I love hearing missionary stories! For a fun way to teach I Hope They Call Me On a Mission in singing time, try this fun I Hope They Call Me On a Mission Missionary Stories activity! This can be a great way to introduce or review this song in primary!
*12 Ideas for Teaching I Hope They Call Me on a Mission Singing Time Ideas*
2 Ways to Use This I Hope They Call Me On a Mission Missionary Stories Activity
The idea behind this activity is to spend some time sharing missionary stories in primary as the children learn I Hope They Call Me On a Mission. These stories can range anywhere from funny stories, crazy cuisine, or spiritual moments.
There are so many ways to use this missionary stories activity! If you served a mission, you could share some of your favorite stories in primary. You could also ask a family member, primary teacher, or other members of you ward to visit primary and share their stories.
If you have a young man or woman who recently returned home from a mission, this would be an excellent opportunity to invite them to share their experiences with primary children for this spiritual activity.
Photo Credit: Carmody Bowman
My friend Carmody was recently asked to share about her mission in her ward. Look at this amazing presentation she put together to share a bit about what life was like on her mission in Georgia! It turned out so darling and something like this would really help the children feel excited for their own mission opportunities!
1. Using as an Introduction Activity:
If you are just starting to teach I Hope They Call Me On a Mission in singing time, this can be a great introduction activity to invite the Spirit into primary. For this adaptation, invite an individual who has served a full-time mission to come to primary.
Ask this person ahead of time to think of some experience from their mission that they would like to share with primary children. It would also be neat to invite a few people who served in different places! This way, the children get to see how much a mission experience varies all over the world!
Activity Instructions:
- A few weeks before you plan to do this activity, invite an individual (or two) who has served a mission to come to primary and share their mission experiences.
- You might invite the visitor to bring their nametag or other special memorabilia to share with the children.
- At the beginning of primary, introduce your visitor and explain that they’ll be sharing missionary stories.
- Allow your visitor 5-10 minutes to share some experiences from their mission! Have them share their testimony at the end.
- Then, start teaching the first verse of I Hope they Call Me on a Mission (flip chart here!)
2. Using as a Review Activity:
If you’ve already started teaching the song, use this activity as a review! For this review activity, I started looking for missionary stories from General Conference talks. There are so many sweet stories! I compiled some of my favorite stories and included them in the printable at the end of this post!
Each time you sing through the song, pick a new story and read through it. As you sing, invite the children to think about the story and their own testimony about missionary work.
Here’s an example of a missionary story I found:
“Though missionary work was new and challenging for Elder Pokhrel, he served with great faith and faithfulness, seeking to understand and follow what he was learning from the scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and his mission leaders.
He became a powerful teacher of the gospel—in English—and an excellent leader. After his mission and some time in Nepal, he returned to India to continue his education. Since January he has served as a branch president in New Delhi.” -Randy D. Funk October 2013.
Activity Instructions:
- At the beginning of singing time, review the first verse of I Hope They Call Me On a Mission.
- Then, ask the children if they know any missionary stories. Invite them to share a story with their class.
- Then, sing through the song again. This time, invite the children to think about their testimony of missionary work.
- Choose a child to come up and read one of the missionary stories below. After they read the story, sing the song again. Try a new verse if you are reviewing both!
- Continue reading through each missionary story as you review!
- Share your testimony of missionary service.
Extension Ideas:
- Create a photo collage of mission pictures! The kids will love seeing missionaries in action.
- If using this activity as a review, write a fun way to sing the song on the back of each missionary story. Lots of fun ideas of fun ways to sing in this post here!
- Invite your current missionaries to come to primary and share about missionary work they are currently doing. Invite them to share a missionary schedule and talk about the blessings of missionary service.
- Share a video about missionary service! We have 4 videos about missionary service in this post!
Looking for a fun way to add more stories into your Primary? See our engaging Did Jesus Really Live Again Scripture Stories lesson plan for ideas!
I Hope They Call Me On a Mission Missionary Stories Printable Lesson Plan
This 2-page printable lesson plan outlines the details to use this I Hope They Call Me On a Mission Missionary Stories activity as either an introduction or review activity. The second page includes 5 missionary quotes or testimonies of missionary service. You can choose to cut out the quotes or just print the entire page and read from the paper!
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Find 3 sweet videos to share in primary with this I Hope They Call Me on a Mission Missionary Videos activity!
What missionary stories will you share in singing time next week?
