Elder Gary E. Stevenson (Oct. 17): "Spiritual Eclipse"

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The Activity:

1.     Divide the class into small groups (about 4 people in each group).

2.     Give each class member a piece of paper with the following questions on it and ask them to discuss these questions with their groups—making notes on their paper for each question:

a.      How do social media and pride lead us to “draw things too close . . . obscuring our vision of heaven?”

b.     Both social media and pride bring positive as well as negative effects into our lives.  How can you know the difference between the positive and the negative?

c.      What are some specific actions you can take to prevent social media and pride from becoming a problem in your life?

3.     Please note that some ideas and inspiration may come to the class members during these discussions that are just for them and not to be shared.  That is okay.  They should jot it down on their papers to remember and ponder on more later.

4.     After the groups are done, have the class members find a partner who was NOT in their group.

5.     New partners share an insight that they thought was impactful.  This should only take a moment or two.

6.     Bring the class back together to discuss what they talked about and the rest of the talk.



Using the Activity:

The main idea behind this activity is that we all learn more as we converse with others sharing what we think and listening respectfully to what they think.  This exchange allows us to be instruments in the Lord’s hands to say things that open hearts to the Spirit.  He is always the only teacher that really matters. 
I hope this activity is helpful.  Please let me know how it is going and let others know how you used this activity that was most helpful, i.e. what changes, additions, deletions did you make to fit your circumstances—or even what different things did you do that were most helpful.

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