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A couple of years ago, we moved from a small city out to a more rural area. Our ward is very small, and there are few opportunities for my kids to make friends there. Knowing we would be homeschooling, I endeavored to make friends in our small town. We have managed to form a good-sized group of friends of different faiths. We get together frequently, and we try to have our kids in the same extracurricular activities to encourage their friendships.
My Saturday started out like a normal, but busy, weekend. Grasshopper (6-year-old) attended her early morning ballet class, after which I picked her up, along with a friend, whose mother was juggling activities for her older two boys. I let Grasshopper take her 5yo friend, who comes from a devout Catholic family, to play in the basement, where we keep most of their toys. After the friend left, Grasshopper was very excited to tell me about her missionary discussion.
Grasshopper told me that she was explaining to her friend that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings. (For those that may not be familiar with Catholic doctrine, Grasshopper's friend had been taught that Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost were all one God.) Grasshopper shared that when she was unable to convince her friend, she went and prayed. After praying, she decided to sing a couple of Primary songs to her, one of which was When Jesus Christ Was Baptized, which has a verse which says,
When Jesus Christ was baptized down in the River Jordan,
Three members of the Godhead were present there in love.
The Father spoke from Heaven when Jesus Christ was baptized,
The Holy Ghost descended as gently as a dove.
Afterwards, she said that her friend seemed to be convinced. She was so excited, so happy, so proud. I tried to mask my own concerns about doing missionary work with a 5-year-old and what her parents might think should the subject come up later. After listening to her tell me all about it and giving her much praise, I tried to casually mention that children have to obey their parents, even when their parents are teaching them differently than we believe. I told her that she must be careful not to encourage her friends to speak contrarily to their parents. I made sure to keep it brief and to add more praise after that.
When her Dad came home, though, she was not quite as excited to tell him about her experience, and I am sure it was because I had pointed out my concern. I think she was encouraged, though, because she was happy to later share her experience with the missionaries when they visited that afternoon.
I am in a situation where all of our local friends are not LDS. I hope that Grasshopper's zeal for the gospel will not scare anyone away. I suppose that I just need to turn it over to my Heavenly Father and know that He can make everything work out.
So I am wondering what others do in their families to teach missionary work? What experiences have you had?
Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
Grasshopper’s missionary discussion reminds me of my girls at the same age – once or twice they told me that they were asking other kids on the playground, “Do you follow God’s laws?” I nearly swallowed my tongue! I don’t even know where they would have gotten that terminology, but fortunately, they were never socially ostracized for their proselyting methods. 😉
What an adorable story!! Make sure you write it down Tracy! Not just here, but in your journal or someplace where your little grasshopper will have it when she’s older.
My kids have been really bold little missionaries as well. Particularly my son. I remember walking out on our back deck, where he and a friend were sitting and eating a picnic lunch– he was probably 6 or so. He had his sandwich in one hand and was holding 3 Nephi open and reading about Christ’s appearance to the Nephites. Another time, around the same age, he was swinging on the swings at a park, telling the kid swinging next to him (a kid we didn’t know) about the First Vision. He’s 17 now– but he and my 2 daughters have always been completely unafraid to talk about the gospel with their friends.
I’d say, without ANY exaggeration at all, that our kids tell us at LEAST twice a week during dinner, but often 3 or 4 times, about “a gospel discussion” they had at school. It’s inspiring.
And the truth is, that MOST of the time, at least now that they’re older, they don’t even have to bring it up themselves. When they were little, they WERE the ones that brought it up. But now that they’re teenagers, the kids at school are simply curious. They WANT to know about it. In a school of nearly 3,000 kids, the handful of LDS kids stand out. And with the temple going up just a few miles away (we’re in Kansas City), the questions are coming even more frequently.
Tracy K., what an inspiring and encouraging story! Thanks for sharing that. And yes, I do need to make it a point to write that down.
Great story, Tracy P. 🙂
When Alana was about four our painter when out for a smoke. She promptly got the home evening manual, pulled out the visual aid that shows the hour glass and the diamond — indicating that keeping commandments can seem restrictive but is freeing and that breaking commandments can seem freeing but are restrictive — and showed it to him. Then she announced, just as I walked around the corner, “And if you smoke you will go to SATAN’S WORLD!”
OK, so do you really think we’ve EVER used the term “Satan’s world” in a family night lesson???
Funny aside, I do think it’s very important to be respectful of other’s beliefs and, IMO, that includes not proselytizing to friends who are over to play games. 🙂
We had a Catholic neighbor girl in Boca — about 5 — who was always at our house (which was odd, because almost everyone in that neighborhood was Jewish), because her parents worked after she got home from school and sometimes she couldn’t get in the house :/. She begged to watch our Living Scriptures movies. I let her watch the Bible ones, but not the Book of Mormon ones until we got permission from her mom.
Incidentally, her mom gave permission. And actually, I stopped letting my kids play over there when one day, at the girls birthday party, they showed the kids Grease (kids who were 6-9ish). My kids knew I didn’t like the movie and so asked the mom if they could do something else until the movie was over. She agreed — for a few minutes — and then rescinded her decision, marched them in to the room with the other kids, and made them watch the movie with everyone else.
I was peeved. I had tried so hard to be respectful of their religious beliefs and they couldn’t even respect an age-appropriate parenting decision. Bah!
I think the appropriate thing to do is ask the mom how she would like things like this handled.
jks, I agree I probably should have contacted the mom to let her know what happened. It didn’t occur to me, since it wouldn’t really bother me if Grasshopper’s friends shared their different beliefs with her. But I will need to do this in the future. And maybe it will present missionary opportunities for me.
Awww! How cute! warm fuzzies 🙂
“Then she announced, just as I walked around the corner, “And if you smoke you will go to SATAN’S WORLD!â€
Oh my gosh! That’s the laugh I needed today! What a crack up!
You did well on praising her at the same time reminding her the limitations of doing missionary work. Grasshopper’s faith is strong and I am impressed with her willingness to correct her friend’s belief. But though the intentions are good I agree that her friend’s parents might see things differently.