Have Book of Mormon Booklets, Will Travel

A few posts ago I wrote how on Sunday I "conducted" a mini-Primary class to keep the kids occupied while Elder held a member records meeting with their parents. Last Sunday we returned to this branch, this time with camera in hand. I gave the Primary President some more Book of Mormon coloring booklets, some flannel stories, crayons, and a flannel board.

Little Iris is the darling girl I told how she would show me her coloring page with great expectations of praise.  Here she is:

  Isn't she the most adorable thing ever?  Here is the whole Primary.

After leaving St. Lucia, we headed south to attend a small branch in Tagudin.

 Home converted to meetinghouse

There was such a wonderful spirit present.  After sacrament meeting and Sunday School, a folding wall was pulled to separate the chapel into two rooms: one for the relief society meeting and the other for the priesthood meeting.

Relief Society sisters



They insisted I be in the picture.

After Relief Society, the RS President announced that I would be taking questions.  How embarrassing! I am still having a hard time accepting the fact that missionaries are treated like royalty.

After Church was over, no one left the meetinghouse. Everyone stayed for Elder's meeting.  It was supposed to be a meeting just for the leaders of the Branch. I guess with such few members, everyone is a leader!

While Elder was organizing his member record meeting, I headed upstairs with my Book of Mormon story booklets to see if I could entertain the troops. There were a few Primary kids sitting on the stairs.  When they saw me headed up, they scampered back up the stairs as if I were the principal of the school and they were the students caught sluffing.  They slid into their designated chairs and waited....for what, I have no idea. There was a Primary teacher in the room.  I kept asking her if I was interrupting something, but all got was the impression that I was in charge. So I took over. I was very impressed! They knew the story of Ammon chopping off the arms of the enemy very well.

The classroom was literally wall-to-wall Primary children. Talk about forced reverence! They had no room to misbehave.

As I took more pictures, they started showing me their colored "Ammon and the Bad Guys" booklets.

Then they advanced to an even better "Show and Tell".

When Elder's meeting was over I headed back downstairs. I met a family who have five or six children. I can't remember which. Two are returned missionaries, one is on a mission, and the sixteen-year-old in the picture is seriously working towards his mission.  I couldn't resist taking their picture.  What a strong, faithful family.

And again, they insisted I be in the picture, too.

Last Sunday we visited a branch in Vigan. I was only able to give away two of my booklets to two young ladies.  However I was introduced to a Counselor in the Vigan District Primary Presidency.  She was very excited to accept my offer to supply her Primary teachers with all my Book of Mormon booklets, crayons, flannel stories, and flannel boards.  The Primary Counselor had never heard of a flannel board, so I demonstrated. She was very intrigued.... she kept calling it "Magic".

I have "checked out" the libraries in quite a few meetinghouses.  In any one meetinghouse, all I could ever find that half-way resembled a library, was a cardboard box filled with tattered hand-made posters. That's all! So I believe it when I am told that the Primary organizations have very limited budgets for supplies. It feels good to help, even though it is in a very small way.