April visit to Polumbato

Just after Dad put his camera away, at least 20 more people came and really filled up this little meeting house!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

We drove up to Bogo again and then continued on to Polumbato – a branch opened a few months ago in an area north and west of Bogo. The branch meets in a newly-renovated house – clean and neat, but small for the more than 60 members who attended. About half are new members of the Church; the rest are former members who have come back into activity. Bob spoke in Sacrament meeting and also taught the Gospel Doctrine class. At the end of Sacrament meeting, the Branch President announced that “Sister Hamson will take the Primary today!”

Fortunately I always take supplies and have prepared a lesson in advance because this has happened before. In this case, the Primary President had just been called the previous week and had, as yet, not received any Primary materials – no lesson manuals etc. She is the mother of 11 children and very excited about her calling, but had no clue what to do. She had brought some pictures from the Liahona and planned to talk about them. Instead, I did sharing time – with lots and lots of singing – the only song the children knew was “I Am A Child of God.” We had fun learning “I Know My Father Lives” and others and singing some actions songs, even “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Cebuano.

The big challenge was the large number of children in a very small room – about 25 children in a low-ceiling room about 8 feet square. We could not get enough chairs in the room for all the children so they had to sit two to a chair – and willingly did so. 10 of the children were visitors; their parents were investigating the Church.

All seemed to go well – I had enough pencils and papers for all to draw – and except for the sauna-like atmosphere of the room, it was a wonderful experience. At times, the Primary President translated for me as few of the children understood English – even though they can read and sing in English….

After taking some pictures, we headed home – savoring the views and the memories. We planned this to be our last time to visit this part of the mission.