for Primary children ages 8 - 12 needs some help. So our ward Primary presidency created a Faith in God Coordinator job and I’m it. One read through the Faith in God books, one for girls and one for boys, and I am hooked on this program. My mind is racing with ideas to help these precious children live these principles and receive their awards. I’m having a lot of fun with this, working with them, their parents, and leaders.

Now here’s a very fun side note. I was hoping to find a good example of a child who is really into working on the suggested activities, but had not mentioned it to anyone yet. And BAM! I open my email from our son in Wyoming, Paul, the father of six of our grandchildren, and here’s what he wrote (Kaylyn is his 10 year old daughter, Hailey age 4 and Jaxon age 2 are the two youngest):

“Your new calling sounds fun. Kaylyn, just last night got out her Faith in God book and did several of the requirements, she even led the song for family night. She did this all on her own. She told me this morning that she took Hailey and Jaxon on a walk yesterday afternoon and wondered if that counted as a service project. I told her that it certainly did, especially if she did it without being asked. She said that she did, so I told her to count it as a service project to help her mom.”

I was so pleased with this email that I had to call Kaylyn and tell her I was going to use her as an example to our Primary. Her response was so rewarding. She said, “I love working on my Faith in God. It’s fun!” Then she told me she was learning her Articles of Faith, which is part of the program. I said, “Okay, tell me one.” She rattled off the first one, then I said, “Now tell me the fourth one.” She thought a minute then recited it nearly perfectly. I congratulated her and said, “Will you call me each time you learn a new one and say it to me?” She was pretty excited about that and said, “Yes!”

It’s so rewarding when callings transfer into creating close relationships with your family. This calling is going to be fun for more reasons than one. Now I’m thinking of writing a song about it.