New Primary Calling

So when I first got this calling I was STOKED! I had only done musical calling all my life and was excited to finally do something else. I was also excited to work with the fun kids in my new ward. They assigned me to teach the 7-8 year old kids, combined, as those age groups were lacking in numbers attending. I thought GREAT! I will get to teach these wonderful kids and prepare them for one of the steps in life that God has commanded all his children to do. BAPTISM. I was paired up with the former Relief Society President. I was so excited, that I got the first lesson prepared as soon as I got the manual. I had handouts, things to color, pictures to hang up, stories to tell, scriptures to read. I had prepared the works. I even made a nice poster that said "I WILL CHOOSE THE RIGHT" all scrapbooky like, as that is our theme for this year. Well, I had no idea that all my work and my hopes would be shattered on my first day in class.

So I got to Primary, ten minutes early so I could welcome my class in and get to know each child as they sat down. I discovered that three of my kids were inactive so I was left with a class of 5 kids. Some of them already 8. I sat lovingly, listening to the prelude music and soaked in the joy of being with the children. But once Primary started, things got a little hectic. We sang songs and had the announcements, but when it came to sharing time, almost everyone was disrespectful and disruptive. One of the kids in my class stuck his hands down his pants and another kept turning around and poking the kid behind him. The lady doing sharing time had to stop quite a few times cuz they were so loud. Then when we did singing time, they begged to sing "Jesus wants me for a sunBEAM" and refused to sing anything but that. I thought it was just a time that they got out their jitters and they just needed to be away from all the others kids. Then they'd calm down and be good.... Or so I thought.

As were moved to our designated classroom, the boys immediately sat all together in a little circle in the corner. I pulled their chairs over to the front of the classroom and said that we were going to sit in a semi-circle up here. I have one girl in my class, Brynne. After letting the boys sit together, she promptly told me that she HAD to sit between the boys or they would go crazy! I told the boys that it was a privilege to sit together and that if they couldn't handle it, they would be separated. Brynne then proceeded to bite her arm as hard as she could. (Maybe she thought that I would feel bad and do it her way) Well, it was probably 3 minutes before my team teacher Sister Heaps had them separated and was sitting between them. A little after the prayer, Brynne got up from her seat and layed on the floor and told us she was going to take a nap cuz she "got up at SIX O'CLOCK this morning so I could play my new nintendo game!" Sister Heaps didn't put up with it and she was back in her chair only to start hitting her head with her fist.

So to start the class off, I asked a little bit about each child. I started with the first boy. "Say your name and tell us a little bit about yourself." I said. "I like to play my nintendo." said the first boy. "I play nintendo" said the second boy. Well, I wasn't really getting very far with this game so I was about to move on, when Brynne insisted that I ask her. After repeating the question, she sat and looked at the ceiling and made a mad noise and folded her arms. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was, but I told her I would move on to Sister Heaps when she yelled out "OK OK! I'll tell you! My name is Brynne.... my favorite color is DARK BLUE! I am home schooled, except not very much anymore cuz we don't do what my mom wants us to. And.... I love to read stuff about dark lords and dragons and this one book about the gorgeous woman that falls into the hands of the evil sorcerer." So after her very dramatic explanation about herself we moved on the lesson.

I first asked each kid what they could do to try and choose the right. The first said "play nintendo" the second said "play nintendo". I was really getting tired of this game so I told them what I thought we could do to choose the right. Then one of the boys raised his hand and said "I could help my mom do the dishes." OH child! You are a SAINT!! :) Later I found out that this boy was inactive and came only once a month! What luck! :(

I then moved on to the coloring activity. I handed out pictures of the CTR sheild and asked them to color them and write on the paper different ways that they could choose the right. I showed them the paper that I had previously colored and filled out so thoughtfully and displayed it before setting them to work. As I inspected each boy's sheild, I discovered that each one had drawn a DEVIL on it and wrote "Nintendo" above them! I had about had it. I looked at the clock and with only ten minutes left I started to wind down the coloring, when Brynne suddenly layed on the ground (very dramatically) and said "Oh I can't WAIT until I'm 13 years old. Then I'll be beautiful and sexy and all the boys will be handsome and MUSCLEY.... and then I'll have BOOBS!" What! I just about died! I was about to comment on how inappropriate that was when one of the boys said "That's not even what they are called!" I didn't know if I should cry or laugh, or yell or be embarrassed or what. I just said "That's not what we should talk about in class, and quickly collected the papers, and went to end the class. I bore my testimony, almost in tears as the boys layed on their chairs and burped, and asked if someone would say the prayer. Brynne volunteered and got up to the front of the class. With all our eyes closed and arms folded, we waited... Then Brynne said "Gabe, if you don't knock it off i'm going to get REALLY mad! And you don't want to see this girl mad." I'm still not quite sure what he was doing, but she then continued to say the prayer. Immediately after, the kids ran out and left me and Sister Heaps to discuss what we were going to do to prevent such things in the future.

I didn't last long before I was going to cry so I told her I'd call if I had any ideas. I met up with Alex in the chapel and he asked me how my first class went. I couldn't even speak without tearing up so I explained once we got home.

Since then it has gotten a little better. The next week, we made up some rules that they chose from and had to sign their names to say that they would follow them. We also make sure to sit between the boys and put Brynne between the other ones. But some of them are still quite disrespectful and will yawn as we bear our testimonies. This last Sunday I sat between two boys and half the time one (or both, I don't know) kept farting! I don't know if it was on purpose or if they just couldn't help it, but they were silent and deadly. Brynne still makes inappropriate comments and talks about dark lords and stuff, but I called each of their parents this past week and got to know each child a little better. I think it will give me a little more leverage, but I just pray every day that the next Sunday will go better.

Any advice/comfort/similar stories would be very welcome at this time. :)