I'm Pretty Sure I'm Not an Adult

So Robyn and I were released as Sunbeam teachers.  (We used to teach the 3 and 4 year olds in our church but they've rotated someone else in to take a turn in that position.)  I was really excited to actually get a chance to be edified by attending Sunday School and just sitting back and listening.

We got to Sunday School and we realized it's been so long since we've attended that we didn't even know what the curriculum was this year. (They rotate each year between Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants.)  As Robyn and I sat down she commented, "I wonder what we're learning about this year."  I looked at her with excitement because I knew the answer, "We're learning about Jesus!"  That's when I knew that I had permanently reverted back to being a Sunbeam. (Not that I ever really left.)

As time went on, it just got worse.  We had a great lesson in Elder's Quorum about the oath and covenant of the priesthood, but I just kept looking at my watch and thinking, "Isn't it singing time?" or "maybe we should play a game."  I do really enjoy being in the audience.  I do love to discuss the gospel, but there are a few things I'll miss about the sunbeams.  Here are a few of them.

The wonder they experience when learning the gospel
We were giving a Christmas lesson right before Christmas.  I asked them whose birthday we were celebrating.  The unanimous answer was "Santa".  But then one girl thought a little bit longer and said, "Jesus".  The others looked at her as if she were crazy and then she said, "Well, that's what my daddy told me."  We reassured her that her daddy was correct, and all the other kids were amazed.  I think the fact that Jesus had a birthday helped make Him a little more real to them.

The funny ways they interpret things
Robyn was sick on the Sunday before Christmas so I prepared the lesson all on my own.  I came up with a brilliant game to play.  I brought a star and had all the kids pretend they were wise men.  One kid got to carry the star and the others followed him or her around the room.  I told the wise men that they needed to pretend they were on camels.  One kid tried to take that as literally as possible.  He figured if he was riding a camel he would pretty much be doing the splits.  So he spread his legs as wide as possible, but in that position he really had trouble keeping up with the star.  It's not a very big room so they just march in circles.  It wasn't very long before the kid holding the star had caught up with the wide straddling camel rider and was now behind him.  The star became very angry, "I'm the star!  You have to follow me!  You can't be in front of me!"  This is where I worry about my future parenting skills.  I just think the whole thing is humorous.  Luckily, my friend Cameron was assisting me that day and he helped bring back order.

Their willingness to share their lives
They say there are two people in the ward who know everything:  The Bishop and the sunbeam teachers.   I think that just might be true.  They have a lot of interesting things to share.  I won't share the most incriminating ones but they're often pretty funny.  One of my favorites was when they all wanted to share what their parent's nicknames are: "My dad calls my mom babe!"  "Well, my mom calls my dad honey!"  "My mom calls my dad cupcake!"  "But you eat a cupcake!"  They all thought it was hilarious.

All in all, it's been a fun ride.  As I sat in Elder's Quorum I saw the new teacher with our class walking by with all of them as they folded their arms and walked in a line.  One of the dads saw her and commented, "She's got quite a handful there."  Then he reached up and patted me on the shoulder and said how his son liked our class.  It made me happy.  It made me miss them.  I'm going to enjoy getting to learn with the other adults.  But it will be my little secret that I'm not really an adult.  I don't really belong among them.