Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong (Apr. '21): "They Cannot Prevail; We Cannot Fail"

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 This is a shorter talk, but it is a good example of a general authority who took the prophet's counsel from a previous general conference seriously and shares the fruits of that with us.

The Activity:

  1. Divide the class into 5 groups.
  2. Explain that Elder Wong references 5 scriptures to explain how we can let God prevail in our lives:
    • D&C 6:34
    • Matt. 7:4-27
    • Hel. 5:12
    • D&C 10:69
    • D&C 21:5-6
  3. Assign each group one of the scriptures and ask them to discuss the following things:
    • What the verse(s) counsel us to do?
    • What are ways that we can apply that counsel? or How can we do that?
    • What blessings will come as we apply this counsel?
    • How have the class members seen these blessings in their lives?
  4. After a few minutes, bring the groups back together and ask each one to share what they discussed.

Using the Activity:

I am always intrigued by what the general authorities are reading in the scriptures-- what parts of the scriptures are capturing their attention?  where are they finding answers and counsel for this time?  For that reason, I always pay a bit of attention to them.  In this case, I felt that these scriptures were all good examples of the ways in which one general authority found direction in relation to a prophet's counsel.  For that reason, I felt like this would be a powerful activity on two levels.  First, the counsel in and of itself is valuable and worth our consideration.  Second, examining these scriptures can also show us one way we can work to apply the prophet's counsel in our lives (how to connect prophetic counsel and scripture).

In actually carrying out this activity, of course, there are a variety of ways to do it.  For example, groups are not necessary.  The scriptures could be addressed one at a time as a whole class.  Or you could ask the class members to choose one of the scriptures, read it and consider the answers to those questions.  Then, come back together and discuss what they were thinking about as a whole class.  Or you could change the questions or only use some of the scriptures.  

I hope that this activity is useful to you.  Thank you for visiting my blog.

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