I Miss Nursery :(

In my church, all leadership, teacher positions, and everything else is done by volunteers.  No one is paid anything.  We call them "callings."  The Bishop and other leaders evaluate what the needs of the Ward (congregation) are and then pray for inspiration to know who the Lord would have fill that position.

My most recent calling was as Nursery leader (Sunday School for kids age 18 months to 3 years.)  It was my most favorite calling ever!  I've been there for about 3 years and absolutely loved it, even when we had rough weeks with screaming kids.

I frequently begged the Bishop to never release me.  I insisted that a Ward can't afford to lose a Nursery leader who loves to be there and so he should just leave me there forever.

Sadly, apparently Heavenly Father thought I was needed more somewhere else (teaching the 4-5 year olds), I needed to learn and grow in another area, or someone else needed the opportunity to be with those sweet babies.

And so, I was released.

Of all the callings I have had, Nursery is proving to be the hardest one to give up.  :'(

I love those little ones!  I always say that Nursery is the best kept secret in the church.  It's so fun and the children are just adorable.  It's so exciting to see their tiny, simple testimonies just begin to sprout.

Last week was my first Sunday with my new class.  It was very hard to not think about Nursery and worry about how the new leader was getting on (there were 2 new children-criers-and not enough helpers assigned.)

This weekend our church had a Trunk or Treat and I got to see several of my Nursery kids.  I about died from the cuteness of them in their costumes.  I almost cried.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve in that capacity for the past three years.

One consolation, though, is that the new class I'll be teaching is made up of kids I graduated from nursery only two years ago.  And when they sang the Welcome song to me in Sharing Time (all the kids age 3-8 together), they asked which of the kids remembered being in Nursery with me.  Of the five classes of kids, I had three of them in Nursery.  And I taught the oldest kids' class when they were 3-4.  Crazy!