Seminary Activity

We have been heavily involved trying to prepare for a once in a lifetime experience for many of our young people. We decided to put on a 4-branch Seminary Activity. Most of our attendees had never seen so many Mormon kids before. We had about 135 to 145 come. One busload of over 60 kids came from Misikhu. But they traveled further than that--from Naitiri, Sikhendu, and of course, Kitale.

Most had never registered for any kind of an event like this, so one of our biggest obstacles when they arrived, was to get them to give us their "last name". They each have many names. They didn't know what we meant. Then they had never lined up according to an alphabetized selection process, viz. A-K, L-M, etc. So that was a new experience. Many of the kids spoke no English.

We tried a "get acquainted" game where you have a sheet and go around asking people to sign it if they have a quality that matches the statement on the sheet, like "find someone who is wearing a red shirt". That was a new experience for almost all of the kids.

We also had them color some paper puppets in preparation for a service project for today giving a puppet show to the primary kids in their respective branches.

We had a wonderful couple, President & Sister Kandawala, speak in the Keynote Addresses about how difficult it was for them to join the Church and withstand the fierce persecution they have had over the years to remain active. They introduced the theme I N 3:7 and emphasized the idea to look in the mirror each day and commit to go and do as the Lord commands. At the end of the day, we gave each student a mirror with the theme on the back.

We believe none of the kids had ever participated in a competitive quiz, or a play/skit. We spent much time before the event (we had a 2 hour rehearsal the day before) practicing and explaining these new concepts to our native leaders. We chose 4 young men (2 elders and 2 others of similar age, who spoke English fairly well) and practiced with them several times explaining these activities. We dressed them up in costumes of 4 colors and called them Moroni's. They carried flags (the Title of Liberty) in their individual colors. As the Seminary students arrived at registration, they were greeted by the Moroni's and their branch presidents and were given a neckerchief in one of the 4 colors and instructed to follow their colored flag-bearing leader all day. That part of the activity day worked wonderfully well. We lost not one kid. The teams sat together, competed together, bore testimony together, played together. It was great.

We also practiced with our teachers (we have about 28) the week before, going through the entire activity and having them pretend to be the students. It was good because it showed us where we needed to work. They had never been in a play or a skit or performed charades before either.

We placed a color-coded basket with 10 one-page scripts, props and costume parts for a story from the Book of Mormon in each of 4 color-coded rooms (to match the Moroni's). On signal, they ran to their rooms, and in 15 minutes were supposed to put together a play acting out what their script said. They performed (12 minutes each) BEAUTIFULLY. They had a ball doing it. Our biggest challenge was to keep reminding them to FACE the audience--but that is the case working with drama groups in the states too.

The team competition answering questions from the Book of Mormon worked really well too. We were going to ban all Moroni's from helping their teams, but we finally relented and allowed them to coach them if they got stuck! Everyone one on a winning team got two pieces of candy, everyone one on a losing team got one piece. Everyone was happy with that!

Each new activity was introduced by a BELL signal. We practiced ahead of time with the Moroni's to move from activity to activity so the transitions worked really well. The bell rang after the dramas, and we all went to lunch, which lasted 1/2 hour and consisted of a pop, a loaf of bread, and a banana for each student. They loved it, and we loved it, because it was so quick and easy!

Then we went on to the outdoor games. We had 4 activities going at once. Each team moved in sequence from activity to activity for 15-minute segments--each begun with the bell. They had never moved in rotating activities like this before, but they just followed their colored flag, and it worked great! They played volleyball (two nets, two balls, 4 teams each rotation), relay races---sack & back to back, "How do you Like your Neighbor", and the dance sequence...which turned out to be the all-time favorite for everyone---"Chicken Dance, Hokey Pokey, and the Bunny Hop" all of which were completely new activities for the participants.

Then the bell rang, and we returned to the chapel where they had stand in place to give their testimonies because we were so crammed in there they couldn't move if they wanted to. We finally had to cut it off because so many of them bore their testimonies. It was so neat. During the day, we sang, "Nephi's Courage", "The Books of the Book of Mormon" and finally, "The Armies of Helaman," all of which they had practiced in their branches before the event. We sang the last one through twice...ending standing. The spirit was so high by that time, we could have flown out of the building!

It turned out to be a WONDERFUL DAY for all of us. We were so grateful for all the help we received from so many people. A wonderful couple, the Foxes, came up from Kisumu, a 4 hour horrible road ride to help us. We were so grateful. She is going to write up the event and hopefully submit it to the "Liahona".