Elder Dale G. Renlund (Apr. 18): "Family History & Temple Work: Sealing & Healing

-
This activity is designed to be used at the beginning of the lesson. 

The Activity:
  1. Create a sheet that has lines such as the following on it:
    1. Learning of the Savior and His Atonement.
    2. Increasing your faith so your conversion becomes deeper and more abiding.
    3. Feeling the love of the Lord so that you have more joy.
    4. Seeking for greater blessings for your family.
    5. Enhancing your powers of discernment.
    6. Serving others more effectively.
    7. Protecting yourself more completely from temptation and the influence of the Adversary.
    8. Refining and sanctifying your heart.
    9. Building more motivation to repent.
    10. Increasing the influence of the Holy Ghost in your life.
  2. NOTE:  Those ten items come from the bulleted list in Elder Renlund's talk.  There are more items than I have represented on here.  Feel free to look at that list and choose those items that are most pertinent for your class to include on your sheet.
  3. Begin by talking about how there never seems to be enough time in our lives. 
  4. As you do this, pass out the sheet you created.
  5. Now, ask the class members to consider how Heavenly Father would have them use their time.
  6. Ask the class to consider how much time they are spending in each of the items on the list as compared to the amount of time they should be spending on each thing.  Then, on a scale of 1-5, rank themselves (5 = right on track; 3 = some time but not nearly enough; 1 = don't even do it at all).
  7. Discuss the results briefly.  The important thing is to note that it can feel like there is always too much to do. 
  8. Now, introduce the topic by explaining that there is one thing that we can do, which will help us accomplish all of the items on that list.
  9. Discuss the talk
Using the Activity:

I was impressed by the promises Elder Renlund made about the blessings that come from family history and temple work.  When I reflected on it, those promises echoed my personal experiences.  Also, I sometimes feel like family history work, in particular, is something that I will get to when I am older, which I understand is not the right attitude.  This activity comes out of those two thoughts. 

This is not a particularly spiritual activity; it is not designed to be.  Instead, the idea is to simply provide motivation to engage with family history and temple work.  Hopefully, after the activity class members feel the importance and that helps them be prepared to feel the Spirit about this topic as it is discussed in the class. 

As always, thank you for visiting my site and I hope that you have found something of use to you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell (Oct. '23): "More Than a Hero"

-
 This talk is custom made for today.  All around us we can see people who choose worldly heroes to focus on and follow with little, if any, thought given to Christ and Father.  The results are perilous to us and to society.  This talk in some aspects reminds me of some of Pres. Kimball's teachings ( here , for example).   The Activity: Draw a line down the middle of the board. Read par. 23 "For us on . . . Savior and Redeemer." Ask the class members to consider what would characterize too much trust placed in "the politician, the musician, the athlete, or the vlogger" or anyone. Invite them to share their ideas.  As they do, list them on one side of the board. Invite the class members to look over the list they have created and consider how they can either safeguard against these things or walk back from perilous positions. Allow a moment to think and then discuss. Point out that if this is too much attention placed on people, in what ways could we do the same t
Read more

Elder Dale G. Renlund (Oct. '23): "Jesus Christ is the Treasure"

-
 What a great talk reminding us of the simplicity of the gospel-- Jesus  Christ.  The treasure is always Jesus Christ.  Remembering that is not easy in our modern world, though.  To help us remember, the Lord has given us many things.  Elder Renlund in this talk reviews four of these and this is what the activity below focuses on. The Activity: Make sure that every class member has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically. Explain that in this talk, Elder Renlund reviews four actions we can do to avoid looking beyond the mark. Divide the class into four groups. Assign each group one action along with the corresponding part of the talk.  These are: Repentance-- par. 10-11 "The Savior has . . . of our sins." The sacrament-- par. 12-13 "Just like the . . . prospered, and preserved." Temple Worship-- par. 14-15 "When we have . . . it is distant." Listening to the Prophet-- par. 16-17  "After Carter and . . . look no further." Have
Read more

Pres. Russell M. Nelson (Apr. '24): "Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys"

-
 This is a relatively short talk, but it is full of both invitations and promises from our prophet.  The blessings enumerated and promised are especially inspiring (par. 25-31).  However, for this activity I chose to focus on the invitations that Pres. Nelson extends to us as members. The Activity: Insure that every class member has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically. Insure that every class member has something to write with and on (a device would work fine). Write on the board (or post printed statements) of the 3 (or 5 depending on how you choose to break up the last one) invitations that Pres. Nelson gives us. Par. 8-9 "Jesus Christ then . . . for you personally." Par. 16 "Consider how your . . . to the earth." Par. 19-22 "I invite you . . . home to Him."  (the three statements here could be listed separately). Ask the class members to read these statements and spend a moment silently considering one of the invitations. (Option
Read more