Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus

For the Christmas Sacrament Meeting Program our primary has been asked to sing "Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus." It's a different sounding song, kind of worded interestingly but definitely could be a lot of fun. It also presents a wonderful opportunity to teach the story of Samuel the Lamanite and how that coordinates with the whole Christmas Story. Last week I just introduced the song to see really who knew it and here's what I did. I started out by showing this really cool picture of Samuel the Lamanite that I had purchased a few years ago . . .

Then I got one of the boys and had him come and walk through the story which I told with a lot of flair.  We talked about how it must have felt to be run out of the city of wicked NEPHITES and then to have to return knowing they wanted to kill you.  Then I had the boy stand on a chair like the wall in front of the primary.  Next I handed out lightly wadded up balls of paper to select individuals (ones that aren't going to be too out of control)  As we talked about the message he was sharing. . .that Christ would be born within 5 years and that if they continued to be wicked they would be destroyed some of the kids started tossing the papers at Samuel.  I of course played the role of  "the spirit of the Lord" that protected him and actually only got hit in the face with one wad of paper!  I then helped Samuel jump off the wall and escape into the woods.

Line by line I introduced the first verse and chorus of the song and the kids caught on really quickly. . .now what to do with verse two. . .hmmm?  It was a really great opportunity to talk to the kids about standing up for what you know is right and following the Lord no matter how scary the situation seems.