I have a question, but I can't find the answer anywhere. I'm hoping someone who passes by here will be able to answer...

I am in the primary presidency, but cannot find the answer to this in the primary manual. My ward had a book of mormon Saturday activity at the beginning of March. We are having an Easter activity next Saturday and we already have an activity planned for the next month. I had heard somewhere that we are not even supposed to have primary activities anymore. Is this true? If not, is there a limit to how many we should be asking the children to attend?

Thank you for any help!

Elizabeth

I am in the Presidency and I have never heard anything like that. We are still planning on our activities.

If you go to Primary Leader Responsibilities and click on FAQ's (on the right)on LDS.org and look under Quarterly Activity Days you will find your answer.

No, as Geana says in the FAQ section it says,
RE: "Quarterly Activity Days

Do we still have quarterly activity days?
No. They are no longer part of the program."

We took that as that they are no longer required, yet we can still do them as we see fit.
Hope that helps!

Thank you for your primary sharing time post. I am going to post this on my blog. Thanks Nick
http://nicksposts.wordpress.com

We also took that as they are no longer a part of the program, but you can have them if you would like. We have chosen to do 2 or 3 a year.

I'm in my stake primary presidency and it's true headquarters has told us that we are no longer doing quarterly activities in the primary program. Some wards grumbled and some were happy. I think if you still do them, you'll be fine.

ELIZABETH--
As previously mentioned, in the new Handbook of Instruction, Primary Quarterly Activities are no longer part of Primary and are not supposed to be done on a Primary level. The activities are now ward-based (hence the elimination of the calling of "ward activity chairperson" which include each auxillary being involved in some aspect of the planning of a particular ward activity/social. I've heard of wards still doing Primary Activities, but it is always best to Follow the Prophet!

The point is not to have activities just to have them, but to have activities to fill a particular need within the ward. So, TinaM is quite quite correct. If your primary is having a problem and your presidency feels that a certain activity would really help - then take it to your ward council and present the idea.

I agree with TinaM. In fact, El. Bednar said that reading, following and praying about the instructions in the new handbook can be a revelatory experience. For those of you who think it is still okay to have quarterly activities, remember you raised your hand to sustain the prophet and his counselors. For me, when the prophet speaks, the debate is over! How can we expect the primary children to follow the prophet if we don't do it ourselves.

I think it is important remember that the new handbook was written with the idea that the wards would meet the needs of the individuals of their ward through inspiration while staying within the guidelines given (refer to world-wide leadership training from when it came out). Our ward's bishop discussed the new guideline on primary quarterly activities with us as a presidency and we consulted with the Stake. We do have one activity that had always been a part of our ward as it meets a need that is particular to our area. Other wards you see doing activities with their children may also be following the spirit intended here, meeting local needs. We shouldn't jump to conclusions about people not following the prophet in other wards. To do so would be to question those who have been set apart to receive inspiration for and make decision on behalf of that ward. That in and of itself is not following the prophet. To the sister who originally asked: consult local leadership and pray about it

:sad: When I try too down load Lesson 15, lesson 14 down loads again. Is there something that could be done to correct this problem?
I love your lessons and thank you for all you do.

:sad: I really appreciate all you do to make these lesson come alive. They are wonderful! The problem this week is that when I go to down load the new lesson 15, only lesson 14 comes up to load. Is there anything that you could do to correct this issue? Thanks again!

In regards to if you can have a primary activity you can look under section 13 in the handbook. I also originally thought that we no longer could have a primary activity, but after reading section 13 I realized I had misinterpreted things.
Section 13 discusses everything you would want to know about if and why you should have any type of activity. In 13.2.1 it specifically mentions that an auxiliary (such as primary) can plan an activity and that it is under the direction of the leaders of that particular organization.