PRIMARY Children’s Service Then & Now CONFERENCE
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Spring 2025 General Conference
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Primary: A new focus on service
“God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another mortal that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom.”
- President Spencer W. Kimball
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Service has long been a central principle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Now that legacy of service is being emphasized for the Church’s youngest members - the Primary children.
At the beginning of 2025, members of the Primary General Presidency announced that they were inviting all Primaries to organize an annual service project involving their Primary children.
There are more than 1 million Primary children worldwide.
“We hope this worldwide effort will help children realize they are an important part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and can contribute in meaningful ways,” said a statement from the Primary presidency. “As the children serve, they will grow in their love for the Savior and feel joy as they share His
love with others.”
The presidency added that these activities could be organized on a ward or on a stake level and should include children of all ages.
“We are excited to see how children throughout the world make a difference in their communities and share the joy the gospel brings,” the presidency’s statement said.
Service projects are not new to the Church’s Primary organization. For example, for many decades, Primary children were asked to donate pennies that went toward funding the medical care of children at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
HOW IT WORKS
These projects may be conducted at any time during the year, although they are meant to commemorate the organization of the Primary in August of 1878. Wards and stakes may
coordinate the projects with a larger service effort in their community or country if they desire.
The service projects can be open to participation by friends and family members of the children as well as ward and stake members and the community at large if desired.
Primaries are encouraged to work with local organizations to identify needs and service opportunities in their area. They are also encouraged to involve the children in the plan-
ning and execution of the service project.
“You can ask children for help brainstorming ideas, seek feedback on what kind of service would feel meaningful to them, and involve them as much as possible in the planning process and at the activity,” states information about the new initiative on newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. “Help them feel ownership in this opportunity to serve as the Savior would.”
The Primary General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: President Susan H. Porter (center) with Sister Amy W. Wright, First Counselor (left) and Sister Tracy Y. Browning, Second Counselor (right).
All photos courtesy Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
What is Primary?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints places a high importance on teaching children about God’s plan and helping them follow the example of Jesus Christ. To help accomplish this goal, the Church sponsors the Primary organization for children between the ages of 18 months and 11 years.
Primary is designed to supplement the religious instruction given by parents. Children meet during worship services during each Sunday to discuss Church doctrine, participate in learning activities and sing songs. Children of all ages have the opportunity to participate in these meetings by giving prayers, reading scriptures and giving talks on gospel subjects.
During Primary time on Sunday, children also meet in small classes for lessons with other children of the same age. These lessons are taught by adult members of the congregation, who are asked to volunteer their time for this calling.
- Source: newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org
Children’s service project ideas
Here are 30 different ideas for community service that can include children — and their entire family. This list courtesy AllForKids.org.
1. Plant trees or wildflowers in your neighborhood.
2. Purchase produce and donate it to a local food bank or foot pantry.
3. Host a canned food drive for those in need.
4. Participate in a fun community event that brings awareness to a local cause such as 5K races.
5. Pick up litter at the beach or a park.
6. Develop and maintain a recycling program at your kids’ school or workplace.
7. Collect food, warm clothing, toys, or personal care items for the needy and deliver to shelters.
8. Collect unused makeup and cosmetics for a center for abused women. Feminine products are also a great donation item for a women’s shelter as well.
9. Make holiday cards, birthday cards and notes for assisted living facilities, patients in a local hospital or Meals on Wheels.
10. Donate old eyeglasses or shoes to an organization that recycles them for those in need.
11. Collect old stuffed animals and dolls, repair and clean them, then donate them to your local children’s shelter.
12. Read books to young kids at a library, family shelter or children’s hospital.
13. At Christmastime, contact a tree farm or nursery about donating a Christmas tree to a family in need, shelter or nursing home – or purchase one and donate it yourself!
14. Make a holiday basket or Christmas care package for individuals in need.
15. Host a crayon and marker drive! Kids in the hospital use lots of art supplies.
16. Offer to wash a neighbor’s dog or take their pets for a walk.
17. Write letters of gratitude and encouragement to servicemen women, and families.
18. Put together a care package for servicemen and women and their families.
19. Collect and donate items on an animal organization’s or animal shelter’s wish list.
20. Babysit your neighbor’s children so that they can have a date night.
21. Take your family to visit a retirement home and have senior citizens teach the kids games. Check beforehand to see if you can bring cookies or other treats.
22. Help a foster or adoptive family. Bring them a meal, offer assistance or collect gift cards or clothing items. Even writing encouraging letters to the foster parents and the kids would mean the world to them.
23. Have a garage sale or lemonade stand for your favorite cause or charity.
24. When school supplies are very cheap at the beginning of the
year, purchase backpacks and supplies for children in need.
25. Take gently used board games and decks of cards to a local homeless shelter, retirement home or hospital.
26. Take cookies or other treats to your local police station for the law enforcement officers.
27. Donate gently used baby and toddler toys to a nearby church, community center or crisis pregnancy center. Diapers, wipes and clothing are great donations as well.
28. Go through the books you’ve grown out of and donate them to the waiting room of a local doctor or a public local library, or look up where a “little free library” is in your community and leave them there!
29. Do errands, cook, bring a meal, provide transportation or otherwise help someone in your community who is dealing with an illness.
30. Have your older kids tutor younger children in subjects in school that they excel in.
Church service idea resources
The Church has multiple resources available where Primary leaders can find ideas for service projects in their organizations.
SOCIAL MEDIA
In April of 2024, the Primary General Presidency launched a new social media account called Primary Worldwide on both Facebook and Instagram. At those locations, you can find ideas for service projects, photos of other Primary organizations performing their projects and guidance from the presidency and other Church leaders.
The sites are: Facebook: facebook.com/primaryworldwide Instagram at instagram.com/primaryworldwide_ (be sure to include the underscore at the end of this address)
JUSTSERVE.ORG/PRIMARY
At this site, there is list of potential service activities for children listed in categories ranging from events to art, care packages and collections. Also at this site is a list of helpful steps for planning a service activity with Primary children. Guidance is given on how to brainstorm for ideas, how to plan and execute the project and how to evaluate its success when it is done.
ACTIVITY IDEAS
In the Primary section of the Church’s website (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/callings/primary-organization?lang=eng), there is a list of potential youth activities that may be of help when considering possible service projects. There is also a planning sheet that can be used to take you through the steps required to plan a service activity.
Graphic courtesy Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
The beginning of Primary
The Primary, as we know it today, began out of the desire of a mother to provide an organization through which the young boys and girls of her community could be taught “everything good, and how to behave.”
On Aug. 25, 1878, Aurelia Spencer Rogers, with the help of John Taylor, then president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Eliza R. Snow, put together the first Primary gathering of children in the Farmington Rock Chapel.
In her book “Life Sketches: Orson Spencer and Others, and History of Primary Work,” Rogers wrote about her concerns that the little boys of
her time were “allowed to be out late at night; and certainly some of the larger ones well deserved the undesirable name of ‘hoodlum.’”
“It may seem strange that in a community calling themselves Latter-day Saints, children should be allowed to indulge in anything approaching rowdyism,” Rogers wrote.
“But it must be remembered that the age in which we live is one that tends to carelessness in the extreme, not only in regard to religion, but also morality….”
“Our Bishop must have been similarly impressed, for a meeting of the mothers of our little ones was called
by him, at which much good advice and counsel was given.
“The subject of training children was thoroughly discussed and the responsibility of guiding their young minds was thrown almost entirely upon the mothers. I had children of my own, and was just as anxious as a mother could be to have them brought up properly. But what was to be done? It needed the united effort of the parents, and, as is often the case in a community, some of them were careless. A fire seemed to burn within me…. The query then arose in my mind could there not be an organization for little boys wherein they
could be taught everything good, and how to behave.”
A few weeks after this meeting, Eliza R. Snow and other women from Salt Lake City visited Rogers after a Relief Society conference. Rogers wrote about this interaction:
“The topic of our conversation was the young people, and the rough, careless ways many of the young men and boys had at the time. I asked the question, ‘What will our girls do for good husbands, if this state of things continues?’ Sister Eliza seemed deeply impressed with the question; and then I asked.
The Farmington Rock Chapel where the Primary was first organized by Aurelia Spencer Rogers. Photo by Kylee Israelsen
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“‘Could there not be an organization for little boys, and have them trained to make better men?’
“She was silent a few moments, then said there might be such a thing and that she would speak to the First Presidency about it.”
Snow met with members of the Church’s First Presidency about the idea, which was approved. She wrote a letter about it to Roger’ bishop, who subsequently asked Rogers to preside over an organization of children in her ward.
“Up to this period the girls had not been mentioned; but my mind was that the meeting would not be complete without them; for as singing was necessary, it needed the voices of little girls as well as boys to make it sound as well as it should,” Rogers wrote.
Rogers decided to write a letter to Sister Snow inquiring about the inclusion of little girls in the new organization.
Snow responded, “You are right — we must have the girls as well as the boys — they must be trained together.”
Snow visited Rogers soon after this, and she suggested the new organization be called “Primary.”
It was named the Primary Association, and a second Primary group
began meeting in September 1878 led by Louie Felt. In 1880, Felt became the first general president of the Primary Association.
Snow and other leaders of the Church’s Relief Society organization traveled through the Utah territory to set up more Primary organizations under the direction of the Relief Society. Editions of the Deseret News and the Women’s Exponent newspapers issued in Utah during 1879 contain frequent mentions of Primary Associations being organized in various wards and cities.
During the first 10 years of the Primary Association’s existence, Primary organizations were created in nearly all Church settlements. The children met together at first; after 10 years, the children began meeting in age groups. Snow also put together a hymn book and other materials for use in the Primaries.
Sources:
“Nurturing LDS Primaries: Louie Felt and May Anderson, 1880-1940,” by Susan Staker Oman, Utah Historical Quarterly, Summer 1981, Vol. 49, No. 3
history.churchofjesuschrist.org digitalnewspapers.org
“Life Sketches: Orson Spencer and Others, and History of Primary Work” by Aurelia Spencer Rogers
1878: First Primary meeting held
1880: Primary organized at the general church level
1902: Children’s Friend magazine first published
1905: The Primary Song Book published
1930: First Primary handbook printed
1940: Primary seal, colors and themes introduced
1941: First nursery class held (children under 4 years old)
1949: First Primary teachers’ manual published
1957: New song, “I Am a Child of God,” introduced
1966: Dividing of singing time introduced for large Primaries
1970: CTR ring introduced
1971: Friend magazine replaces the Children’s Friend
1978: 100th anniversary of Primary celebrated around the world
1980: New consolidated ward meeting schedule and new Primary curriculum introduced, including the addition of sharing time
1989: Children’s Songbook published
1995: New structured curriculum introduced
2009: Gospel Art Book published
2018: New age advancement announced (children to move on from Primary at the beginning of the year they turn 12)
2020: New two-hour block of meetings; singing time replaces sharing time
Source: history.churchofjesuschrist.org
Aurelia Spencer Rogers. Photo courtesy Intellectual Reserve. Inc.
‘I Am a Child of God’: The origin of a beloved Primary song
Millions know the song. It’s been sung around the world in many languages. It’s one of the most beloved children’s songs within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and its words are the result of inspiration received in the middle of the night.
“I feel like I am just an instrument,” said Naomi W. Randall, writer of the words to the song “I Am a Child of God,” during an event in October 1998 at Brigham Young University where she was honored with a presidential citation. “I don’t take
credit for it.”
Born in 1908, Randall grew up on her family’s farm in North Ogden. She served for 27 years on the General Board of the Church’s Primary organization, including as first counselor in the Primary’s general presidency under president LaVern W. Parmley. In 1957, Parmley asked Randall to write the words for a song to be unveiled at an upcoming Primary conference. The theme assigned to her was “A Child’s Plea.”
Feeling nervous, Randall began
praying immediately for help in completing the task. She received an answer sooner than expected. Randall woke up that night and the words of the song began coming to her mind. She got up and began writing the words: “I am a child of God, and he has sent me here.”
In her remarks during the 1998 event at BYU, Randall said she still remembered that night. “I got down on my knees right then and said, ‘Thank you, Heavenly Father,’ and went back to sleep,” she said.
Mildred T. Pettit set Randall’s words to music. The song has since been translated into more than 140 languages.
Randall also wrote the lyrics to the Church of Jesus Christ hymn “When Faith Endures” and the song “I Want to Live the Gospel” found in the Church’s Children’s Songbook.
She served on the editorial board of the Primary’s magazine, The Children’s Friend, and frequently had articles published in the magazine. Randall also wrote Bible picture stories and lesson manuals and traveled worldwide teaching and instructing those serving in the Primary organization.
Penning the words to “I Am a Child of God” was not Randall’s only contribution to the history of the Primary. She also chaired the committee that invented the CTR ring, which reminds children to “Choose the Right.”
Sources:
“Obituary: Naomi W. Randall,” Deseret News, May 20, 2001
“Randall’s ‘Child of God’ hymn an LDS hit,” Daily Herald, Oct. 14, 1998
Naomi W. Randall, right, is shown with LaVern W. Parmley, president of the Primary organization, and Harold B. Lee, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, during a Primary banquet in April of 1956. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society
Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
Photo courtesy Intermountain Health
Primary Children’s Hospital
Integral to the history of the Primary organization is the creation of Primary Children’s Hospital.
It was after seeing a child struggle with a disability on a Salt Lake City street that Louie B. Felt, then president of the Primary Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began working to create a place specifically designed for the treatment of children.
Felt and May Anderson, her counselor in the Primary Association presidency, asked volunteers in their
organization to sponsor a children’s department at Groves LDS Hospital, which was opened by the Church of Jesus Christ in 1905. It was located on 8th Avenue between C and D Street in Salt Lake City.
This goal was achieved, but Felt and Anderson believed the children needed a hospital dedicated solely to them. Church President Heber J. Grant agreed and sent out Church representatives to investigate children’s treatment centers in the eastern United States.
Eventually, two homes at 40 W. North Temple, across from Salt Lake City’s Temple Square, were made available by the Church. One was remodeled into a 35-bed facility and named LDS Children’s Convalescent Home and Day Nursery. The other home was used to house nurses working at the medical facility, which provided care for children who underwent surgery at Groves LDS Hospital.
The convalescent home opened May 12, 1922; in 1923, the name was
changed to LDS Children’s Convalescent Hospital. In 1934, the hospital was officially incorporated and the named was changed to Primary Children’s Hospital.
When the hospital needed an update in 1938, Church of Jesus Christ President Heber J. Grant responded. Local business leaders had given him 1,000 silver dollars for his 82nd birthday; he donated the coins for the hospital’s construction, and each silver dollar was made into a paper-
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weight and sold for $100.
After World War II, the Primary Association launched “Dimes for Bricks” and invited residents to contribute 10 cents to purchase one red brick for the new hospital.
In 1952, the new 70-bed Primary Children’s Hospital opened at 11th Avenue and E Street in Salt Lake City. Half the $1.25 million cost was paid through these fundraisers, making Primary Children’s in large part the hospital built for children, by children.
In 1966, a large expansion was built on the west side of the building, doubling the hospital’s bed capacity and allowing the creation of new departments, including an emergency room.
In 1975, the Church of Jesus Christ
A new Primary Children’s Hospital was dedicated in 1952 in Salt Lake City. Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society
Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus, in Lehi. Photo courtesy Intermountain Health
See HOSPITAL CONT. on page 22
HOSPITAL CONT.
Continued from page 20
of Latter-day Saints created the independent, nonprofit corporation Intermountain Healthcare (now Intermountain Health), through which its hospital holdings, including Primary Children’s, were gifted to the community.
In exchange, the Church charged Intermountain to become a “model health system,” providing affordable, accessible and extraordinary care.
In 1990, Primary Children’s moved to its current facility on the University of Utah campus next to the School of Medicine.
Today, Primary Children’s Hospital is considered one of the nation’s foremost children’s hospitals. It is affiliated with Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health and provides pediatric care to 100,000 children per year, regardless of their ability to pay.
In February of 2024, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for a new Primary Children’s location that brought its care closer to Utah County residents: the Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus, located at 2250 N. Miller Campus Drive in Lehi. Supported with a $50 million donation from the Miller family, the hospital is the most significant enhancement in pediatric care in Utah and the Intermountain West in more than a century.
Sources: newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org heraldextra.com history.utah.gov news.intermountainhealth.org
“A History of Children’s Hospitals in Utah,” by Barbara Mandleco and Carma Miller, Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, Number 4, 2008
Guests celebrate the 100th anniversary of Primary Children’s Hospital on May 11, 2022, in the Primary Children’s Eccles Outpatient Services Building in Salt Lake City. Photo courtesy Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Primary Children’s Hospital was once located in a remodeled home at 40 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City, across from Temple Square. Courtesy the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Pennies by the Inch Campaignstillworking toraisemoney for sick children
A fundraiser that began with the collection of the humblest of coins — the penny — is now high-tech, allowing everyone to easily use their computer and social media to help children in need.
Intermountain Foundation’s Pennies by the Inch fundraising campaign is the oldest grassroots fundraiser in the nation. It began in the 1920s when the Primary organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints raised money for the creation of the first Primary Children’s Hospital, which opened in 1922 across the street from Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
Originally known as the “Penny
Parade,” the effort called for Primary children around the world to donate a penny for every year of their age toward the hospital. Penny Parades were held in hundreds of Intermountain-area towns and farming districts.
During the next 100 years, the fundraising effort was also known as “Birthday Pennies” and “Pennies by the Inch.” Children were encouraged to donate pennies each birthday and for every inch of their height.
When a new, larger Primary Children’s Hospital was needed, money was raised through the Primary organization to pay for half of that building, which opened in 1952 in Salt Lake City’s Avenues neighborhood.
Actor Robert Redford helps promote the Pennies by the Inch fundraising campaign. Courtesy Intermountain Health
In 1975, the Church of Jesus Christ created the independent, nonprofit corporation Intermountain Healthcare, now known as Intermountain Health, through which its hospital holdings, including Primary Children’s, were gifted to the community.
Intermountain Foundation, an organization that builds relationships and partnerships that inspire generosity in support of Intermountain Health’s mission, continues running the Pennies by the Inch campaign today, with proceeds going to fund the treatment of children at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City as well as the newly opened Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus, in Lehi.
The goal is to ensure all children are treated, regardless of their ability to pay. Funds raised for Pennies by the Inch support the area of greatest need at Primary Children’s, including supporting Child Life, Expressive Therapies, the School Zone and other key programs that are philanthropy-funded.
Collin Searle, Intermountain Foundation’s vice president of programmatic giving, said the name Pennies By the Inch has been maintained because people tell his organization every day about their nostalgia for the program.
“The first thing most of them reference is, ‘I remember participating in Pennies By the Inch as a kid,’” Searle said.
“It has a life of its own and a personality, which is special,” he added.
During a celebration of Primary Children’s Hospital’s 100th anniversary in 2022, then Primary General President Camille N. Johnson said she recalled donating pennies toward the cause as a youth. “While I don’t remember how I earned my pennies, I still remember the sense of satisfaction I felt in helping other children,”
Mark Eaton, former center for the Utah Jazz basketball team, helps promote the Pennies by the Inch fundraising campaign. Courtesy Intermountain Health
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she said.
Pennies by the Inch volunteers used to go door to door to collect money. Today, anyone can help raise money for the cause by simply visiting the Pennies by the Inch website.
“You click on ‘start a fundraiser,’ you put in your name and your email address and you’re ready to go,” Searle said.
Options on the website allow people to raise money within their family, their neighborhood, their business, their school or their church congregation. They can fundraise on their own, join an existing group or create a new group.
Site visitors can also view other campaigns, see how much they’ve raised and donate to those campaigns if they desire.
Searle said those signing up to do a
fundraiser receive their own personal web link. The link — or a QR code made using the link — can then be shared on social media, through email or whatever method a fundraiser feels would work best for them.
He described one group of children who posted their QR code on their lemonade stand so customers could donate to Primary Children’s Hospital.
“I want to say they brought in a little over $60, which is amazing …. They were so excited,” Searle said.
In recent years, Pennies by the Inch has become a popular fundraiser in schools, he said, often centering on a student who has experienced a life-changing ailment.
“Where we’re found a lot of growth and how this is evolving is it’s really moving into schools,” he said. In 2023 and 2024, Syracuse Junior High School was the campaign’s highest dollar-raiser.
While the methodology may have changed over the years, the message
of Pennies By the Inch remains the same.
“Every penny matters, and it goes to the kids at Primary Children’s Hospital,” Searle said. “It really is an easy, easy way to give back to the people in our community.”
Sources: newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org news.intermountainhealth.org
To start your own Pennies by the Inch fundraiser, visit this website or scan the QR code.
https://intermountainhealthcare. org/give/pennies-by-the-inch
Children promote the donation of birthday pennies to fund a new Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Courtesy Intermountain Health
Singer Marie Osmond helps
New children’s songs released
In June 2018, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that two books of sacred music used within the Church — “Hymns” and the “Children’s Songbook” — would undergo revision to better unify members of the global church in their worship.
The new collection of music would be titled “Hymns — For Home and Church.”
“We recognize the power that sacred music has to unify the members of the Church throughout the world,” said Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time of the announcement. “We desire to offer a consistent core collection of hymns and songs in every language that reflects the diverse needs of the global Church in our day.”
Members of the Church were invited to submit their own musical works to be considered for inclusion in the new music collection. More than 17,000 submissions were made, and new music has been chosen from those submissions.
The Church is now releasing these new songs and hymns in small batches, with the first batch of 13 songs released May 30, 2024. A total of 37 songs have now been released in three batches. These releases have included a number of children’s songs.
For example, the children’s song “I Know That My Savior Loves Me,” originally published in the “Friend” magazine in 2002, was released on Feb. 13, 2025, as one of 15 new hymns and songs to be included in the new music collection.
“I still remember singing songs in Primary as a young child growing up in Argentina,” said Sister Christina B. Franco, then-second counselor in the Primary general presidency, in 2018
at the time of the revision announcement. “Those songs still ring in my ears, along with the gospel principles that they taught me while I was very young.”
Individuals, families and Church congregations are encouraged to use this new music in meetings and at home. More releases of music will be forthcoming in the future. The new collection will include the same song list and numbering in all languages, with a total of 450 to 500 hymns and songs eventually included.
Sheet music for the 37 released songs — including the new children’s songs — can be viewed at https:// www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/ music/collections/hymns-for-homeand-church?lang=eng. Recordings of each song are also available.
The new music may also be accessed digitally through the Church’s Sacred Music and Gospel Library apps. For more information, visit hymnbooknews.churchofjesuschrist. org.
NEWLY RELEASED CHILDREN’S SONGS
New children’s songs released in recent months and their release date are listed below.
MAY 30, 2024
“When the Savior Comes Again,” text and music by Lane Johnson
“I Will Walk with Jesus,” text and music by Stephen P. Schank
“Think a Sacred Song,” text and music by Marlene Summers Merkling
“Gethsemane,” text by Melanie M. Hoffman; music by Melanie M. Hoffman; arr. by Roger C. Hoffman
“Star Bright,” text and music by Lorin F. Wheelwright
SEPT. 12, 2024
“Holding Hands around the World,” text and music by Janice Kapp Perry
“Anytime, Anywhere,” text and music by Angie Killian
FEB. 13, 2025
“Close as a Quiet Prayer,” text and music by Sally DeFord
“Holy Places,” text and music by Sherrie Manwill Boren
“I Have Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” text and music by Janice Kapp Perry
“I Know That My Savior Loves Me,” text by Tami J. Creamer and Derena A. Bell; music by Tami J. Creamer
“This Little Light of Mine,” text, African American spiritual, 19th century; music, African American spiritual, 19th century; arr. 2025
Fribergpaintings introduced in Primarymagazine
Before serving as the fourth general president of the Primary, Adele Cannon Howells worked as editor of the Children’s Friend magazine. Feeling a need to help children visualize the prophets told of in the Book of Mormon, she commissioned artist Arnold Friberg to paint 12 images illustrating Book of Mormon prophets. These now-famous paintings were
then published in the Children’s Friend the first appearing in 1953 and the last in 1960. The paintings include “Lehi in the Wilderness Discovers the Liahona,” “Abinadi Delivers His Message to King Noah,” “Captain Moroni Raises the Title of Liberty” and “Jesus Christ Appears unto the Nephite People.”
- Source: churchofjesuschrist.org
“Samuel the Lamanite on the Wall (Samuel the Lamanite Prophesies)” by Arnold Friberg. Photo courtesy Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Spencer W. Kimball had perfect attendance at Primary in his childhood
“From childhood he has been most conscientious in his work — nothing short of the best was good enough. For years he had a record of perfect attendance at Sunday School and Primary. One Monday he was in the field tramping hay for his older brothers when the meetinghouse bell rang for Primary.
“‘I’ve got to go to Primary,’ he timidly suggested.
“‘You can’t go today; we need you,’ they said.
“‘Well, Father would let me go, if he were here,’ the boy countered.
“‘Father isn’t here,’ they said, ‘and you are not going.’
“The piles of hay came pouring up, literally covering Spencer, but finally he had caught up; sliding noiselessly from the back of the wagon, he was halfway to the meetinghouse before his absence was noticed, and his perfect record remained unbroken.…”
- From “Spencer W. Kimball, Twelfth President of the Church,” “Presidents of the Church Student Manual,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, quoted from the “Improvement Era,” Oct. 1943
GordonB.Hinckley findswifeinPrimary
Gordon B. Hinckley and Marjorie Pay had been courting each other before his mission and had become good friends. She was excited to hear of his call and encouraged him to serve. “‘Marjorie was “the girl next door” when we were growing up,’ recalls President Hinckley’s younger sister Ramona H. Sullivan, ‘only in this case it was the girl across the street. And she was very pretty. The thing I remember most about Marge in those early years is how polished and impressive she was, even as a young girl, in giving readings and performances in the meetings and activities of our old First Ward. All the other kids would just sort of stand up and mumble through something, but Marjorie was downright professional. She had all of the elocution and all of
the movements. I still remember those readings she gave.’
“Although they didn’t start dating seriously until after he was home from his mission, it was one of those very youthful readings Marjorie Pay gave which first caught his attention.
‘I saw her first in Primary,’ President Hinckley says with a laugh. ‘She gave a reading. I don’t know what it did to me, but I never forgot it. Then she grew older into a beautiful young woman, and I had the good sense to marry her.’”
- From “Gordon B. Hinckley, Fifteenth President of the Church,” “Presidents of the Church Student Manual,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, quoted from “Ensign,” June 1995
Marjorie Pay & Gordon B. Hinckley. Photo courtesy Intellectual Reserve. Inc.
Spencer W. Kimball. Photo courtesy Intellectual Reserve. Inc.
STANDA D-E AMNER
EADERSCHO CEAWARDS