Sharing Time

Our second counselor in the Primary, Sister Shah, is from the Philipines. She has one little boy in nursery whom she would like to be with, rather than in Primary, most of the time. It's a bit of a struggle for her to work with the kids because it's sometimes hard for them to understand her accent. Also, she has a hard time getting on their level sometimes.

I asked her to do the sharing time this Sunday, and thought it best to give her some explicit instructions what to do. She was very appreciative and agreed that I should send her an email with some "ideas." So... I looked online for some ideas, then gave her three very good suggestions that would go well together. One idea was a treasure hunt for some scriptures that were wrapped to look like a treasure, then we'd talk about why the scriptures are a treasure for us. The instructions mentioned preparing a large word strip with the word "treasure" to help us think about the things we treasure.

Well, the kids enjoyed the treasure hunt alright, and found the scriptures nicely wrapped with a big ribbon in the back of the room. As one of the children picked up the package, Sister Shah got quite enthusiastic and encouraged, "Now, STRIP the treasure!" I was a bit puzzled by her wording, as were most of the children. Strip?? The girl holding the package hesitated, so Sister Shah further prompted her, "strip off the paper, unwrap it." The girl unwrapped it and (ah ha!) it was the scriptures. It was about that time that I noticed Sister Shah's poster up on the board -- a bright yellow sign with the word "STRIP" written in bright yellow letters. Ooops. I guess I just assumed she'd know what a word strip was, but instead, she thought I meant to write the word "STRIP" on a poster. Ahh... the nuances of language. Oh well, the kids just ignored it, and we had a good laugh about it later.