{"id":2076,"date":"2005-03-15T16:04:21","date_gmt":"2005-03-15T21:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2005-03-26T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2005-03-26T15:25:41","slug":"sweet-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2005\/03\/sweet-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

I failed as a primary teacher. No, not in Belgium. Here in my Provo ward. But it cannot be said I did not try. Velcro, scissors, wax crayons, strings, glue, buttons, figurines. Scriptures and stories. We made the armor of God in cardstock, dressed King Lamoni’s sheep in wads of cotton, notched Nephites, laminated Lamanites, and did the Jaredite Journey Goose Game (“You are at the Tower of Babel. Can’t understand what they say. Lose 1 turn”). <\/p>\n

But at the end of each lesson, the little faces would look up at me and one would voice for all:
\n– Do you have candy?<\/p>\n

I didn’t. And I vowed I would not give in. My staunch European background forbade that I surrender to this American decadence. I was not going to help them develop both a testimony and bad teeth. I resented all my predecessors who had spoiled these kids and turned the teachers into free vending machines.<\/p>\n

I tried Scripture mastery games, Book of Mormon dominoes, Mormon mind stretchers, magic tricks, riddles, tangrams.
\n– Do you have candy?<\/p>\n

I even considered the Sugar Cube Temple Activity<\/a>. Fifty sugar cubes per child to build a temple, plus Royal Icing as mortar. Display in the Cultural Hall. But then I read the children ended up eating the temples. <\/p>\n

To give in, just a little, I brought sliced raw carrots in a pretty bowl. I read in their eyes my condemnation for apostasy. <\/p>\n

I thumbed through more books with Primary activity ideas. Horror. <\/p>\n

Sweet Bishop Cookies: give children a sugar cookie and talk about the sweet blessings the bishop brings to our ward. Also say: “The sweet taste of this cookie makes us feel happy. The sweet testimony of the bishop gives us a happy, peaceful feeling.”<\/p>\n

Sacred Grove Cone Cakes: pour cake batter in ice cream cones. Bake. Frost cupcake cones with green frosting. Tell children that the green-topped cones together are like the grove of trees where Joseph Smith knelt when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came down.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Landing with their feet in the frosting?<\/p>\n

I discovered one could make Apostasy Cookie Crumble, Endure to the End Licorice, Prayer Pudding, Testimony Bear Treats, Pioneer Peanut Delight, Ordinance Oatmeal Cookies, Priesthood Pretzels, Sacrifice Crackers, Temple Mints, Celestial Soda… <\/p>\n

We desperately need another book. How to build faith without obesity.<\/em><\/p>\n

To give in, just a little more, my wife baked Belgian sand cookies, dry and low cal.
\n– Do you have candy?
\n– Well, today I’ve got these special cookies, a Belgian recipe.
\nBelgian? They looked at the cookies as if filled with horse meat and brains. So much for the international culinary probe. <\/p>\n

I brought a large book with popup Bible stories. As I opened the pages the three-dimensional scenes took shape mysteriously. Aha, they were fascinated! Noah’s Ark. David and Goliath. Jonah and the whale. I could even pull a tab and the figures were moving. The two elephants went up and down the gangplank. David turned back and forth to whirl his slingshot. Jonah got in and out of the whale. The bell rang.
\n– Do you have candy?
\nI shook my head while sliding Jonah back in the whale. Their eyes followed in reproach: even the fish got his sweet. <\/p>\n

Jonah Jello, I thought.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Worse, as they grow older, inflation sets in. Last week, my daughter Ellen came home from Young Women. The ward Young Women presidency is giving to each laurel, who can recite from memory a text about the Standard of Truth, a pack of fourteen ounces of Toblerone chocolate. Fourteen ounces! A family pack! Jenny got one already. And Elisabeth too. My wife had seen the package. Huge, she said, really huge. And Toblerone. You know, those triangles with honey and almonds.<\/p>\n

Bribes! Corruption! Debauchery! And then to think they dare to do that with delectable Swiss milk chocolate. Toblerone… I can hear the soft sound of the triangle when you break it off the bar. The perfume of Amazon rain forest cacao beans. Made with milk fresh from clover-munching Alpine cows in sunny pastures at the foot of the Mont Blanc. And honey. And almonds. <\/p>\n

Tonight is Young Women.
\n– Ellen, have you learned that Standard of Truth thing yet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I failed as a primary teacher. No, not in Belgium. Here in my Provo ward. But it cannot be said I did not try. Velcro, scissors, wax crayons, strings, glue, buttons, figurines. Scriptures and stories. We made the armor of God in cardstock, dressed King Lamoni’s sheep in wads of cotton, notched Nephites, laminated Lamanites, and did the Jaredite Journey Goose Game (“You are at the Tower of Babel. Can’t understand what they say. Lose 1 turn”). But at the end of each lesson, the little faces would look up at me and one would voice for all: – Do you have candy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corn","category-mormon-life"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}