Primary's role in missionary work

Survey

·         How many of you attended primary as a child?

·         Served in the Primary?

·         Had a family member that was taught in the Primary?

·         Was touched by a Primary program?

_Goal in Primary

Primary has been a blessing in my life and has helped my roots grows deeper in the gospel. 

_Thoughts from my journal

_Thoughts from sharing the gospel in my family (Missionaries over, teaching people in our home, mom taking me VT with her)

_What are we doing in our own homes that our children will remember and look back as a fond memory that helped them grow stronger in the gospel?

_Hardest to teach children where parents are not active.  Primary does not replace the teaching that must happen in the home.   Some strong spirits survive.

I have yet to hear a Primary age child say that sharing the gospel is hard.  When kids share the gospel they say how important, fun, and amazing it is. I think keeping that attitude is the key.  Adults are wearied by the trials and challenges of life, while children lead a simple and pure life, mostly untouched from the world.  Alma 5:19 talks about having “a pure heart and clean hands” They are bold and take risks where most adults would be more cautious.  If the Lord has asked us to share his gospel, don’t you think he will provide that way.  We need to be smart about sharing the gospel.  Religious talk is discouraged in a work situation.  But the Lord will provide a way for you to share His gospel with His children if you are willing.  A child can do the things which nourish the faith of others.  I think back to Linsey’s testimony in church last Sunday.  She nourished me.  I remember being so bold, so excited about the gospel that I felt Hallelujahs coming on. 

What Primary children can do to be a missionary:

• invite a friend to Primary.

• tell a nonmember friend about Jesus Christ’s Church.

• save some money for your missionary bank.

• reverent during sacrament meeting.

•invite a friend to your home for family home evening.

•invite someone new in your neighborhood to play with you.

•pray for the missionaries/write them

·         A boy shares a picture of Christ with his teacher, and she eventually is baptized.

·         A girl has a missionary opportunity when she reads the Book of Mormon at a school camp.

·         A boy shares a testimony of the plan of salvation with his aunt’s roommate during Family Home Evening

·         A boy shares a picture of Christ with his teacher, and she eventually is baptized.

·         A boy shares his testimony of Jesus with a friend.

·         A girl invites a nonmember friend to a ward open house.

·         A ten-year-old girl talks about the Church and has a positive impact on a visiting author.

·         President Thomas S. Monson tells the story of a girl who shared the Articles of Faith with another traveler on a bus. After the experience, the man looked up the Church and he and his family were all baptized.

·         Maddie invites a friend from school to come with her to church after she finds out the girl is a member of the Church, but hasn’t been in a long time.

By President Thomas S. Monson

Forty-five years ago I worked with a man named Sharman Hummel in the printing business. I once asked him how he came to receive his testimony of the gospel. He responded, “We lived in the East. I was journeying by bus to San Francisco. In Salt Lake City a young girl entered the bus—a Primary girl—who sat next to me. She was going to Reno, Nevada, for a visit with her aunt. As we journeyed westward, I noticed a billboard: ‘Visit the Mormon Sunday School this week.’

“I said to the little girl, ‘I guess there are a lot of Mormons in Utah, aren’t there?’  “She replied, ‘Yes, sir.’

“Then I said to her, ‘Are you a Mormon?’  “Again her reply: ‘Yes, sir.’”  Sharman Hummel then asked, “What do Mormons believe?”

And that little girl recited the first article of faith; then she talked about it. Continuing, she gave him the second article of faith and talked about it. Then she gave him the third and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth and all of the Articles of Faith and talked about all of them. Sharman Hummel said, “I was profoundly impressed.

When I arrived in San Francisco, the very first thing I did was to look through the yellow pages for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I called the mission president, and he sent two missionaries to where I was staying. I became a member of the Church, my wife became a member, and all of our children became members.”

The entire Hummel family remained active in the Church. Each of the daughters has been to the temple. Countless are those who have been brought to a knowledge of the gospel by the members of this family—all because a young child had been taught the Articles of Faith and had the ability and the courage to proclaim the truth.

BY ELDER M. RUSSELL BALLARD

When individuals feel the Spirit working with them, or when they see the evidence of the Lord’s love and mercy in their lives, they are strengthened spiritually, and their faith in Him increases.

Recently a stake president shared with me a tender story. Both the Relief Society and the priesthood had been working with a family in their stake but had failed to make progress with the parents. Primary leaders found the answer. Permission was given by the parents for their young daughter to attend Primary. Their one condition was that she had to want to go badly enough to get there on her own. Rides to church could not be provided. Because she had to go through a rough part of town, the ward council saw to it that someone would drive along beside her as she rode an old bicycle to church.

Through summer heat, through rain and even snow, she persisted in going to church. At Christmastime, a family in the ward gave this faithful little girl a new 10-speed bicycle. This so touched the parents that they too began attending church. This young girl was baptized. What made the baptism even more special was that it was performed by the newest priest in the ward, her recently activated father.

Now is the time for members of the Church to be more bold in reaching out to others, helping them to know the Church is true. We must move forward with the promise that the Spirit will bless us to know what to do and what to say as we assist those who are seeking to know the truth.