Last Sunday was not like any other Sunday! We went to Church at the small branch at San Pedro Ayampuc, as we usually do, but the rest of the story was quite different. This little branch generally has Sunday attendance of about 30-35. After Sacrament Meeting Rick goes to Sunday School and Priesthood Meeting and Lynda goes to Primary, the meeting for children ages 3-11. On this particular Sunday there were only about 20 members in attendance, in part because of water issues. Several families in the branch live in a little community up the mountain from the town, and they only recieve water once a week for about an hour. This week the water would be "on" between 8:00-9:00am Sunday morning. During that time they fill up all their barrels, or buckets, or other water storage containers so they have enough to last a week. So it was quite understandable that attendance at Church was low. In addition, for unrelated reasons, the Primary president was not there, and neither was the sister who teaches the older children. That meant that Lynda was in charge of Primary...only two children until three more arrived! She read three key sentences from the manual (in Spanish.) After each one little Jorge, about age 4, jabbered away, telling stories about something or another. And they colored pictures. For Sharing Time Lynda taught them "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (in English.) And then the children "taught" Lynda Spanish, using pictures from Church manuals, explaining what the pictures were about. Meanwhile, Rick was having his own language adventure. At the end of Sunday School class the branch president asked Rick to teach Priesthood, and gave him a copy of a conference talk in Spanish. Fortuanately Rick had already read it in English, and once in Spanish, too. So with a little prayer he was able to direct the discussion for 50 minutes.
