Hold to the Rod: HCP Third Day

Lily finally got to go on stage today. She has been begging to do so and wondering when the big day would arrive. There wasn't much to it today. All they did was line her up with her partner who will meet her in the Study Shelter and walk her all the way UNDER the stage (only the primary and work crew get to do this!) and then act as the primary children's parents on stage. Caroline is Lily's partner. Here they are together:

Here they are walking under the stage:

Once the kids reached their partners showed them where they will sit and wait for Chad to come down to them. Lily is in group #4 but this seems like pretty prime real estate to me. I think she will be quite close to him.

No actions were blocked out today and nothing was done to the soundtrack but at least Lily actually got on stage!

In primary I taught the lesson on the Tree of Life. This was exciting since I love trees so much. It was a fun flannel board story and almost every child got to come up and help. Afterwards the kids traced their hands and on each finger wrote a way they can hold onto the Iron Rod. Some ideas were: obeying parents, being kind, saying prayers. One was being on time to church! Then they cut out the hands and we put tin foil over empty paper towel rolls and taped the hands holding on. So cute.

After the longest dinner line in history:

we had a great missionary fireside. Some highlights to me were a rhyme that President Schwendiman, the Pageant President, told in regards to how little sleep we are about to get in the coming week:

Mary had a little lamb, she could have been a sheep
But she joined the Mormon Church and died from lack of sleep

Elder Bean said how important it is to learn the proper way to solve problems. He told of a scout attending a 1st Aid Merit Badge class who was asked the question, "What would you do if a baby swallowed a house key?" He answered, "Just go in through the window!"

Finally, President Francis of the Rochester Mission said a prayer to set us all apart as missionaries. I was expecting it to be nice but it was earth shattering and powerful. He said that as we shared the gospel we would "feel joy greater than we have ever experienced" and that "all our sins would be forgiven." He said other great things but I didn't write it down until after and I couldn't write fast enough so I forgot! He was a great speaker.

I'm glad we got dismissed early because we have a HUGE day tomorrow. We don't start the run through until 9 so probably won't be getting back to our place until well after 11.