I LOVE my Activity Day Girls!

My Pretty Pretty Princesses!!

Last spring Herman was talking to me, and he asked me what my dream calling would be.  I didn't skip a beat when I answered that it would be Activity Days Leader.  Hands down.  No question at all.  I have enjoyed several callings I have had.  I still really enjoy being the Stake Girls Camp Director, but I stress about it a lot.  There is a lot of pressure with that.  But when I was first married I was called to be the teacher for what was then called the Merry Miss B class.  They were the girls who were eleven and getting ready to turn twelve and enter the young women program.  As part of that calling I also worked with those girls on Wednesday nights at what was then called Achievement Days.  I loved that calling.  I wasn't very good at it.  At that point in my life I had still only been a member of the Church for only two years.  I had no idea how the primary functioned and exactly what we were supposed to do.  I think I'll always remember having a Halloween party with the girls and their moms, and we somehow ended up telling ghost stories.  I know.  Probably not the best thing to end up doing at a Wednesday night activity, but I was still a newbie at this Gospel.  Then one mother who had a habit of making terribly self-righteous remarks in every class she was in (seriously, I have some memories of this lady stacked up in my head waiting for a great moment to use them in talks about how we shouldn't judge others) -- anyway, this lady asked to share a story, and she told this very strange, and frankly unbelievable story that was meant to prove her righteous superiority to the rest of us heathens.  Then she commented that she just felt the need to bring the Spirit back to my class.  I had no idea how to respond to that.  I had much to learn, but I still loved this calling.  I loved those girls.  They were so forgiving of my faults.  They were so enthusiastic about the Gospel, and they would jump at every opportunity to jump in and create wonderful activities.  Despite my memories of my failings in the calling, the reality is that I have many more memories of how much I loved it.

Katie and Gabby

I have not been able to hold a calling for the past three years because Herman is serving as Bishop, and I was already working as the Stake Camp Director.  The Stake Presidency felt like it was too much for me to hold a stake and ward calling while Herman was Bishop.  So I have been floating around most Sundays, helping out when I got the chance.  There are times, especially in the spring and early summer when this is a blessing, but much of the time I feel underused.  I was ready to hold another calling.  Herman decided to ask me to help out as an assistant Activity Days leader.  I was excited to accept the assignment, but soon the Activity Days leader moved away when her husband was stationed in another duty station, so I got to be head honcho.  I was loving working with the girls, but then the ward split, and so I lost a big group of the Activity Day girls.

I thought that I was going to have a really tough time with the 2nd ward Activity Day girls because I only had three active girls who came with me to this ward.  The rest of my group of 13 girls was in the other ward.  It was going to be so different having a small group.  I had this weird fear that we would show up and just sit and smile at each other, saying very little to each other.  I had no confidence in my own ability to create enthusiasm and excitement on my own.  I was sure that these girls would hate me.  How little faith I had!  I forgot just how amazing these girls are!

Talia preparing her folder (with Rachael in the background)

I have found that I don't just have my three active girls.  Katie has had her friends Gabby and Talia come every week as well.  They are not members of our church, but their mom loves them to come on Wednesday to socialize with us.  I know that they love coming, so who knows what will happen in the future?  At least there will be two more people that will think positive thoughts about members of our church rather than believing some of the hate that is spewed by those who no nothing of our religion or the people who believe in it.  Gabby and Talia both are selective mute.  If I were to describe them without knowing any better I would say that they are EXTREMELY shy, like way beyond any sort of shyness you would encounter on a regular basis.  They don't talk to anyone usually, not even teachers.  Their conversation is saved for close family members.  However, for some reason last year they became comfortable with my Katie and Courtney Housel who is now in the other ward.  They became friends, and after much hounding Katie and Courtney were finally able to convince Gabby and Talia to come to our Activity Days last month.  They have been coming ever since.  A few weeks ago when Herman set me apart to be the Activity Days leader he gave me a very specific blessing that made me think of Gabby and Talia.  He blessed me that I would have a special gift to reach those who struggled to communicate.  I have already seen that blessing begin to come to pass.  Today I got a couple of responses from Gabby and Talia, and they have already got their pet name for me -- Biggest Katie (Laney is Bigger Katie, so that makes me Biggest -- Joy!).

Jahra with Emily, our new Activity Day princess

I noticed a girl in my class on Sunday who I had never seen before, and I asked her why she hadn't come to Activity Days before.  I guess that was my fault for not seeking her out, but I tried to rectify the situation, and she showed up today and had a great time.  We also have one girl coming who isn't technically old enough to be in our group.  She is almost seven, so she has more than a year before she can officially be an Activity Day girl.  But her mom is our Young Women president, and she has nothing to do during this time on Tuesday nights.  I invited her to come in with us because her other alternative was running around with our very rowdy group of young boys who run around while their parents serve in various callings.  In a predominantly military ward where so many spouses are deployed overseas or have duties that keep them working in the evenings it is unreasonable to expect parents to find alternative things to do with their younger children while they serve in their church callings, so we make things work the best we can.  So with that in mind, I invited Jahra to hang out with the rest of us.  She has been an absolute sweetheart.

Jahra showing me her sweet folder.

Today I was expecting a small group of girls.  There had been an activity at Freedom Elementary that went all the way to 7 pm, so Katie was going to show up late.  I didn't know if Gabby and Talia would come at all.  I thought that I would only have Laney and Rachael.  But I showed up, hoping for the best.  Then as I was preparing I noticed what my chosen theme for the activity was.  I have been doing activities that directly tie back to the Faith in God for Girls books.  This week we were focusing on the basic requirements for receiving the Faith in God reward, and we were going to do an activity on tithing.  Tithing?  How was I going to make a fun and memorable activity about tithing?  I began to question my thinking as I made my master schedule for the year.  I briefly flirted with changing the activity into something with a bit more pep in it, but the Spirit seemed to push me back toward doing the tithing activity, so I went with it.  I planned for the girls to make a folder with an activity that they could do with their families at Family Home Evening sometime.  They put together a little lesson that had pull tabs that answered questions about tithing, then they decorated their folders before adding a coloring page and a recipe for Tithing Fruit Pizza to use for snacks at FHE.

Rachael shows the inside tithing lesson

I had no idea how this activity would go.  I imagined a few yawns and moments of silence.  Well, I began to see as the activity began that I had grossly underestimated the power that Heavenly Father has to make all things work out for His good.  I just need to trust Him!  I had chosen a small classroom because I didn't expect many girls.  We soon filled the room.  I was surprised to look around and see seven girls smiling at me.  They started the evening with as much enthusiasm as ever.  You could just feel their joy at being there.  I was drinking it all in.  First of all I had the girls explain exactly what tithing was for Gabby and Talia since they were not members and would not have heard about this principle.  The girls had a lot of fun doing this, and they did way better than I could.  Then I explained our activity and set them out to make their packets.  I helped them out a bit.  I even got to use a sweet Exacto knife.  Hurray!  But then I just sat back and watched the girls.  They threw themselves into the activity with so much enthusiasm.  They made a potentially boring activity into a really fun one.  I just sat back in the corner smiling at them as they worked together.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the opportunity to work with such wonderful girls.  They are absolutely amazing in so many ways.  I am so grateful to have a chance to spend part of their week with them.  Today I saw all the girls working together.  Even though Jahra is six and technically too young to be in our group, and Gabby and Talia say very little to the group, everyone talked and laughed together.  I wanted to almost jump for joy when I looked over and saw Laney asking Talia a question and getting an answer from her.  I'm not sure that anyone in the room other than maybe Katie could really know just what a miracle that was to behold.

Laney showing the outside finished product she made

It may be that I'm simply in this calling because our ward is now half the size it had been, and they need all the help they can get from the members to fill every calling.  But I really feel like I was meant to hold this calling at this time.  I don't know if I will be making any sort of life changing differences in the lives of these girls.  They already seem to really have their acts together.  But I think about one of my Achievement Day girls who was my girl when I first held this calling as a newlywed.  I saw her by chance one day years later when she was getting married at the St. Louis Temple.  She ran over to me and hugged me, still full of love for me, this leader she had for just a short time in her life.  I had touched her life.  She had touched mine.  And isn't that what this is all about?  I love this Gospel, and I love the opportunity I have to serve.  My Activity Days girls rock!