Do You Want To Go To Primary?

“Do you know about God’s plan for you?” “Do you know where you’re going?” “Do you know where you’ve been?” “Do you know, you’re a child of God?”

These are some of the questions Debbie loves to ask and more importantly answer. She asked the lady standing next to her in the grocery store line, the parents of one of her day-care children, the neighbor down the street and even the phone repairman. When the Spirit whispers, Debbie listens and acts. Some will listen and some will not, but Debbie found something wonderful when she was a young girl and the Spirit guides her in sharing it.

It all began when Debbie was in the first grade and she became friends with Becky Swenson.

“Do you want to go to primary with me after school on Wednesday?” Becky asked Debbie.

When Debbie was a little girl, Primary was held after school. Sunday school was held on Sunday morning and Sacrament meeting was held that evening.

“Primary? What’s Primary?” Debbie questioned.

This was the beginning of Debbie’s miracle. Not the kind of miracle that parts the Red Sea or turns water into wine, but the kind of miracle that can change a little girl’s life.

After getting permission from her mother, Debbie eagerly awaited Wednesday, when she and Becky would go to Primary together.

“We’re all Heavenly Father’s children,” Sister Brown told the class. “He loves us and wants us to return to live with Him someday.”

Debbie thought about what Sister Brown had taught her. Her Aunt Sarah had taught her to recite a prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep,” at night before she went to bed, but Debbie didn’t know that she was a child of God and that He loved her. “Oh, I love primary,” she thought.

When Debbie was in second grade her father passed away. The only job Debbie’s mother could find, to support her two young children, was tending bar in another town. The job didn’t pay much, but it came with a rent-free apartment above the tavern. So the family moved.

Debbie missed Becky. She missed going to primary. But she remembered the steps of prayer Sister Brown had taught her and she prayed for another miracle. Debbie didn’t become discouraged when it seemed like no one at her new school was ever going to play with “the girl who lives above the tavern,”
because she knew Heavenly Father loved her and would bless her. Then one day Debbie got her miracle.

“Do you want to go to Primary with me?” Mary Turner asked.

“Primary! I love Primary!” Debbie exclaimed.

The next day Debbie went to Primary with Mary. After Primary was over, Mary’s mother was helping her nine children into the family’s twelve-passenger van.

“Come on, Debbie. We’ll give you a ride home,” Mrs. Turner called.

Debbie was afraid that Mrs. Turner wouldn’t let Mary play with her if she knew she lived above the tavern. “Thank you, Mrs. Turner, but I can walk.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s too far for you to walk home alone,” Mrs. Turner said with a smile.

Becky didn’t even have to tell Mrs. Turner how to get to her apartment. She drove straight there.

“We would love to have you come to Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting with us on Sunday,” Mrs. Turner told Debbie. “Would you like that?”

Debbie eagerly nodded her head, “Yes.” Mrs. Turner then marched right into the tavern to talk to Debbie’s mother. A tear trickled down Debbie’s mother’s cheek. She gave permission for Debbie to go to Church and then thanked Mrs. Turner for being so kind to her daughter.

Debbie and Mary soon became best friends. Every Sunday morning and Sunday evening, for five years, the Turner’s drove across town, with their nine children, to take Debbie to church with them. Debbie loved the feeling she had when she was in church and she longed to have that feeling forever.

“That’s the Holy Ghost,” Mary explained, “and you can always have Him with you.”

Soon arrangements were made for Debbie to receive the missionary lessons. Mary loved the things the missionaries taught her and she loved reading the Book of Mormon.

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve heard this all before. Like in a dream or something,” Debbie told the elders.

“You have heard this before, Mary,” Elder Thompson said. “You heard God’s plan when you lived with Him before you were born. All of us who accepted His plan came to earth to gain a body…”

Debbie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on her thirteenth
birthday. When she was twenty-one she served a full time mission and after she returned home she was married in the temple.

Today Debbie has eight children of her own and she makes it a point to follow the Turner’s example. Debbie listens to the spirit, shares her testimony and invites others to come to church with her family.

“Do you know families can be together forever?” “Do you know that Christ’s Church has been restored to the earth?” “Do you know there is a living prophet on the earth today?”

by Margie Nauta Lee