Elder W. Craig Zwick (Oct. 17): "Lord, Wilt Though Cause That My Eyes May Be Opened"

The Activity:

1.     Choose a number of quotes from the talk that seem especially pertinent to the members of your class/group/quorum.  I am thinking 6 or so.

2.     Arrange the seats in the room in 2 rows facing each other—close enough to be able to easily speak to the person directly across from you, but far enough apart that movement between the rows is not impeded.

3.     Have people sit in the chairs so that everyone is facing someone else.  If there is an odd number, you get to be part of the activity as well.

4.     Give instructions outlining what is going to happen (as per the directions that follow).

5.     Read one of the quotes from the talk.

6.     Give the group 2 minutes to talk about the quote.  They might discuss . . .

a.      What the quote is telling us

b.     How they could apply the counsel given

c.      What scriptures or experiences does this remind them of

d.     How could they help their family members do this more effectively

e.     Anything else that seems pertinent

7.     At the end of two minutes, everyone moves one seat to the right.

8.     Repeat steps 5-7 until you have discussed all of the quotes or until you feel like it is time to move on.  You can use a single quote multiple times if it feels like it would be beneficial.

Using the Activity:

So, this is another discussion strategy that could be used in multiple ways with multiple talks.  It is also another activity that is far from what we normally do in Church.  I get that.  I would suggest, though, that the new curriculum asks us to do a number of new things.  So, one more should be okay. 

Again, this is an activity designed to accomplish a few goals—1) to get people to speak a fair amount—more than they would in whole class discussions; 2) to provide opportunities for each class member to hear from multiple people, people with whom they may not speak much; and 3) to increase the unity of the group.  I think this is a novel way of accomplishing those purposes. 

One variation on this activity is to have only one side of the chairs rotate.  This is especially useful, if you have a member or members who have trouble moving around (someone who has a broken leg, for example).  Also, it might be useful, if you simply want to speed up the activity a bit.

Please let me know how things go with this activity.  Also, if you have any other questions, I would love to answer them—to the extent that I can.  God bless you in your callings.