It's almost time for another Seminary year. We begin on August 31st at 6:55 am. This year we will study the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History.
I'm so grateful for the days Lynn and I took off to begin our vacation in Palmyra NY and journey with the saints to Salt Lake City. I hope that I can share this year with the kids my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Savior and help them gain or strength their own testimony.
The pioneers knew God ~ that is why they did what they did! They knew God and they loved Him and they sacrificed everything for Him and the gospel.
So I ask you and I ask myself ~ Do You know God? Could you sacrifice everything you have for Him and the gospel? Would you sacrifice everything? DO YOU SACRIFICE EVERYTHING?
It's going to be a great year!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
3 Nephi 12 ~ Student Teachers
Seminary was great today! I was a little apprehensive about today but the inspiration I received while preparing this lesson was just exactly what I needed to do.
Spring break begins after school on Friday and so the kids are getting so restless. It is a challenge to teach and keep them engaged in it. So this is what we did today.
We are on 3 Nephi 12. I divided the chapter up into three parts and then three groups of kids. I gave each group a portion of the chapter. They had 15 minutes to develop a 5 minute lesson around their assigned scritpures.
Group 1 had the Sermon on the Mount from verses 1-12
Group 2 had the Salt and the Candle from verses 13-16
Group 3 had love thy neighbor and perfection from verses 37-48
They did an amazing job! I became the student, they became the teachers. I helped them very little! I saw their perspective on these scriptures and it was really fun.
One of the boys (Cooper L.) in group 3 talked about perfection but then also brought in the scriptures about being a peacemaker. He said that finally (he had been praying for an answer to this question) after reading this scripture (vs. 39) and doing this lesson he understood - received the answer to his prayers about fighting. He has had many of his friends ask him if members of the church are allowed to fight. He said now he understands! I love it! Now he understands! Now his prayer is answered! He seached the scriptures and found the answer!!! Isn't that what it is all about. Finding the answers ~ searching the scriptures ~ having the spirit tell you that you found the answer!
These kids are amazing. I am blessed to rub shoulders with them everyday. They have insights into the scriptures that are exciting for me to hear about every morning. They try so hard to do what is right and good and to be good examples.
I said the closing prayer and asked Heavenly Father to bless them for their diligence and to protect them from the evil influences around them every day. I know He will protect them today. I am grateful!
Spring break begins after school on Friday and so the kids are getting so restless. It is a challenge to teach and keep them engaged in it. So this is what we did today.
We are on 3 Nephi 12. I divided the chapter up into three parts and then three groups of kids. I gave each group a portion of the chapter. They had 15 minutes to develop a 5 minute lesson around their assigned scritpures.
Group 1 had the Sermon on the Mount from verses 1-12
Group 2 had the Salt and the Candle from verses 13-16
Group 3 had love thy neighbor and perfection from verses 37-48
They did an amazing job! I became the student, they became the teachers. I helped them very little! I saw their perspective on these scriptures and it was really fun.
One of the boys (Cooper L.) in group 3 talked about perfection but then also brought in the scriptures about being a peacemaker. He said that finally (he had been praying for an answer to this question) after reading this scripture (vs. 39) and doing this lesson he understood - received the answer to his prayers about fighting. He has had many of his friends ask him if members of the church are allowed to fight. He said now he understands! I love it! Now he understands! Now his prayer is answered! He seached the scriptures and found the answer!!! Isn't that what it is all about. Finding the answers ~ searching the scriptures ~ having the spirit tell you that you found the answer!
These kids are amazing. I am blessed to rub shoulders with them everyday. They have insights into the scriptures that are exciting for me to hear about every morning. They try so hard to do what is right and good and to be good examples.
I said the closing prayer and asked Heavenly Father to bless them for their diligence and to protect them from the evil influences around them every day. I know He will protect them today. I am grateful!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
3 Nephi
I love 3rd Nephi. That's what we've been studying the last couple of days. Yesterday and today were good discussions.
Yesterday I darkened the room ~ black plastic on the windows and the doors ~ lights out ~ eyes closed ~ then I found a recording of a thunderstorm that I had playing in the background as I read 3 Nephi 8:1-23 which are the events surrounding the death of the Savior. Then we talked about what impressed them in those verses, and how they would have felt if they had actually been there. Some of them picked up on being able to feel the vapor of darkness. Some of them would have liked to have been there to experience the destruction.
Then we read Matthew 27:45-54 and talked about what happened at Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. We found the similarities. We read John 8:12 to help us understand why darkness accompanied His death.
We compared 3 Nephi 8:1-23 with Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:28-33 finding the similarities between the coming of the Savior to the Nephites and what is prophesied to precede His Second Coming. We talked about what we can do to be safe and be prepared for the Second Coming.
Today we continued our discussion. We read D&C 1:14 and D&C 109:22-26 to discover how or where we can find protection in our day. This was a quote from the lesson that I shared with them… Elder Lance B. Wickman, a member of the Seventy:
"Climbing atop the Mount of Olives with his disciples, the Savior prophesied the cataclysmic events that would precede the destruction of Jerusalem and his second coming. He then issued this portentous admonition to his disciples, ancient and modern: 'Then you shall stand in the holy place; whoso readeth let him understand' (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:12; italics added; see also Matthew 24:15). Latter-day revelations provide understanding. They teach that in our day, amidst strife and catastrophe and pestilence, there are two kingdoms locked in grim struggle for the souls of men—Zion and Babylon. More than once they repeat the injunction to 'stand in holy places' for a refuge from these storms of latter-day life (D&C 45:32; see also D&C 87:8; 101:16–23). Prominent among such holy places, and key to all the others, is the temple of the Lord." (Ensign, Nov. 1994, 82–83)
Then we talked about where else we can go ~ if we can't get to the temple ~ that is a place of safety ~ our homes! We talked about how to make our homes a place of refuge. They had some good thoughts and ideas ~ music ~ being a peacemaker ~ turning off the TV or computer when negative things are on them.
I read them this story "Storm Warning" by Elder Neil L. Andersen and we talked about the 4 powerful pillars to anchor us in our spiritual foundation so the tornadoes of the world will not dislodge us and carry us away.
- We must pray
- We must study the scriptures
- We must worship
- We must be willing to serve one another
I've learned over the course of my adult life that the Second Coming is nothing to fear as long as I am grounded in the gospel, I am obedient, I follow the prophet, I love the Lord and I am striving diligently each day to do the very best that I can. The prophet says that life right now, in the latter-days, is not to be feared. And so I strive each day to live by the motto ~ Faith not Fear!
How grateful I am to have the gospel in my life. How thankful I am for my knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father. I'm grateful for the priesthood. I'm grateful for a strong, good family ~ children and siblings and parents ~ who help me when I feel like I'm falling. They always reach out to grab me. I'm so grateful for them. I'm grateful for a living prophet who talked with God and leads us into the paths of safety. I'm grateful for Seminary!!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Helaman 16
We finished up Helaman this morning. I struggled all day yesterday with this lesson. Nothing I read or studied seemed to be the right thing. Even the lesson is the manual didn't seem right. I read the chapter and re-read it and still nothing. I pondered it all day, came across an idea in the student manual and pondered upon it. I looked at it before going to bed and then got up early this morning to see if something would come together. I felt good about the idea from last night. I know from experience when I struggle with a lesson like this it is because someone in the class needs something specific and I just have to be in the right mind set to hear the promptings from Heavenly Father and be His mouthpiece. So I prayed for inspiration ~ prayed to know what to say and when to say it. And like always, I had to prepare myself and let the Lord do the rest.
It was a good lesson. Good discussion and the outcome of the whole day was positive. Hopefully whomever it was that needed this lesson was in tune with the spirit.
We talked about how the tide is turning amongst the Lamanites and the Nephites. The Lamanites have become the righteous ones while the Nephites are falling hard and fast. They have hard hearts, made harder by the fact that they have had the truth for generations and are failing to REMEMBER. We talked about what the people are doing to the prophets, what they are doing to Samuel the Lamanite. How he is being treated, what they are doing about the preaching he is doing amongst them. They cast him out, refuse to believe. Those who are converted leave the city in search of Nephi and are baptized. We talked about what it would be like to have lived in the days of Samuel the Lamanite. Then I gave them a piece of paper with this written on the top:
Ponder about what it must have been like to be a true follower of Jesus Christ at the time of Helaman 16. Write what you can do today in your personal preparation for His Second Coming and why it is important.
Then I gave them a few minutes to write. I bore testimony, told them I loved them and sent them off to school, I hoped armed with the Spirit!
This is some of what they wrote...
It was a good lesson. Good discussion and the outcome of the whole day was positive. Hopefully whomever it was that needed this lesson was in tune with the spirit.
We talked about how the tide is turning amongst the Lamanites and the Nephites. The Lamanites have become the righteous ones while the Nephites are falling hard and fast. They have hard hearts, made harder by the fact that they have had the truth for generations and are failing to REMEMBER. We talked about what the people are doing to the prophets, what they are doing to Samuel the Lamanite. How he is being treated, what they are doing about the preaching he is doing amongst them. They cast him out, refuse to believe. Those who are converted leave the city in search of Nephi and are baptized. We talked about what it would be like to have lived in the days of Samuel the Lamanite. Then I gave them a piece of paper with this written on the top:
Ponder about what it must have been like to be a true follower of Jesus Christ at the time of Helaman 16. Write what you can do today in your personal preparation for His Second Coming and why it is important.
Then I gave them a few minutes to write. I bore testimony, told them I loved them and sent them off to school, I hoped armed with the Spirit!
This is some of what they wrote...
- I think it would be very hard...much like in the early days of the church...being persecuted for what you believe.
- Like the true believers of the Nephite time, I can choose to stand "firm in the faith" even when those around me don't support the idea. The prophet was on the earth then and we have one today as well. If we follow then we can be saved as those of old. Not physically but spiritually we can be saved from Satan's grasp.
- I think it would have been harder because the followers of the devil would have no qualms about beating you near to death. Now there's laws against it. I will follow in his (Jesus Christ's) ways so that I can one day stand spotless before God.
- It would have been hard to be a true follower of Jesus Christ at the time of Helaman 16. We wouldn't have all of the resources that we have now to be a true disciple. I have goals on this earth that will help me prepare for the second coming.
- It would have been absolutely amazing to be a true follower of Christ. The spirit would be so strong.
- I think it would have been pretty scary at times...I could have died.
- I think it would have been sweet to be there...I think it would have been hard too because there would have been much persecution.
- Fulfilling...dangerous...eye opening
- I think it would have been crazyily awesome to be a follower back then, as it would have it's pro' and con's compared to now. There was more signs back then and everything so that would be easier but you might be persecuted more.
- It would have been bad because they didn't care who they killed.
- To prepare for the second coming I can do many things...understand the scriptures better, be a better example, love those around me.
- It would have been more rewarding if all those around you were falling into disbelief and I stayed firm in the knowledge of Christ. I need to be the best Mormon I can be.
- I think it would have been earsier to be more obedient in the older times because there wouldn't be as many temptations as there are today like computers, music, tv, and school...I will try harder to be obedient with the commandment.
- To prepare for the second coming I woul have faith first of all. Also know that the scriptures are true. I would repent.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Helaman 5:12
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12)
This is a scripture mastery. I felt it was important for them to really understand why this would be included as one of the 25 scriptures for them to learn this year.
We talked about a rock versus sand. If you built your house upon a rock what would happen to that house in a storm? Would it remain standing or would it be destroyed? If you built it upon the sand what would happen?
We talked about a cobweb versus a steel cable. A single strand of a steel cable is like a cobweb. Combine strand after strand and strand and you have a cable that cannot be broken.
Then we talked about our testimonies and how they are built. I asked them to ponder and decide it what their testimony is built on...a rock or sand...is it like...a cobweb...or a steel cable.
We talked about the word REMEMBER that is in this scripture. There are so many scriptures that use the word remember. (Underline everytime you see the word remember in the Book of Mormon)
We played the memory game ~ the one where you have to REMEMBER where they are and match them up. Then talked about the key to winning the game ~ remembering. I shared this thought with them by President Spencer W. Kimball:
"When you look into the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be remember. Because all of you have made covenants - you know what to do and you know how to do it - our greatest need is to remember.....Remember is the word. Remember is the program" ("Circles of Exaltation," p. 8.)
"Remembering covenants prevents apostasy...I suppose there would never be an apostate, there would never be a crime, if people remembered, really remembered, the things they had covenanted at the water's edge or at the sacrament table and in the temple...I guess we as humans are prone to forget. It is easy to forget. Our sorrows, our joys, our concrns, our great problems seem to wane to some exten as time goes n, and there are many lessns that we larn which have a tendency to slip from us. The Nephites forgot." (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp 112-113.)
Remembering prevents apostasy. Remembering keeps us in line with our Heavenly Father!
I personally will work on that - Remembering my covenants ~ remembering how good Heavenly Father is to me, to my family ~ remembering to be grateful :)
This is a scripture mastery. I felt it was important for them to really understand why this would be included as one of the 25 scriptures for them to learn this year.
We talked about a rock versus sand. If you built your house upon a rock what would happen to that house in a storm? Would it remain standing or would it be destroyed? If you built it upon the sand what would happen?
We talked about a cobweb versus a steel cable. A single strand of a steel cable is like a cobweb. Combine strand after strand and strand and you have a cable that cannot be broken.
Then we talked about our testimonies and how they are built. I asked them to ponder and decide it what their testimony is built on...a rock or sand...is it like...a cobweb...or a steel cable.
We talked about the word REMEMBER that is in this scripture. There are so many scriptures that use the word remember. (Underline everytime you see the word remember in the Book of Mormon)
We played the memory game ~ the one where you have to REMEMBER where they are and match them up. Then talked about the key to winning the game ~ remembering. I shared this thought with them by President Spencer W. Kimball:
"When you look into the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be remember. Because all of you have made covenants - you know what to do and you know how to do it - our greatest need is to remember.....Remember is the word. Remember is the program" ("Circles of Exaltation," p. 8.)
"Remembering covenants prevents apostasy...I suppose there would never be an apostate, there would never be a crime, if people remembered, really remembered, the things they had covenanted at the water's edge or at the sacrament table and in the temple...I guess we as humans are prone to forget. It is easy to forget. Our sorrows, our joys, our concrns, our great problems seem to wane to some exten as time goes n, and there are many lessns that we larn which have a tendency to slip from us. The Nephites forgot." (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp 112-113.)
Remembering prevents apostasy. Remembering keeps us in line with our Heavenly Father!
I personally will work on that - Remembering my covenants ~ remembering how good Heavenly Father is to me, to my family ~ remembering to be grateful :)
The Title of Liberty
This was a fun lesson...
I hung them from the ceiling in the room ~ their artwork makes nice decorations :)
- Talking about the Title of Liberty
- Talking about what we would fight for
- Making our own Title of Liberty
Making their banners
Armor and the War Chapters
Just a side note ~ I really fell in love with the war chapters this time around ~ after all these years of reading them and dreading them. This time I looked for gospel principles being taught and WOW they are packed full of lessons on obedience and remembering and repenting...
When we got to Alma 43 we talked about how Captain Moroni fortified the cities ~ built strongholds around them ~ thus making it so that the Lamanities could not destroy those cities. Moroni also introduced to his armies ~ Armor ~ they not only fortified their cities but they fortified themselves.
I took most of the day's lesson from the Institute Manual ~ "What Protective Armor Do We Have Today?" (Alma 43:18-22, 37-38 ~ Institute Manual pg 250)
“We have the four parts of the body that the Apostle Paul said or saw to be the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The loins, typifying virtue, chastity. The heart typifying our conduct. Our feet, our goals or objectives in life and finally our head, our thoughts.
“. . . We should have our loins girt about with truth. What is truth? Truth, the Lord said, was knowledge of things as they are, things as they were and things as they are to come [D&C 93:24]. . . . ‘Our loins shall be girt about with truth,’ the prophet said.
“And the heart, what kind of a breastplate shall protect our conduct in life? We shall have over our hearts a breastplate of righteousness. Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gauged by that thing which we know to be true. Our breastplate to cover our conduct shall be the
breastplate of righteousness.
“[By] what shall we protect our feet, or by what shall we gauge our objectives or our goals in life? . . . ‘Your feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.’ (Ephesians 6:15). . . .
So I armored them ~ so to speak ~ or at least one of them... (Kara)
When we got to Alma 43 we talked about how Captain Moroni fortified the cities ~ built strongholds around them ~ thus making it so that the Lamanities could not destroy those cities. Moroni also introduced to his armies ~ Armor ~ they not only fortified their cities but they fortified themselves.
I took most of the day's lesson from the Institute Manual ~ "What Protective Armor Do We Have Today?" (Alma 43:18-22, 37-38 ~ Institute Manual pg 250)
President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) explained one way that we could apply these verses to our lives today:
“We have the four parts of the body that the Apostle Paul said or saw to be the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The loins, typifying virtue, chastity. The heart typifying our conduct. Our feet, our goals or objectives in life and finally our head, our thoughts.
“. . . We should have our loins girt about with truth. What is truth? Truth, the Lord said, was knowledge of things as they are, things as they were and things as they are to come [D&C 93:24]. . . . ‘Our loins shall be girt about with truth,’ the prophet said.
“And the heart, what kind of a breastplate shall protect our conduct in life? We shall have over our hearts a breastplate of righteousness. Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gauged by that thing which we know to be true. Our breastplate to cover our conduct shall be the
breastplate of righteousness.
“[By] what shall we protect our feet, or by what shall we gauge our objectives or our goals in life? . . . ‘Your feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.’ (Ephesians 6:15). . . .
“And then finally the helmet of salvation. . . . What is salvation Salvation is to be saved. Saved from what? Saved from death and saved from sin. . .
“Well, now the Apostle Paul . . . had his armoured man holding in his hand a shield and in his other hand a sword, which were the weapons of those days. That shield was the shield of faith and the sword was the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. I can’t think of any more powerful weapons than faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in the which are contained the Word of God. One so armoured and one so prepared with those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy” (Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Nov. 9, 1954], 2–3, 6–7; see also Ephesians 6:13–17; D&C 27:15–18).
So I armored them ~ so to speak ~ or at least one of them... (Kara)
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