Elder Ulisses S. Soares (Oct. '22): "In Partnership with the Lord"

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 I suppose it is part of spiritual growth, but at times I feel I'm doing pretty well in a particular spiritual area (in this case marriage), and then a talk like this comes along and my definition of doing well is completely altered.  As a result, I realize I can do even better.  This talk struck me this way.  It lifted my sites on what a good marriage really means and what I must do to be a good husband.  

The Activity:

  1. Ensure that everyone in class has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Divide the class into smaller group of 4-5 people.  Give each group a small piece of paper and something to write with.
  3. Ask the group to look through the talk, identify one important way we can make our marriage into a "full partnership," and write it on their piece of paper. 
  4. Ask the groups to pass their papers in an orderly fashion one group to their side.
  5. Ask each group to spend 2 minutes talking about the idea on the piece of paper they just received.  This discussion could focus on how such a thing will lead to full partnership, what such a thing would look like in practice, etc.  
  6. At the end of the time, have the groups pass the papers again and repeat step 5.
  7. Repeat this process until each group has been able to talk about a few of the ideas.
  8. Come back together and discuss what the groups noticed from all of their discussions.

Using the Activity:

Sometimes, we feel like as teachers all of the pressure is on us to identify the most important/meaningful parts of the talk to discuss-- and through the Spirit that is possible.  In some cases, however, it is also useful to ask the class members to direct the discussion more completely.  This is one way to do that.  You provide the framework; they provide the content (at least for this section of the lesson).  This is not meant as a way to reduce your work (in fact, you probably want a back up plan or some of your own pieces of paper with things written on them in case something weird happens).  Instead, it is a way to increase the participation of our class members (and participation = faith exercised).  

I pray that you will find this activity idea of benefit to you.  

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