FHE catch-up: The Lord answers prayers and

I have gotten behind and out of order that they happened in posting about our Family Home Evening lessons. Because I wanted to report each of them for this six month period, here are two from a few weeks ago that I haven't posted yet in one short post. 

Princess' week to be in charge of Family Home Evening we based the lesson on a talk by Elder Terence M. Vinson entitled "Drawing Closer to God".  I should have written it up closer to when it was because I am having a hard time remembering exactly how she and I presented it. However I can tell you it involved the story of the man who prayed for help when his controlled burn got out of control and was threatening his neighbors' farms. This man had his prayers answered directly by a rain cloud appearing right over his farm and putting out the fire. He then prayed thanks to God for answering his humble prayer. We also talked about how trials can help us grow and increase our faith when we turn to the Lord and ask for help.

"the Lord wants us to develop the faith that will help us rely upon Him in solving our problems and trust Him. Then we can feel His love more constantly, more powerfully, more clearly, and more personally."

 When it was Fixitman's turn to give Family Home Evening, he gave a short lesson on love based on the scripture John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. We sang the primary song "As I Have Loved You" and talked about how God and Jesus love us and want us to be loving to everyone. It's a great message as we continue to work on being nice and kind to each other in our family.

FHE - Look Up

Sometimes we lose our perspective. Sometimes we forget why we do all the things we are busy doing. Sometimes we need a reminder. Elder Adrian Ochoa gave a talk called "Look Up" and told a story of being so busy with his friends playing marbles they didn't notice the big storm coming.

To start this Family Home Evening lesson I had a lot of duplo blocks scattered all over the living room floor. My awesome husband had thoughtfully cleaned them up right before the lesson started so I got to dump them out again to do the lesson! I assigned each kid a color of block and told them to hurry and clean them up. I kept sharing kind of loud reminders (I wasn't yelling...) to get their blocks and to hurry and clean them up the whole time to create a sense of urgency and keep them focused. While they were doing it, I had my husband bring me a large bag of candy and placed it on top of the TV cabinet. When they finished I thanked them and told them I wished I had some sort of reward to give them for all their help. My daughter got up to go get some candy she knew I had stashed somewhere but I said, no, it would have to be right here in this room, maybe up high somewhere. I had to repeat the reminder several times before anyone looked up and saw the bag of candy. Then I shared the candy and my oldest, Dinoguy said "I know what the lesson is about! It's about looking up to Heavenly Father and Jesus for help!" :D I love it when he is helpful and perceptive.

The basic messages were to keep an eternal perspective on life and look for help from heaven. Having two points to share made it hard for me to be really articulate but I hadn't spent enough time preparing to do better. The quotes I shared included the following.

We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation... And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult - the spiritual. -Dallin H. Oaks Having food storage and emergency cash is easy to do physically and feel safe. It is a measurable goal. Knowing if you are spiritually prepared for life's trials and storms is harder.

We must remember this eternal principle: By their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 7:20) This quote is to discuss how to know if people who claim to be telling the truth really are and how to find credible sources when seeking wisdom.

If you ever come across anything that causes you to question your testimony of the gospel, I plead with you to look up. Look to the Source of all wisdom and truth. Nourish your faith and testimony with the word of God. The message of read the scriptures and seek the companionship of the Spirit really was all over the place in last General Conference. Studying the talks has made that repetitiveness more clear to me.

FHE - Teaching with the Spirit

This week that Little Guy was in charge we were invited to a friend's house for Family Home Evening. They had just recently moved and needed Fixitman's help with the washer/dryer not working. In dividing the responsibilities, I chose the lesson and my friend chose dessert. Free cookies and friends! Awesome!

In planning this lesson I wanted Little Guy to be able to help as much as possible and I wanted it to be kid friendly since there would be 9 kids present (well the 2 babies were probably not going to cause problems...). So I used my good friend, LDS Coloring Pages to find some finger puppets and coloring pages and hoped those would help hold attention.

The talk the lesson was based on was given by David M McConkie from the Sunday School Presidency and called "Teaching with the Power and Authority of God". It was one of the talks I remembered listening to at conference and thinking I should study in more detail. But I hadn't done it yet! So I started by reading it and highlighting things that stuck out to me. Then I thought about the basic structure of the talk and what would work best with a lot of young kids.

He uses the story of the sons of Mosiah from the Book of Mormon as an example of teachers who taught with God's power and authority. He also discussed that the power and authority of God was really all about teaching by the spirit.

"Our first and foremost responsibility is to live so that we can have the Holy Ghost as our guide and companion. "

So I opened the lesson with a few questions to the group. Little Guy held them up on a sign and asked people to read them. "How can I best teach my family about the gospel?" "How can I prepare a lesson or talk for church?" "What can I do to be better able to share the gospel?"

Then I let Little Guy choose a Sons of Mosiah finger puppet from the ones I had prepared and pass out the others to all the kids. The kids liked these and I talked about how the sons of Mosiah had been good teachers of the gospel and shared this scripture:

"They were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. “But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had … the spirit of revelation." (Alma 17:2-3)

While the kids enjoyed the finger puppets, I had Little Guy hand out a few more quotes for people to read about how we could become like the sons of Mosiah.

The most important part of your service will be your own daily spiritual preparation, including prayer, scripture study, and obedience to the commandments. We encourage you to dedicate yourself to living the gospel with greater purpose than ever before. (First Presidency, 2012 in Teaching the Gospel in the Savior's Way.)

"I always know when I am speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost because I always learn something from what I’ve said." (Marion G Romney)

"In order to successfully teach the gospel, you must have both the word and the power of the gospel in your life."

"For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." (Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 1:5)

I also had a coloring page of a girl reading scriptures at the end since we were emphasizing that to teach with the Spirit, you must prepare yourself spiritually by reading your own scriptures. I had Little Guy pass this out for the kids to color as we ended the lesson with my testimony. Then after a closing prayer we had pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that my friend had made! Delicious!

And Fixitman was able to help them get their washer/dryer working again. Hurray!

FHE - Eternal Decisions

The next Family Home Evening lesson had Trainboy in charge. I let him plan the lesson on his own. He read the talk "Decisions for Eternity" by Russell M Nelson and selected the quotes he wanted to talk about. I tried to help him minimize them, but there were still 15! (Luckily most of them were really short!) We read his quotes and talked a little about them and he shared his testimony. It was a short and sweet Family Home Evening. Here are some of the quotes he shared:

The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity. You are never too young to learn, never too old to change.

Each day brings opportunity for decisions for eternity.

As children of God, we should love Him with all our heart and soul, even more than we love our earthly parents. We should love our neighbors as brothers and sisters. No other commandments are greater than these.

Scripture teaches that the body and the spirit are the soul of man.

Controlling our appetites is not always easy. Not one of us manages them perfectly. Mistakes happen. Errors are made. Sins are committed. What can we do then? We can learn from them. And we can truly repent.

True change—permanent change—can come only through the healing, cleansing, and enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of change!

FHE - The Atonement of Jesus Christ

Our next Family Home Evening lesson had Dinoguy in charge. He chose to focus on a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott called "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ". He prepared the lesson on his own and chose a few quotes. His main focus was on the story of the people of Ammon and their sons who became the Army of Helaman.

He shared the background story of the people of Ammon joining the church and how they considered taking up arms again to help fight the Lamanites. That it was important they not take up weapons though it had been years because of previous weakness.

The joyful news for anyone who desires to be rid of the consequences of past poor choices is that the Lord sees weaknesses differently than He does rebellion. Whereas the Lord warns that unrepented rebellion will bring punishment, when the Lord speaks of weaknesses, it is always with mercy. 

The sons of these people stepped in and were able to be weak things made strong by the Lord. They were miraculously preserved in battle and returned home spiritually strengthened. Many have been encouraged by their examples.

Each of us has had times in our lives when we have made poor choices. We are all in desperate need of the redemptive power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Many of us have allowed weakness to develop in our character. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we, like the Ammonites, can build spiritual fortifications between ourselves and any past mistakes that Satan attempts to exploit. The spiritual protections built around the Ammonite fathers blessed and strengthened themselves, their families, their country, and future generations. The same can be true with us.

How can we apply the Atonement in our own lives? The first step is repentance and working to change. Elder Scott also shares many suggestions for fortifying ourselves against relapses of weaknesses.

Remember, repentance is not punishment. It is the hope-filled path to a more glorious future.

In each of these suggestions, there is a common theme: fill your life with service to others.

Many of you have felt the burden of poor choices, and each of you can feel the elevating power of the Lord’s forgiveness, mercy, and strength.

Dinoguy ended with his testimony about the Atonement and the Savior and I shared mine as well. It was a good, simple lesson. Then we had treats, played a game and went to bed.

FHE - Faith and doubt

My sweetie and I

The next Family Home Evening was my turn. Instead of spending Sunday afternoon preparing it, I spent time reading other things about gospel topics I wanted to learn more about. This means Monday afternoon I still had a lesson to prepare in addition to dinner to finish. While I had visions of a really great FHE lesson, I decided that simple was all I was going to get this time.

So when I sat down with the list of talks available, I was silently praying for guidance and inspiration on which talk to discuss this week. The one that seemed to stick out to me was Dieter Uchtdorf's talk "Come, Join With Us". There are several wonderful messages in this talk, but the one I wanted to focus on was the concept of having doubts and what we can do when we have them. 

There are things going on in the world that can cause people to question their faith in God or their belief in their church. I have had doubts about things related to my church at several times in my life.

"I suppose the Church would be perfect only if it were run by perfect beings. God is perfect, and His doctrine is pure. But He works through us—His imperfect children—and imperfect people make mistakes."

That beautiful quote reminds me that we need to allow others grace. It's also acknowledgement that our wonderful leaders did not get called to their positions because they had somehow become perfected in this life. They are still human and still make mistakes.

As a mother, I hope to help my children develop their own testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am doing everything I know how to do to teach them about Jesus and his message of Peace, Love and Forgiveness. I believe that the LDS church has the most correct teachings and have chosen it for my life path. But I walk by faith. And sometimes I have doubts.

"One of the purposes of the Church is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith—even in the sometimes sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which are not seen but which are true."

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters—my dear friends—please, first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love, peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

I am also a deeply imperfect being with many faults. I make mistakes so often! For example, I apologize to my kids fairly regularly for losing my temper and yelling. I hope they see me making progress and that I yell less often than I did a few years ago. If not, I hope they at least remember my example of apologizing, attempting to make amends and admitting completely that it is my own weakness and fault. In truth, I'm a hypocrite in many things.

"If you define hypocrite as someone who fails to live up perfectly to what he or she believes, then we are all hypocrites. None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

So when I gave this lesson, I opened by sharing with my kids that both Mom and Dad have had doubts sometimes about things we believe. That we've wondered about things and whether or not they were really true. I discussed the fact that church leaders are not perfect people, and never have been, and with Fixitman's help, we discussed the imperfect examples of prophets and leaders chosen by God, including David, Jonah, and Peter from the Bible. We also discussed President Monson sharing the story of setting fire to a mountain as a youth and how he made that mistake. I explained that all our leaders are human and humans make mistakes but this does not change the truthfulness of the gospel. I shared the quotes listed above.

This went fairly well, the three older were listening and my three year old was relatively quiet. So then I told them I would tell them what to do when you are having doubts and are confused as to what you believe. I told them what I do. I go back to the basics that I really believe I know. (This came from Elder Jeffrey Holland last conference!) I start with what I know I have a testimony of and I build from there. I hold on to the little bit that I feel sure about and wait for further knowledge.

"Hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes." - Elder Jeffrey Holland

I told my kids that sometimes I have received answers quickly to my prayers for understanding related to doubts. Other times I have waited years. Other questions I am not sure will be answered in this lifetime. But I choose to continue to have faith that one day, they will be answered.

I ended by sharing my testimony and afterward we played a game of Set and had some cookies.

Here is my testimony. It's simple but it's mine. I believe that Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer and that He willingly gave up his life and atoned for my sins. I believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I believe that Joseph Smith was called by God to translate that sacred book and bring it into the world. I believe that the LDS church is led today by a prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I believe I am a daughter of my Heavenly Parents, a literal spirit child of God. I believe my Heavenly Parents are kind, loving, benevolent beings who care very much about me. I believe that our spirits are eternal and that there is life after this one. These beliefs have come to me because of many personal experiences and many hours of personal study.

I'll end with an invitation from myself and Dieter. He says very eloquently: "if you seek the pure doctrine of Christ, the word of God “which healeth the wounded soul,” and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost, then here [the LDS church] you will find them. In this age of waning faith—in this age when so many feel distanced from heaven’s embrace—here you will find a people who yearn to know and draw closer to their Savior by serving God and fellowmen, just like you. Come, join with us!" If you are wondering if you have faith in anything; if you are looking for truth, let's talk. I'll send you a Book of Mormon to read, for free, if you want. I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring peace and happiness into everyone's life and I would share this joy freely with you. 

FHE - Kind language at home

The Monday after our tithing Family Home Evening we were driving home to Texas. So our next FHE lesson was the following week and given by Fixitman. He chose a talk from the April 2000 session called Your Eternal Home by Thomas Monson. He talked about using kind language at home in talking one to another even when we are irritated or frustrated, referencing two things in the talk, the quoted scripture " let your words tend to edifying one another" (D&C 136:24) and second, the hymn “Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words" (Hymn 232 by Joseph L. Townsend).

Oh, the kind words we give shall in memory live

And sunshine forever impart.

Let us oft speak kind words to each other;

Kind words are sweet tones of the heart.

My sweet husband discussed with the children how sometimes his voice tone was short with them and he wanted to work on that this year. He asked them for suggestions for how we could work on speaking more kindly one to another in the home. The kids, bless their hearts, gave funny suggestions and there was lots of laughter. We then closed the meeting and had treats and played a game of Uno Attack.

FHE - Tithing

After Princess' lesson, it was Christmas and we had the traditional read the story of Jesus' birth as a family on Christmas Eve lesson. The Monday after that we were traveling to South Carolina and did not have a formal lesson. I'm counting the 18+ hour car drive as adequate family time. :)

On the next Monday, we were in South Carolina still so we had a Family Home Evening lesson with relatives. Little Guy was next in line to give the lesson. I prepared a basic tithing lesson based on David Bednar's talk The Windows of Heaven. I chose a few quotes to have family members read, summarized some of the scripture examples he gave of blessings and had 10 pennies and 10 dollar bills for the visual activity. Little Guy showed everyone the pennies and how 1 penny belonged to Heavenly Father as tithing and then we repeated it with the dollar bills and Princess. A simple and quick lesson. Perfect!

Some Quotes:

Often as we teach and testify about the law of tithing, we emphasize the immediate, dramatic, and readily recognizable temporal blessings that we receive. And surely such blessings do occur. Yet some of the diverse blessings we obtain as we are obedient to this commandment are significant but subtle. Such blessings can be discerned only if we are both spiritually attentive and observant (see 1 Corinthians 2:14).

The imagery of the “windows” of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing.

I promise that as you and I observe and keep the law of tithing, indeed the windows of heaven will be opened and spiritual and temporal blessings will be poured out such that there shall not be room enough to receive them (see Malachi 3:10). 

FHE Lesson - Keep the Commandments

Our next FHE lesson was giving by Princess and was loosely based on Henry B. Eyring's talk "To My Grandchildren" where he discusses how happiness comes from following the commandments of God. Princess wanted to share a story from The Friend magazine about being kind and a video that shows a boy giving away his coat to another boy we'd watched previously and to talk about being nice to others. I shared a couple of short quotes after her story and video. I don't remember lots of details because it was a month ago and I have put off writing it up. Here is a link to the video, if you haven't seen it, watch it, it is super cute.

FHE - Hearing the Spirit

Our next FHE lesson had Trainboy in charge and he chose Elder Hale's talk Strengthening Faith and Testimony. He wanted to have a role playing activity and had some pretty good ideas that I helped him finalize into one idea before it became too large and complex. We also selected some quotes to pass out from the talk. It should have been a nice simple FHE. However it was too late at night when we started (after 9pm I think!) and while we went thru the lesson it felt like no one listened or learned at all. It definitely felt like we had applied a spot of paint to a picture with no idea what the picture looked like. I knew it was okay because we'd tried but I was disappointed because it had been a good lesson plan and after talking to Fixitman about it we decided to try again the next night and see if it could go better. It did. I don't think regularly repeating when things don't go well is necessary but this time it helped us all out. So here's how our lesson plan went.

Open with statement/quote and question: "Conferences have always been part of the true Church of Jesus Christ." Can you think of some examples? (examples given in talk include: Adam, Moses, Savior, Peter...)

Role play: Trainboy set up a podium and pretended to be giving a talk at Conference. Two people were chosen to be attending conference and another was chosen to act as the spirit, trying to share a message with the listener if they would let them whisper in their ear. First we had a listener who paid attention and took notes and sat quietly. The person acting as the spirit whispered a message in their ear. Then we had a person who wasn't paying attention and was making noise/moving around/talking over the spirit/flailing arms (they were told to NOT let the person whisper in their ear). The comparison was made to the environment at conference.

Next we read some quotes from the talk that related to the role playing:

"We make an effort to experience conference in a setting where the still, small voice of the Spirit can be clearly heard, felt and understood."

"If you will listen, you will feel the Spirit well up within you. The Lord will tell you what He wants you to do with your life."

"The greatest blessings of general conference come to us after the conference is over. Remember the pattern recorded frequently in scripture: we gather to hear the words of the Lord, and we return to our homes to live them."

That was it. On the first night I don't think anyone heard a thing said. We were trying to survive. On our second attempt, I think it was a sweet short lesson about hearing the Spirit at conference. I loved the role playing the Trainboy had come up with! It was fun!

FHE Lesson - Priesthood Power

The priesthood is the power and authority of God given for the salvation and blessing of all - men, women, and children.- Elder Neil L. Andersen

Our next FHE lesson was by Dinoguy. He was incredibly awesome about planning it and took the responsibility seriously. After we were done planning, I noticed he had an article from the September Friend Magazine open called "I've Got This!" about planning a Family Home Evening lesson. I know he had prayed for help in choosing his topic and that he did his best to give us a great lesson. I appreciate that he allowed me to help some and feel useful though he clearly didn't need much help!

 He chose the talk by Elder Neil L Andersen called Power in the Priesthood as his theme. He told me he wanted to discuss the stories about the priesthood restorations, so I gave him the pictures in the gospel art book and helped him come up with a few questions to ask to facilitate this. He picked out a few quotes from the talk that he liked and we discussed them together beforehand about what they meant. I also helped him hand write them on papers to hand out since we were out of printer ink. Additionally we picked out a coloring page for the younger kids. (A great way to quickly find coloring and activity pages by theme is the website LDS Coloring Pages).

Dinoguy wanted one quote for every member of the family, which seemed like a good number and Little Guy likes getting to pass out the papers. Here are the quotes he chose:

We can live every hour “blessed by the strength of priesthood power,” whatever our circumstance.

The priesthood is the power and authority of God given for the salvation and blessing of all—men, women, and children.

A man may open the drapes so the warm sunlight comes into the room, but the man does not own the sun or the light or the warmth it brings.

There are special blessings from God for every worthy person who is baptized, receives the Holy Ghost, and regularly partakes of the sacrament. The temple brings added light and strength, along with the promise of eternal life.

 As surely as we know that God’s love is “alike” for His sons and His daughters, we also know that He did not create men and women exactly the same. We know that gender is an essential characteristic of both our mortal and eternal identity and purpose. Sacred responsibilities are given to each gender.

“Deny not the gifts of God, for they are many. … And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh [them] all.” (Moroni 10:8)

We know that worthiness is central to performing and receiving priesthood ordinances.“The light of the body is the eye. … If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness." (Matthew 6:22-23)
 

I really liked that he chose this topic on his own - he is 11 now and so we are in the last year before he is eligible to become a priesthood holder and I have been discussing with a friend the things we can do to teach our sons more about the priesthood and the responsibilities that come with it. I had mentioned this talk as a good resource to her and have been meaning to study it. Dinoguy presented me with a great opportunity by choosing it for his lesson!

Though it wasn't included in the lesson, one of my favorite quotes and things to study from the talk actually came from the footnotes: President Gordon B. Hinckley explained that it was the Lord, not man, ‘who designated that men in His Church should hold the priesthood’ and that it was also the Lord who endowed women with ‘capabilities to round out this great and marvelous organization, which is the Church and kingdom of God’ (“Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 70). When all is said and done, the Lord has not revealed why He has organized His Church as He has.”

This Monday was one of his last flag football game nights (which were supposed to be over a month ago but the weather has delayed them) so it was a late FHE evening. Fixitman brought him home from football and we sat down for the lesson immediately, hoping the little ones weren't too tired. Little Guy was already tired and not super cooperative as a result. But we made it through, discussing the priesthood restorations, the things we know about the priesthood from the talk and quotes and the blessings being available to all, independent of whether you hold the priesthood or not. We finished with the coloring pages he had picked and eating the delicious sugar cookies Trainboy had made as treats.

FHE Lesson - Avoiding Bondage

Our next FHE lesson, it was my turn to be teacher again. I have been struggling to read the book of Jeremiah in the Bible recently and so I was drawn toward the talk by Quentin L Cook who expounds on some of the messages of Jeremiah and what we can learn and apply in our own lives. His talk was called Lamentations of Jeremiah: Beware of Bondage

My notes as I prepared

I spent a lot of time reading and re-reading this talk and then looking up all the footnotes. I also opened up my old Old Testament Student Manual and started really trying to understand Jeremiah better. It became quite interesting and I had to tear myself away and work on my lesson plan instead of just studying more.

Perhaps because my kids have recently been watching a Flintstones version of A Christmas Carol, but the idea of bondage immediately made me think of Jacob Marley in chains. I started thinking of other images that might help my kids understand the concept of things that can hold us in bondage and put together a series of pictures on my iPad to use at the beginning of the lesson. I had a picture of Jacob Marley, a guy in jail, a person smoking, a person buying lots of stuff with a credit card, people playing video games and someone using a social media site. I asked them what these people might all have in common.

Then I used a heavy rope and some small free weights to create some bonds like Jacob Marley's for one of my kids. I added a small weight to the rope describing an addiction or bondage they might have happen in their lives. Trainboy was my helper for this and he was a good sport, holding the weights and rope up. I thought this would be a good visual for the kids.

Next I had several quotes for reading and discussing, knowing that Little Guy would love handing those out to people to read. I probably had too many but there were so many great quotes in the talk!

Turning from the worship of the true and living God and worshipping false gods like wealth and fame and engaging in immoral and unrighteous conduct result in bondage in all its insidious manifestations.

Bondage, subjugation, addictions, and servitude come in many forms. They can be literal physical enslavement but can also be loss or impairment of moral agency that can impede our progress.

God intended that men and women would be free to make choices between good and evil.

Substituting the philosophies of men for gospel truth can lead us away from the simplicity of the Savior’s message. 

 Our primary emphasis, however, should always be to make any necessary sacrifices to protect our own family and the rising generation.

 Our challenge is to avoid bondage of any kind, help the Lord gather His elect, and sacrifice for the rising generation 

 We must always remember that we do not save ourselves. We are liberated by the love, grace, and atoning sacrifice of the Savior. 

 Lastly because I really liked the comparison and discussion of Jeremiah and Lehi, who were prophets in Jerusalem in the same period but had very different missions, I had some pictures of Lehi and the Liahona to go along with the last quote about following the light and keeping the commandments like Lehi's family followed the Liahona and I found a great connect the dots picture of the Liahona to use with the kids at the end of the lesson.

When Lehi’s family fled, they were led by the Lord’s light. If we are true to His light, follow His commandments, and rely on His merits, we will avoid spiritual, physical, and intellectual bondage as well as the lamentation of wandering in our own wilderness, for He is mighty to save.

My mom was here visiting because of our new baby when we had this lesson and she gave me a low five afterward, hopefully because she liked the lesson, not just because it was over! I am not sure I did a good job at focusing on one message only for the kids but I tried. I feel like I learned a lot about Jeremiah and how to liken his difficult messages to our life today and I hope I shared some interesting ideas with my family about avoiding bondage.

Grandma put new baby boy to sleep quickly. He was out!

We had mini cupcakes for dessert and played a quick game of Set for our activity before bed. Set is a great family game, Little Guy yelled "Set!" every two seconds the whole game. He also likes to hold any sets I found. Princess almost has the concept of what makes a set figured out and really tried. Fixitman handed her any sets he found while the older two easily find sets on their own at this point, often before I see them.

FHE Lesson - Small and Simple Things

LOVE this picture so much.

Our next Family Home Evening lesson (FHE) was taught by my wonderful husband, Fixitman. Despite his very busy schedule as a PhD candidate and teacher he has made sure to be home for FHE every Monday evening. I know he is super tired and probably just wants to eat something and go to bed when he gets home but he is an active participant and parent instead. What an awesome dad!

Fixitman chose to use the talk by Arnulfo Valenzuela entitled Small and Simple Things. This week because I was about to have a baby, we also had some dear friends visiting who have three small children. So FHE had seven kids!

First Fixitman talked about the story of visiting the MTC in Mexico and meeting all the new missionaries. Then he discussed the story of the guy who just wanted a hug (or abrazo) and was willing to come back to church. He explained to the kids (with many interruptions, including Princess trying to make herself throw up in the bathroom) that often times, people just need a little love or a simple act of kindness to help bring them to the gospel.

Then he asked if the kids knew the story of Naaman from the bible and both of our older boys raised their hands eagerly. They got thru the story with a little bit of help and we discussed how the Lord often performs miracles through simple means and doesn't need big showy productions. He finished by sharing his testimony of this.

While talking on the phone to me earlier, Fixitman had asked me to look for a coloring page for the kids, and I found one of a child sharing the Friend magazine with another child that worked well for the idea of simple ways to share the gospel. So after the lesson I gave each child a coloring page. Usually our kids love coloring, today I think two of them actually did some coloring. Two of them folded the paper up into various shapes and the others simply ignored the paper and moved on to the dessert treat. I think all of the parents were ready for bed after this so we counted the coloring page as the activity and started bedtime afterward!

FHE Lesson - The Strength to Endure

Our Next Family Home Evening (FHE) lesson was scheduled to be given by Little Guy who had just turned 3! I was not sure how best to involve him so that he felt ownership over the lesson but it was still following our General Conference theme since previously when it has been his turn, we just have him share a scripture story or I've just done it for him. So really this was a challenge for me to more actively involve my youngest son in sharing the gospel with our family.

I pulled out my list of short quotes from each speaker at General Conference and read a few to him, asking him if there was one he liked the best. After some deliberation, he picked the quote from Elder Richard J Maynes that seemed to be about the gospel fundamentals. "We need to study and learn the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we must do our very best to live them." Great! Sounds like a good lesson for a young kid right? Let's talk about what the fundamental principles of the gospel are! Well it turns out there was a bit more to it - Elder Maynes' talk was entitled "The Strength to Endure" and the fundamentals of the gospel are what give us that strength to endure. As I read and studied the talk, I realized that this lesson was a message that I needed to hear right then. At 39 weeks pregnant I was begging the baby to just come already and I might have been a bit TIRED of being pregnant. I just wanted to be done.

I read the talk and highlighted quotes and things that stood out to me on Sunday but I still wasn't sure how to organize it so that Little Guy was mostly in charge. I prayed for inspiration and guidance over the next day and sat down Monday afternoon hoping I could come up with a decent plan after a day of letting the thoughts percolate in my mind. I really believe the spirit guided me to exactly what to write down at this point because a clear plan came out on my paper quite quickly. Putting it together took longer thanks to computer difficulties but I knew how to make it happen!

Our plan:

Open with Little Guy asking questions: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Next: What will you need to do to do that?

Share story from Elder Maynes about getting into shape after his mission for basketball and how it took dedication, perseverance and self discipline.

Have Little Guy choose someone to read a quote and hand them the paper with the following quote:

" A testimony, like your body, needs to be in shape if you want to endure. So how do we keep our testimonies in shape? We cannot get our bodies into good basketball shape by simply watching basketball on television. Similarly, we won't be able to get our testimonies in shape by simply watching general conference on television. We need to study and learn the fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then we must do our very best to live them. That is how we become disciples of Jesus Christ, and that is how we build an enduring testimony."

Next question: Do you know what it means to have dedication, perseverance and self-discipline? 

Have Little Guy hand out papers with matching word to definition and pencils to everyone. Give everyone time to figure it out and then go over definitions.

Next have Little Guy hand out quote about choice:

"Heavenly Father has organized our journey through life to be a test of our character. We are exposed to both good and evil influences and then given the moral agency to choose for ourselves which path we will take. As the ancient Book of Mormon prophet Samuel taught, "Ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free." (Helaman 14:30)

Point out that it is our choice to choose to strengthen our testimonies and be able to endure. Share testimony that I believe it is the way to happiness.

Have Little Guy hand out last paper to everyone, for drawings about the fourth article of faith. It is a simple paper where everyone can draw an illustration each for Faith in Jesus, Repentance, Baptism and the Holy Ghost. Share belief that the gospel is simple and basic and these are the first principles to understand. End.

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End of Lesson report: Having Little Guy hand things out and ask questions went fabulous. He really liked being the center of attention, asking the questions and having the important job of passing out paper. Telling the story about basketball training was the big hiccup because he wanted to tell the story. I should have had pictures for him to hold while I told the story, even though it was a short one or I should have tried to teach it to him to tell in his own words. We made it through taking turns telling a story (his involved a chicken crossing the road I think) and the lesson went well overall. I think the main points of the talk came through for the kids but the biggest reason I think it was a success is that I chose to involve my son in giving it and I have learned more personally that they really aren't too young to actively participate, even though sometimes they are little terrors. 

We finished the evening with chocolate pudding and a game of Sequence which is a fabulous family game that even 2-3 year olds can fully participate in. It felt like a fabulous family night!

I am already really grateful for this exercise of making the general conference talks the themes of our FHE lessons. I have learned so much about teaching my kids the gospel just in trying to help them with lesson prep and in studying the talks with FHE in mind, more than I ever have before studying the talks on my own. I do believe I am being guided and gently taught by the Holy Spirit how to be a better mother through this process. I hope you are enjoying reading about our lessons and perhaps feeling inspired to try sharing some thoughts from General Conference with your family.

FHE Lesson - Finish the Race - President Monson

Family Home Evening last week had my four year old daughter Princess in charge of the lesson. I asked her which Apostle or church leader she would like to use for her lesson and she immediately chose President Monson. This was fine with me because I already had a blueprint to use for this lesson thanks to Tracie's post at "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ!

My goal with my older kids is to have them study the words of the Apostles and guide them in developing a lesson. But my younger two kids who can't read need more help! I printed off a copy of the talk to read and study for myself, but I also printed off Tracie's lesson plan because it sounded age appropriate. My daughter told me we needed a coloring page, so I started searching for a coloring page having to do with running a race. I finally found a fairly appropriate one on page 37 (page 39 in the PDF) of the August 2007 Friend magazine. Then Princess and I sat down to piece together her lesson.

Here is our plan: (Very similar to Tracie's!)

Note: We talked through the lesson together twice, but during FHE I sat next to her and helped by whispering the questions to Princess that she should ask. 

Open with questions: "Are you excited when you run a race?" "What do you do if you fall down during the race?"

Show picture of President Monson and his wife, Frances. Ask questions: "Did you know President Monson's wife died this year?" "Do you think he is sad?" "Is it probably hard to do his work sometimes?"

Explain that President Monson talked about finishing the race in his general conference talk this year. He also shared the story of Job. Watch Old Testament Story of Job video. (Chapter 46).

Ask questions: "Did Job falter or finish?" "Did Job trust in his friends or in Jesus?" "How can we be like Job?"

Let's listen to President Monson for a minute. Watch last three paragraphs of talk starting at 15:25-18:00 “Only the Master knows . . .”

Color picture of kids running long race. (page 39 in PDF file)

Finish up by sharing testimony about trusting in the Lord to help us in our trials. Share quote: "We learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass." Display quote on wall in kitchen this week.

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Side note: While preparing this lesson with my dear daughter, it struck me how perfect of a topic it was for her since we have been dealing with her throwing tantrums lately when things don't go her way. It was enlightening to talk through it with her individually and watch her think about falling down in a race. Her initial answer was that you throw the tantrum because you are hurt and you don't get up. (Hmm, I've experienced that limp body response from her!) She even became a little whiny at that point. But then we read the story of Job in our Old Testament reader and talked about how we can get up when we fall down and keep trying and things will get better. We talked about how bad things happen sometimes no matter what but we can trust in Jesus to help us. She really seemed to take the message to heart.

Before dinner I was queuing up the video of President Monson for the end of the lesson. Princess saw the video and asked if she could listen to him talk. She came running to tell me a few minutes later that she heard him talking about Job! She was super excited!

Post lesson report: It went pretty well! Little Guy was a terror most of the time running around the living room but her big brothers and Dad listened nicely and Princess was very excited to be giving the lesson so we all just ignored Little Guy as much as possible. Watching the Old Testament story video of Job went really well and the hidden picture search on the kids running a race was something they all enjoyed doing a lot. We finished with a game of Uno and small bowls of ice cream (world's easiest FHE treat). I think it was a successful night of Family Home Evening!

FHE Lesson: Learning to Be Meek

Another week flew by and it was Trainboy's turn to be in charge of giving the FHE lesson! I have felt in the past I have not helped him adequately prepare in advance when it is his turn for the lesson so this time I made sure to have him select a talk on Sunday night and then I printed it off for him to read and study that evening, telling him we'd discuss it and make a lesson plan in the morning.

Trainboy chose the talk "Be Meek and Lowly of Heart" by Elder Ulisses Soares based on the quote list I had printed from Diapers and Divinity and showed him to help him choose. "Meekness is vital for us to become Christlike...Being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness."

When we got together to talk Monday morning, he had highlighted almost the entire talk! He said he really liked it. Luckily I had also read the talk and noticed several steps mentioned to becoming meek. They weren't necessarily steps to be done in a certain order, but things we could work on. I pointed this out to Trainboy to help bring some organization to his lesson and talking points. We discussed the stories he wanted to share and the things he found most important. The parts that talked about the Savior had clearly stood out to him as well as the parts about controlling our temper and the relationships between husband and wife. The hardest part for me was letting him be in charge overall and acting as a guide instead of just telling him what to do.

I asked him if he could think of a craft or project we could do with this topic and we thought about it for a while. Several of his previous lessons have used Legos for demonstrations, so I thought maybe he could make a set of steps from Legos to discuss the steps to becoming meek. He liked the idea!

I decided it might be better to type up the quotes this time for him to hand out to people instead of just handing around a copy of the talk. So we went to the computer and he carefully pecked out a few lines before letting me help with the typing. (He is learning to type, but still goes pretty slow.) He was however excited to draw the steps picture by himself. After he got it done, we turned it into a nice file in Word that would print up pretty well.

Steps to Meekness handout and quotes

Here was our lesson plan:

Open by telling everyone our lesson is about meekness. Ask question: What does it mean to be meek?

Quote 1: Being meek does not mean weakness, but it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness, showing strength, serenity, healthy self-worth, and self-control.

Explain that meekness is a characteristic of our Savior that we want to develop so we can be more like him.

Quote 2: Meekness is vital for us to become more Christ-like. Meekness was one of the most abundant attributes in the Savior’s life. He himself taught His disciples, “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”

Share lego steps and introduce each step to becoming meek with quotes from talk.

First step: Try to Improve Every Day

Quote 3: (Step 1) President Snow said: “If the husband can live with his wife one day without quarrelling or without treating anyone unkindly or without grieving the Spirit of God… he is so far perfect. Then let him try to be the same the next day. But supposing he should fail in this his next day’s attempt, that is no reason why he should not succeed in doing so the third day.

Second step: Learn to control our temper

Quote 4: (Step 2) Because the natural man dwells within each one of us and because we live in a world full of pressure, controlling our temper may become one of the challenges in our lives…At these moments and in other difficult situations, we must learn to control our temper and convey our feelings with patience and gentle persuasion. The Apostle Paul said “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, “And that they may recover themselves.”

Third step: Become humble

Quote 5:  (Step 3) The Lord instructed Thomas B. Marsh through the Prophet Joseph Smith, saying “Be thou humble, and the Lord they God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” The humble are teachable recognizing how dependent they are on God.

Finish with story of Brother Mahlangu.

Quote 6: One of the most beautiful modern-day examples of meekness that I am aware of is that of Brother Moses Mahlangu. His conversion began in 1964, when he received a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was fascinated as he read this book, but it was not until the early ’70s that he saw an LDS Church sign on a building in Johannesburg, South Africa, as he was walking down a street. Brother Mahlangu was intrigued and entered the building to learn more about the Church. He was kindly told that he could not attend the services or be baptized because the country’s laws did not allow it at that time.

Brother Mahlangu accepted that decision with meekness, humility, and without resentment, but he continued to have a strong desire to learn more about the Church. He asked the Church leaders if they could leave one of the meetinghouse windows open during the Sunday meetings so he could sit outside and listen to the services. For several years, Brother Mahlangu’s family and friends attended church regularly “through the window.” One day in 1980 they were told that they could attend church and also be baptized. What a glorious day it was for Brother Mahlangu.

Later the Church organized a branch in his neighborhood in Soweto. This was possible only because of the determination, courage, and faithfulness of people like Brother Mahlangu who remained faithful for so many years under difficult circumstances.

One of Brother Mahlangu’s friends, who had joined the Church at the same time, recounted this story to me when I visited the Soweto stake. At the end of our conversation, he gave me a hug. At that moment, brothers and sisters, I felt as if I was encircled in the Savior’s loving arms. Meekness emanated from this good brother’s eyes. With a heart full of goodness and deep gratitude, he asked if I could just tell President Thomas S. Monson how grateful and blessed he and many others were for having the true gospel in their lives. Brother Mahlangu and his friend’s example of meekness truly influenced many lives for good—especially mine.

 

  Finish lesson by giving everyone a hand out with the drawing of steps to fill in the three things we can do to become more meek. Share testimony.

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Post lesson reflection: Things went well overall. I tried to hold my tongue when he didn't go through things exactly like I had pictured. He did have all the quotes read and he did share the message. He just did it with his own personal style. I hope he has positive memories of giving the lesson, I felt like it has been a good exercise for me on guiding and teaching my kids about giving lessons. I really like how the handouts looked when everyone finished so I hung them up around the house.

 

I found the topic fascinating since I think we tend to equate meekness with being humble. From Elder Soares we learned that being humble is part of being meek but we must also learn to control our temper and keep trying to do better each day and being like our Savior. 

 I really enjoyed studying and preparing for this lesson with my son. I have personally been working to gain control of my temper for years and while I have made progress and definitely have days and periods where I manage not to yell or get angry about stuff, sometimes I mess up and yell at my kids. I love the message of hope that we can just keep trying to improve each day and working at it. I have also been trying to teach my kids to communicate their feelings with words and "I" statements instead of lashing out with their bodies in anger. I just found this message so wonderfully timely for our family and full of hope and guidance.