Primary

I got a new calling in church at the beginning of the summer and it has humbled me so much.  I get to help all the children with special needs in our stake.  Not your typical calling, but our stake has a lot of children with special needs, mostly autism, downs syndrome, and ADD.  I felt completely unqualified for this calling and kept telling them, "you know this is not what I specifically studied in school right???"  But it is amazing how the calling came about.  The Stake Primary President didn't even know me but heard the tail end of my talk at church and my name kept popping up in her head for this calling.  Then one day I needed my membership number off my temple recommend and then after I used it my recommend seriously vanished.  I looked for weeks because I had just renewed it and didn't want to have to go through the 2 interviews again.  Well the temple dedication in Atlanta was coming up so I made the appointments.  Somehow during the interview with the stake it came up that I had twin brothers you have Autism.  That night Erin Barnes, the Stake Primary President, called the stake presidency and said how much they needed to call someone.  He said, "I just interviewed a women whose brothers have Autism and I think she would be great."  When he said my name Erin knew that I should be called. It is also a fulfillment of my patriarchal blessing which is pretty neat.

I'm not sure I've ever felt that I was specifically needed somewhere in the church, but I definitely feel that way about this calling.  No, I don't know a lot about special needs, yes, I am completely unprepared for all of this, and somehow Heavenly Father is helping me learn everything so I can fulfill my calling.  It is truly amazing to me. 

We are starting to see some amazing things and children who couldn't even sit in primary are now sitting and participating.  Yesterday was the most spiritual Sunday I have had in awhile.  One of the boys who has Autism and amazing parents was asked to give the talk.  He was nervous to go up there and one of his classmates stood up with him, guided him to the front of the room and helped him start his talk.  Once he started he spoke the words perfectly and talked about how thankful he is for his body.  Here this boy who has an "imperfect" body was talking about how grateful he was for his.  There was not a dry eye in the room and I felt the spirit so strongly. 

One of our main goals is to help the other primary children understand how important it is to treat EVERYONE kindly no matter what his or her condition is in life.  Well that little boy yesterday gets it and was so kind to his classmate. 

I am feeling so grateful to have witnessed that special moment.