I am the activity day leader for the 8-12 year old girls in my ward. Well, I have only been having about 3 of them each time so I decided to try really hard to get some of the others to come to our jewelery making activity. (The girls below are the "regulars" and this was "talent night")
I arranged to pick up Bailey and finally got accurate phone numbers for Emily and Riley and got them to commit to coming. I hadn't met Emily and Riley because they don't come to church. Well, I was running late because I had to travel 40 minutes to pick up Bailey. She is a darling energetic girl and entertained me the entire trip to the church. I got to the church at about 7:10 (ten minutes late) and the regular girls were already there. We meet in the nursery room which I hate because the girls just want to play house instead of do the activity sometimes.
I frantically tried to calm the girls down and get the activity started. I asked if Emily and Riley were there. They weren't. I called their home to see if they were coming and to my dismay they said they had already been dropped off at the church. Where were they? I didn't even know what they looked like. While still on the phone with their family I ran around the church trying to find them. I saw two girls I didn't recognize in with the Young Women (who were having New Beginnings) and motioned for them to come out in the hall. Everyone in the room thought I was pointing to them so I went to whisper "are you Emily and Riley" when I stopped mid sentence and realized that there was a group of Young Women in the front singing a solo. My face went bright red and I grasped my head in shame and went back into the hall saying to myself "oh my goodness". I had just totally interrupted their special moment and ruined New Beginnings. I was mortified and to say the least embarrassed.
Well, that's not all. So we get to the nursery room with all the girls there (all 7 of them) and start our activity. I just finish telling the girls how careful they need to be with the beads because we are in the nursery and don't want to leave any behind that the kids could choke on when I knock a can of beads all over myself, the table, and the floor.
Well, believe it or not that's not all. A few minutes later one of the Young Women counselors comes in and tells me that Riley and Emily were supposed to be at New Beginnings because Riley was going to turn 12 that year. The girls didn't really know what was going on because they don't come to church so they didn't really know where they were supposed to be. They let the girls stay with me because they knew they'd have more fun and a better experience with us. Anyway, I know this doesn't make a lot of sense and is poorly written but I was just reflecting on it and am glad it's over!
I arranged to pick up Bailey and finally got accurate phone numbers for Emily and Riley and got them to commit to coming. I hadn't met Emily and Riley because they don't come to church. Well, I was running late because I had to travel 40 minutes to pick up Bailey. She is a darling energetic girl and entertained me the entire trip to the church. I got to the church at about 7:10 (ten minutes late) and the regular girls were already there. We meet in the nursery room which I hate because the girls just want to play house instead of do the activity sometimes.I frantically tried to calm the girls down and get the activity started. I asked if Emily and Riley were there. They weren't. I called their home to see if they were coming and to my dismay they said they had already been dropped off at the church. Where were they? I didn't even know what they looked like. While still on the phone with their family I ran around the church trying to find them. I saw two girls I didn't recognize in with the Young Women (who were having New Beginnings) and motioned for them to come out in the hall. Everyone in the room thought I was pointing to them so I went to whisper "are you Emily and Riley" when I stopped mid sentence and realized that there was a group of Young Women in the front singing a solo. My face went bright red and I grasped my head in shame and went back into the hall saying to myself "oh my goodness". I had just totally interrupted their special moment and ruined New Beginnings. I was mortified and to say the least embarrassed.
Well, that's not all. So we get to the nursery room with all the girls there (all 7 of them) and start our activity. I just finish telling the girls how careful they need to be with the beads because we are in the nursery and don't want to leave any behind that the kids could choke on when I knock a can of beads all over myself, the table, and the floor.
Well, believe it or not that's not all. A few minutes later one of the Young Women counselors comes in and tells me that Riley and Emily were supposed to be at New Beginnings because Riley was going to turn 12 that year. The girls didn't really know what was going on because they don't come to church so they didn't really know where they were supposed to be. They let the girls stay with me because they knew they'd have more fun and a better experience with us. Anyway, I know this doesn't make a lot of sense and is poorly written but I was just reflecting on it and am glad it's over!
2 comments:
I hate when things like that happen! In my single's ward at BYU I was called to be a Relief Society Teacher. On the Sunday that I taught the first time, I was so nervous, and I got up at the wrong time and started the lesson. And I started out with something stupid like, "Well we don't have much time so I really want to get started." I was so embarassed! I never wanted to show my face at church again.
I feel for you.
Lol, sad for you! I can't say I've really done anything super embarrassing at church but I've given a few talks that I've felt embarrassed about afterward (just because I rambled incessantly). It's always hard when you are trying to activate newcomers and things don't go perfectly, but it sounds like you are doing an amazing job at your calling and I bet the girls love you to pieces. Abby, your story made me laugh! And let's not forget I peed my pants at school. I swear I'll never top that one! :)
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