This evening we had a baptism preview (called "Eight is Great") for the seven-year-old class. Each of them will be turning eight this year, "the time when a person begins to become accountable" for their choices (they've been taught the difference between right and wrong and have learned to recognize the spirit, etc.) "and can be baptized."
We had several speakers. The primary president spoke about baptism and read an entry from her journal about her baptismal day. She admitted to feeling scared because she wasn't entirely sure what to expect but that it ended up being a wonderful experience and she never wanted to forget how clean and pure she felt.
The children came up to sing a song.
The cub scout master spoke to the boys about their imminent initiation into the cub scout program. He also gave a brief introduction to the Faith in God program.
The activity days leader spoke to the girls about their imminent initiation into the activity days program. She also mentioned the Faith in God program.
The bishop got down to the nitty-gritty details of organizing a baptism program, date, interview, and so forth. He took the kids on a tour of the font and gave them some words of advice, which will hopefully help them feel more comfortable on their own baptism day.
We sang a closing song, blessed the refreshments, and ate. We gave the kids a white towel with a poem and a picture in a frame.
It took about a half hour to get through the program (which was just about perfect for a seven-year-old attention span), we ate every last crumb of food, and the men broke down our set-up in record time.
Seriously. It took three women nearly an hour to get everything set up perfectly—tables, chairs, table clothes, podium, piano, food—and about ten minutes for the fathers of the children to put everything away (including wheeling the piano back down the hall). I was impressed.
And then I realized that it's Super Bowl Sunday! Obviously there are no men in the primary presidency. We planned a church event smack dab in the middle of Super Bowl Sunday!
Although our attendance rate was high (seven of eight children attended the program with one or two parents in tow, along with some grandparents and siblings) it was obvious some of the men were ready to bust out of there (especially when it came time to clean up—never have I ever seen a group of men volunteer so quickly to get things put away).
(Next year Rachel will be attending Eight is Great. That's just crazy.)
We had several speakers. The primary president spoke about baptism and read an entry from her journal about her baptismal day. She admitted to feeling scared because she wasn't entirely sure what to expect but that it ended up being a wonderful experience and she never wanted to forget how clean and pure she felt.
The children came up to sing a song.
The cub scout master spoke to the boys about their imminent initiation into the cub scout program. He also gave a brief introduction to the Faith in God program.
The activity days leader spoke to the girls about their imminent initiation into the activity days program. She also mentioned the Faith in God program.
The bishop got down to the nitty-gritty details of organizing a baptism program, date, interview, and so forth. He took the kids on a tour of the font and gave them some words of advice, which will hopefully help them feel more comfortable on their own baptism day.
We sang a closing song, blessed the refreshments, and ate. We gave the kids a white towel with a poem and a picture in a frame.
It took about a half hour to get through the program (which was just about perfect for a seven-year-old attention span), we ate every last crumb of food, and the men broke down our set-up in record time.
Seriously. It took three women nearly an hour to get everything set up perfectly—tables, chairs, table clothes, podium, piano, food—and about ten minutes for the fathers of the children to put everything away (including wheeling the piano back down the hall). I was impressed.
And then I realized that it's Super Bowl Sunday! Obviously there are no men in the primary presidency. We planned a church event smack dab in the middle of Super Bowl Sunday!
Although our attendance rate was high (seven of eight children attended the program with one or two parents in tow, along with some grandparents and siblings) it was obvious some of the men were ready to bust out of there (especially when it came time to clean up—never have I ever seen a group of men volunteer so quickly to get things put away).
(Next year Rachel will be attending Eight is Great. That's just crazy.)
Wow! Rachel's growing up so fast!
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