Primary In-Service for May

The Primary In-Service Lesson for May was held on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Today we reflected upon preparation which, according to Elder Dallin H. Oaks, ". . . is a prerequisite to teaching by the Spirit." We discussed the Six P's of Preparing a Lesson, which are plan, pray, purpose, principles, prepare and present. We emphasised the importance of using the scriptures and read 1 Nephi 19:23 "...for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning." Teachers were encouraged to read from their scriptures during every lesson so that children will become comfortable with the scriptures and by their teacher's example, learn to use the scriptures in their own lives. We played a game which can be used for behavior management. It was a scripture search game to help children become familiar with the names and order of books in the scriptures as well as a tool to manage behavior. Dramatization was the teaching method we modeled. Children can gain a greater understanding of gospel principles by dramatizing stories from the lesson. We used the Pair-Share activity to review and conclude the in-service lesson. All Primary teachers are encouraged the review the lesson by reading and studying the following: pages 13-15 in Teaching Guidebook; page 166 in Teaching, no Greater Call and 1Nephi:19:23. "We are so grateful to all who teach. We love you and appreciate you more than we can say," Jeffrey R. Holland.

Relief Society Book Club - May

The Relief Society Book Club met on Tuesday, May 20, 2008. We discussed the book, THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER by Kim Edwards. Everyone liked the book very much. This book has the capacity to evoke a lot of emotions in the reader. The relationship between the main character and his wife dredged up quite a few unpleasant memories of events from my marriage that I thought I had forgotten. In a way this was a healing experience for me. Not everyone in the group had such a reaction though. We spent a lot of time talking about the behavior of the main characters, whether they did the right thing or not and what we would do in their situation. Read this book. I give it 4 stars. Our book for June is THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen. Keep on reading.

Orlando Temple

Photo (c) 2004 Michael Provard

Latest News From Lake Panasoffkee

Nothing much is new in Lake Panasoffkee. . . except that I'll be going there in about five weeks. My parents are looking forward to my visit. My brother is looking forward to my visit as well because he and his wife always take their vacation in the summer when I can stay with our parents. As for me I'm recovering from an injury to the ligament in my leg. I try to walk as little as possible at work and then every evening I sit with a bag of ice on my leg, which really helps. My leg feels a little better each day. My cat, Star, is doing fine. Now that she's recovered from her urinary tract infection, I'm going to continue training her to do tricks. Yes, tricks. Cats can learn to do tricks. Sometimes they will only learn the tricks they want to learn and sometimes they will only do the tricks they want to do, but they can learn tricks.

Well . . that's about all the news from Lake Panasoffkee. Enjoy the picture of the hummingbird! I'm looking forward to seeing many of them this summer.

Our Sunday School Lesson

"God Himself . . . Shall Redeem His People." Mosiah 12-17

One big question of the lesson was Did Abinadi die without being aware of any converts?

Well, we know from Mosiah 17:1,2 that Abinadi heard the plea of Alma to spare his life. We aren't told what Abinadi was thinking but he probably did believe some good would come of his mission. Ted L. Gibbons has written in his Book of Mormon Lessons "that as a direct result of the ministry of Abinadi which was carried on by Alma the Elder and his descendants, 23,707 people united with the Church, and in addition to this, thirteen other large groups of people were converted."

Abinadi indeed had a most difficult mission: to share a most important message with everyone. It wasn't easy. His message was about peace, redemption and salvation. He was asked in the court of Noah to retract his statements or be put to death. Abinadi responded in Mosiah 17:9,10, by saying, I say unto you, I will not recall the words which I have spoken unto you concerning this people, for they are true; and that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you.

I know that Abinadi preached the truth. He loved the Lord and was faithful and steadfast to the end of his life. I am so grateful that we have these lessons from the Book of Mormon. The great example of Abinadi is precious to me.

The Second Primary In-Service Lesson

And I give you a commandment that you shall teach

one another the doctrine of the kingdom. D&C 88:77

The second Primary in-service lesson was held on Sunday, April 26, 2008 at the Palm Springs Ward. Attendance was great! In the first session we almost ran out of chairs. The lesson centered around teaching with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. In fact, the Holy Ghost is necessary in order to teach the principles and truths of the gospel. So we shared the six things a teacher needs to do in order to teach with the guidance of the Holy Ghost. (See Teaching Guidebook, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pages 2,3.) There were several suggestions for classroom behavior management (Read "Helping Those Who Become Disruptive," from Teaching, No Greater Call, published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pages 84-87.) and I shared an object lesson about Joseph Smith from http://www.eprimary.dk/ . The best lesson ideas of the month (dressing up like a character from the Book of Mormon) came from http://www.sugardoodle.net/. I hope you will visit these sites. And, as you read this blog, of course, leave comments for me and your fellow Primary teachers! We ended the lesson with a "pair-share" teaching strategy. Again, I must say that the Primary teachers in our ward are caring, hard-working AND dedicated. In the words of Jeffrey R. Holland, "We are so grateful to all who teach. We love you and appreciate you more than we can say."

The Latest From Lake Panasoffkee

Yes, it has been a long time since I've written. However, a few things have kept me busy. I've had a sick cat. Star had a urinary tract infection. She is doing OK now, but for about two weeks she was not feeling well. (And when my cat feels bad, I feel bad.) The hardest part was getting her to take her medicine, which she did not like to do at all. Then there was her constant desire to go outside and then inside, etc., all of the time. Finally, as the medicine started to take effect, she settled down and did a lot of sleeping. Now, she's her old, playful self. She still wakes me up at 5:00 AM, an hour earlier for me, because she doesn't understand that we made a time change awhile back. Then there was my mom who fell and broke three ribs. She is better now, but what a scare for us. I can't blame her for wanting to stay active and busy, but she doesn't realize how fragile she is. I'll be visiting her during the summer, so maybe I'll be able to get her to slow down a little bit. And last, work has been super busy. I've had three major projects to complete - all at the same time and I don't like to do three things at once, especially without clerical help. Anyway, as per Friday, the worst is over (hopefully) and I'm back to a normal life.