The 307th good thing about Lagos: cute kids at church and a helpful young woman

Since last fall I've been serving in my local Mormon church congregation as President of the organization for children -- the Primary.  That means after our main worship service on Sunday morning, I organize the children's classes -- large and small group teaching.  We don't have a big number of children -- usually around 7 in the older class and the same number of the younger ones.  We just split them into 2 classes.  I really need to get pictures of all the kids, because I have become quite fond of all of them.  We have some American and British expats, as well as Nigerian children.  It's a challenge to keep them all engaged and interested.  I have counselors in my Presidency as well as (sometimes) teachers that help me.  Sometimes the commitment and teacher preparation are lacking, but we are trying to train leaders and teachers to be committed and prepared.

 It's easy to care about these happy faces.  Sometimes on Sundays like today when I had no teachers there and my counselor who was doing the (large-group) sharing time lesson also didn't come and it was extremely hot (no air conditioning ever), so I was pinch hitting with doing the sharing time and also then teaching a lesson -- I left church feeling pretty worn out.

 But I'm really grateful for the help and support from a young 18-year old American senior in high school.  Macae is happy to be helping in Primary.  She leads the singing and sometimes helps read a story to the children.

 She loves the kids and when she isn't busy helping with the music, she is often holding a baby.  Thanks Macae!  We'll miss you when you leave for college!