Changes Cause Closet Cleaning

During General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in October, a new program was announced called "Come Follow Me".  We will study at home and go to the church building less.  All of the age groups will have discussions about the same topic.  This coming year we will all be studying the New Testament.  This change means that those of us who serve in Primary Presidencies will not have to spend hours and hours making sure binders have the right book and pictures.  Use of the online copies of the book are encouraged! 

This change called for a cleaning of the Primary closet, and a lot of recycling.  Here are the pictures of the books we no longer need -- not counting the ones that are still currently being used by the Primary teachers.

A stack of Primary Manuals.

The organized mess.
There are a lot of good pictures.  We did not recycle those.
We are hoping that we can find people who can use them at home.

When this new program was announced I felt like a weight was being lifted off of my shoulders.  I love Primary and didn't realize that making it shorter would feel like a relief.  Primary just got shortened by half.  Now the 3 to 11 year olds do not need to try to sit still for most of 3 hours while their teachers are trying to teach them, keep them focused, and keep themselves focused. I try to get the kids moving as much as I can when I teach, but that is still a long time.  Now, after Sacrament meeting, they can sing for about 20 minutes and have class for about 20 minutes with another 10 for a prayer, talk, scripture, and walking down the hall.  As long as people prepare, I think the kids can learn just as much, if not more.  We are not just cleaning out the closets, we are clearing the time we use from the unnecessary clutter of busy work, and time fillers, and getting to the heart of what is important.  Learning about Jesus!