I completely forgot to mention that just before we blessed the kids, I started going back to church. It started when I went to church with Jan, my step mother. She teaches Young Women's and was doing a lesson on Pro-creation and she really thought it would be a great experience for the girls to have a live model.. i.e. MaKaylie as she was a newborn. Well, I feel that it was a great experience. During this lesson, I felt like I really needed to start going back to church. So, I did! I started going to my own ward. I and MaKaylie went alone a couple times, then the whole family came a couple times, then there was General Conference, then we blessed the kids and then I think I got sick and didn't go for a couple of weeks and then 1 night, my phone rang and it was a phone number I did not recognize but for some reason, I answered and this was the phone call..
Man on phone -Hello, is this Tina Schultz?
Me- Yes!
Man on phone - This is Brother Upp, the Bishop would like to meet with you tonight, would you be able to meet with him tonight?
(me trying to get out of it) Umm, well, I have an appt in Orem and I don't know how long I will be.
Bro. Upp - Well, why don't we plan for 8pm and if that doesn't work, you can call me and we will work something out.
Me- Do you want just me, or my husband and I?
Bro. Upp- Just you.
Me-OK *nervously
I go to my appt in Orem, and I get home before 8, like 15 min before so I go up to the church and walk in and Brother Brough meets me (Brother Brough is in the Bishopric). He takes me to a room and we both sit down, I mention to him, I'm really nervous about this and he says "it will be fine, don't be nervous." He then proceeds with this... "We've prayed about this and we would like to extend a calling to you, we would like you to be a Primary Teacher!" I said "uh, are you kidding me.. I'm shy, never taught a day in my life, kids intimidate me and you want me to teach them?" He says "yes, we feel you will do a great job and feel very comfortable in asking you so, are you willing to accept the calling?" How do you tell our Heavenly Father No? So of course, I accept. He then says "I do not know what age group you will be teaching, or who you will be co teaching with but you will start this coming Sunday (mind you it is a Thursday) and immediately following Sacrament, we will set you apart. You will need to call the Primary President Sister Lu Hilmo to find out what age and with whom are you teaching" I shake his hand, walk out, get in my van and drive home. I tell my family, called my mom, texted my friend Anita and then, I call Sister Hilmo. Unfortunately, Sister Hilmo was not available so I had to wait til the next day to speak with Sister Hilmo. Sister Hilmo calls me while I'm getting read for work on that Friday and says "We are so excited about this, we know you will do great and you will love it". I told her what I told Brother Brough, that I was nervous, scared and intimidated and she reassured me that I will do fine. She then says, you will be teaching the 4 turning 5 yr olds (CTR 4B) and you will be co teaching with Sister Spackman (Anita). I cannot tell you how excited, yet still nervous I was to hear these words from Sister Hilmo. I kept saying to myself beforehand, "I hope its a young class and that I teach with Anita!" I called Anita on my way to work, to tell her, but she already knew and we were both happy and Anita said that she wouldn't make me teach til I felt I was ready.
Here's a little background about Anita. She is my visiting teacher, she lives just a few houses away from me, She was already teaching Primary, (not sure how long she's been teaching but she is way more comfortable than I am about teaching). She is married and has 3 boys and 1 girl. Her boys are Damon (9), Brock (7), Gage (3) and her daughter Jayda was born in June 2010. Our boys are friends and I'm sure Kaylie and Jayda will be friends too. :)
This all happened in mid Nov and of course, it was just before the Primary Program in Sacrament so I had 1 regular week, then the next week we spent Saturday morning at the church with the kids practicing their parts and Eric had something going on so I had ALL the kids with me. The boys participated and I held MaKaylie the entire time and Anita had her baby Jayda and then the next day, my whole family went to church (2 weeks in a row), the boys and I did the program while Eric and MaKaylie watched.
The next week, we had family pictures on Sunday so we all missed church.
The end of December, Anita and I found out we would have the 6 turning 7 yr olds (CTR 6) and I became more nervous about this as these kids were older and closer to baptismal age than the ones we were currently teaching and what if they asked me questions that I did not know, what would I do? I got over this fear pretty quickly. We traded one of the kids with the other Ctr 6 class so that I could have Mathew with me. Anita's boy was already in our class and I felt that if Mathew wasn't with me or Brock, he may not be too keen on coming every week.
I got away with not having to teach for a while. Well, the last Sunday in Dec, Anita asked me if I thought I was ready to teach yet and I was like umm, no way! Well, she felt otherwise! She asked me if I would teach on January 9th and I said I guess I will, but I'm really scared and nervous and she said that I'll do fine. Well, January 9th came and before class, I was shaking really bad cause I was soo nervous. I taught and I believe we had 15 min to spare, so we played a game the rest of the time. She then asked if I would start teaching every other week and I nervously said yes.
I never ever thought I would be a Primary Teacher but I'm glad that since I am, I get to teach my little Mathew and I get to be with Anita! She's had bouts of sicknesses with her and her family these past couple of weeks and hasn't been able to come every week but she has came if she had to teach and she asked me just this past Sunday, if I feel like I got the crappy end of the deal having her as my co teacher cause of the sicknesses and I looked at her funny and laughed, NO Anita! I do not feel like I got a crappy end of the deal, I love having you as my co teacher I don't think there is any one I would rather teach with! I completely understand that we get sick, and there isn't much we can do about it but deal with it and do what we need to do to get through it. You're awesome Anita and I love you!
I just wanted to let you all know, that since I have become Mathew's Primary Teacher, he comes with me every week, he told me he will come every Sunday and he has, without hesitation. Austin comes too, at first when I ask if he is coming, he says no and we remind him that he should come so that he can be baptized and then he changes his mind and comes. Every other week, I bring MaKaylie with me (the weeks I don't teach, unless she is sick) and Jaxon has only came 1 time. I am working on getting him to come and getting Austin Baptized before June.
One other thing I find interesting about all of this is on the day we blessed the kids, I was sitting next to my mom in Sacrament and she looked at me and said "this little girl (pointing to MaKaylie) is going to bring you back to the church" and look at us now. I've gone more since she was born, then in the almost 10 years I have been married.
Anyway, this post was super long, so to those of you that read through it all, Thank you!
Man on phone -Hello, is this Tina Schultz?
Me- Yes!
Man on phone - This is Brother Upp, the Bishop would like to meet with you tonight, would you be able to meet with him tonight?
(me trying to get out of it) Umm, well, I have an appt in Orem and I don't know how long I will be.
Bro. Upp - Well, why don't we plan for 8pm and if that doesn't work, you can call me and we will work something out.
Me- Do you want just me, or my husband and I?
Bro. Upp- Just you.
Me-OK *nervously
I go to my appt in Orem, and I get home before 8, like 15 min before so I go up to the church and walk in and Brother Brough meets me (Brother Brough is in the Bishopric). He takes me to a room and we both sit down, I mention to him, I'm really nervous about this and he says "it will be fine, don't be nervous." He then proceeds with this... "We've prayed about this and we would like to extend a calling to you, we would like you to be a Primary Teacher!" I said "uh, are you kidding me.. I'm shy, never taught a day in my life, kids intimidate me and you want me to teach them?" He says "yes, we feel you will do a great job and feel very comfortable in asking you so, are you willing to accept the calling?" How do you tell our Heavenly Father No? So of course, I accept. He then says "I do not know what age group you will be teaching, or who you will be co teaching with but you will start this coming Sunday (mind you it is a Thursday) and immediately following Sacrament, we will set you apart. You will need to call the Primary President Sister Lu Hilmo to find out what age and with whom are you teaching" I shake his hand, walk out, get in my van and drive home. I tell my family, called my mom, texted my friend Anita and then, I call Sister Hilmo. Unfortunately, Sister Hilmo was not available so I had to wait til the next day to speak with Sister Hilmo. Sister Hilmo calls me while I'm getting read for work on that Friday and says "We are so excited about this, we know you will do great and you will love it". I told her what I told Brother Brough, that I was nervous, scared and intimidated and she reassured me that I will do fine. She then says, you will be teaching the 4 turning 5 yr olds (CTR 4B) and you will be co teaching with Sister Spackman (Anita). I cannot tell you how excited, yet still nervous I was to hear these words from Sister Hilmo. I kept saying to myself beforehand, "I hope its a young class and that I teach with Anita!" I called Anita on my way to work, to tell her, but she already knew and we were both happy and Anita said that she wouldn't make me teach til I felt I was ready.
Here's a little background about Anita. She is my visiting teacher, she lives just a few houses away from me, She was already teaching Primary, (not sure how long she's been teaching but she is way more comfortable than I am about teaching). She is married and has 3 boys and 1 girl. Her boys are Damon (9), Brock (7), Gage (3) and her daughter Jayda was born in June 2010. Our boys are friends and I'm sure Kaylie and Jayda will be friends too. :)
This all happened in mid Nov and of course, it was just before the Primary Program in Sacrament so I had 1 regular week, then the next week we spent Saturday morning at the church with the kids practicing their parts and Eric had something going on so I had ALL the kids with me. The boys participated and I held MaKaylie the entire time and Anita had her baby Jayda and then the next day, my whole family went to church (2 weeks in a row), the boys and I did the program while Eric and MaKaylie watched.
The next week, we had family pictures on Sunday so we all missed church.
The end of December, Anita and I found out we would have the 6 turning 7 yr olds (CTR 6) and I became more nervous about this as these kids were older and closer to baptismal age than the ones we were currently teaching and what if they asked me questions that I did not know, what would I do? I got over this fear pretty quickly. We traded one of the kids with the other Ctr 6 class so that I could have Mathew with me. Anita's boy was already in our class and I felt that if Mathew wasn't with me or Brock, he may not be too keen on coming every week.
I got away with not having to teach for a while. Well, the last Sunday in Dec, Anita asked me if I thought I was ready to teach yet and I was like umm, no way! Well, she felt otherwise! She asked me if I would teach on January 9th and I said I guess I will, but I'm really scared and nervous and she said that I'll do fine. Well, January 9th came and before class, I was shaking really bad cause I was soo nervous. I taught and I believe we had 15 min to spare, so we played a game the rest of the time. She then asked if I would start teaching every other week and I nervously said yes.
I never ever thought I would be a Primary Teacher but I'm glad that since I am, I get to teach my little Mathew and I get to be with Anita! She's had bouts of sicknesses with her and her family these past couple of weeks and hasn't been able to come every week but she has came if she had to teach and she asked me just this past Sunday, if I feel like I got the crappy end of the deal having her as my co teacher cause of the sicknesses and I looked at her funny and laughed, NO Anita! I do not feel like I got a crappy end of the deal, I love having you as my co teacher I don't think there is any one I would rather teach with! I completely understand that we get sick, and there isn't much we can do about it but deal with it and do what we need to do to get through it. You're awesome Anita and I love you!
I just wanted to let you all know, that since I have become Mathew's Primary Teacher, he comes with me every week, he told me he will come every Sunday and he has, without hesitation. Austin comes too, at first when I ask if he is coming, he says no and we remind him that he should come so that he can be baptized and then he changes his mind and comes. Every other week, I bring MaKaylie with me (the weeks I don't teach, unless she is sick) and Jaxon has only came 1 time. I am working on getting him to come and getting Austin Baptized before June.
One other thing I find interesting about all of this is on the day we blessed the kids, I was sitting next to my mom in Sacrament and she looked at me and said "this little girl (pointing to MaKaylie) is going to bring you back to the church" and look at us now. I've gone more since she was born, then in the almost 10 years I have been married.
Anyway, this post was super long, so to those of you that read through it all, Thank you!
