Well, no WONDER!

I finally got a calling at church. I'm the Sunbeam teacher! Or, as they are called here: Rayitos del Sol, "little rays of sun." How cute is that?? If you're not familiar with our church terms, that's the class of 3 and 4 year-olds. I admit, I was bummed at first. I was totally convinced I was going to be officially called as a Relief Society teacher, since they'd already had me teach a couple of times, so Primary just hit me out of nowhere. My friend in the RS presidency said they asked for me as a teacher a couple of months ago, but Primary had already reserved me. It just took a while for the calling to filter down, I guess...But this past Sunday was my first day, and I love it already! I only have 5 kiddos, one of them the sweet little guy of the other LDS embassy family, and the other four are Uruguayos, of course. Two of them don't often come, apparently. Actually, not "apparently," but for sure. I would see them quite often with their moms or aunts in RS, so that's something to work on. The presidency told me that I'd be teaching Sharing Time every 4 weeks, too, so that ought to be fun. Primary will be good for my Spanish, too, and the children are so cute. But anyway, on to the title of this post:

Last Sunday I was gathering my little class together, none of whom knew me, except Saku, the little embassy fellow. There was one little guy, Johan, who was very hesitant and kept trying to slink down the stairs. I wouldn't let him, nor would Carolina, who I think is 2nd Couns. for the Primary. We finally convince Johan to come to class, and he's my "big helper" and holding pictures, etc. And being quite rowdy, as small boys tend to be. We talk about animals, and Noah, and abandon looking up the scriptures, then abandon learning a song, and go the reliable coloring/punching shapes route. It felt like class was over before it started, these Rayitos kept me on my toes! As the last one scurried away, and I finished gathering colored pencils and crayons and teeny-tiny punched-out airplane shapes (yeah, those had NOTHING to do with animals or Noah), Carolina comes in and says, "Oh! So, Johan's NOT in your class!" Well, then... No wonder the poor kid didn't want to come with me! Not only was I not his teacher, it wasn't even his class (he's five). But he never said anything. To me or Carolina, who of course speaks perfect Spanish and would've understood had I not. I totally felt like a kidnapper. But a nice one who tried to teach him stuff and then let him go happily back to his family. And, really, I think I will miss him in class, he's a smart, cute little guy. Maybe he'll visit. Or maybe he'll just always remember me as the crazy American lady who randomly dragged him into her class and forced him to hang out with 3-year-olds.