teaching them, slowly but surely

President Thomas S. Monson once said "We are the Lord's hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift his children. He is dependent upon each of us." --

I came across something important today, something I personally realized. So once it was time to go to class I wasn't feeling too well, I had a headache, like a pretty bad one, I kinda then felt like I was in a bad mood but I certainly did not take it out on the kids, I only have three students, Jacob, Daisy, and Nicolas, only Jacob and Daisy came, they ran into the room and started to get on the chairs and what they always do, get that energy out that they had during sharing time, so then I sat down for a good minute trying to feel better by putting my head on the table in our classroom, and Daisy noticed that I wasn't talking as I usually do, so she came over and asked me "Tarla are you okay?" And I told her about my headache and she told Jacob to sit down because I was crying hahah so he sat down and noticed I was a bit down so he sat quietly as Daisy had asked , I felt like it was time to start class so we continued and I asked: "Who wants to pray for us today?" And Daisy's hand shot right up and began her prayer, then somewhere in the middle of her prayer she said: "And help Tarla feel better so that we can all be happy in class and she can always be our teacher..." In many ways I have been amazed just the fact of her wanting to help me by asking our heavenly father to help me feel better, and it made me so happy I forgot all about the headache, when class ended, I told Daisy how happy she made me feel and that I appreciated her for praying for me and she hugged me and said "Your Welcome Tarla".

Ever since I have been called to be a Primary teacher, I've had many wonderful and heart warming expierances, but this one, it touched my heart, sometimes people underestimate the intelligence of children. But this experience I had is one of the many reasons I don't question it one bit.

As a teacher of four year-old kids, I always do my best to keep them interested and since they are pretty small, it is a challenge to keep them on board with the subject, but I think that as long as I try to be patient, and hear what they have to say I can tie what they're saying in with what I'm trying to teach, I don't have to force the entire class in 30 minutes not wondering what the childen got from what I just said, I don't like skipping questions and comments that they kids have because I have learned that if you listen to them, they will listen to you. When I say listen, I don't mean nod your head and say yes to everything that they are saying but really listen and just try to help them understand the important thing at the moment by tying it in with what they are saying-- it can definitely be a challange!! but as long as they learn the key word of the class, it helps, whether it's something big like "Joseph Smith restored the gospel" or that "Nephi built a ship", By mentioning that I hope that it stays stuck in their head so later when they are older and a little more focused on learning with the next teacher(s) that they get, they explain the full story, and the teachings from it, but for now, at least they heard about it before.

I just want to express how much I LOVE this gospel, and how I am blessed to learn about the truth, I have felt the spirit testify about a lot of things, the power of Prayer, the Book of Mormon and oh so much more. I testify that I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that as long as I keep doing the things I should like read scriptures, praying constantly and keep the commandmenets, the Holy Ghost will stay close to me, guiding me through the crazy-ness that happens in my life. It has to be constant though I can't just do it every now and then that's not how it works, and I can say that from experience, because of it I've realized and learned the difference between constant application and occasional application, and let me just say, I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON. So point is, it doesn't matter if you don't finish the class you prepared a day before, whatever the children can comprehend/learn from that class will still make a difference, but of course, I trust that the parents will help and cover the rest of what I've tried to teach them. Because of this experience, I've really admired the parents who teach their kids, because not only do we work as a team to teach them but we also help them grow closer to wanting to understand the teachings, it's a blessing to be part of the Primary organization because I've learned so much and cannot wait to see them grow -- spiritually and physically in the gospel❤

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