Elder Ronald A. Rasband (Apr. 19): "Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection"

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This talk felt like a perfect capstone for conference.  This activity will not take a lot of time. 

The Activity:

  1. Read par. 26 "As we diligently . . . in His protection."
  2. Point out that in this talk, Elder Rasband gives five specific things we can do to build/strengthen our own spiritual fortresses.
  3. Divide the class into 5 groups.  Assign each group one of the five points Elder Rasband discusses along with the section of the talk associated with each.
    1. Obedience, par. 20-21
    2. Trust, par. 22
    3. Standing for Truth, par. 23
    4. Making and Renewing Covenants, par. 24
    5. Integrity, par. 25
  4. Ask each group to discuss how each principle will strengthen our fortress and help us become more like Christ.  Tell them to go beyond the surface.
  5. After a few minutes, come back together as a class and have each group share what they discussed.  
Using the Activity:

This activity probably works best at the beginning of the class as a kind of overview to set the stage; however, it could work at any point of the lesson.  This activity is not designed to go into depth with any of these points, but it could easily be adjusted to ask the groups to go more in depth with the particular counsel from this talk.

As I often do, I am trying to limit the focus of the class a bit with this activity.  While the talks are important in their entirety, we often miss important things because we try to take in a whole talk in one gulp.  It's the equivalent of eating an entire meal in 3 minutes versus taking 30 minutes to eat the meal.  In both cases, you get the meal, but in the first case, you don't get a chance to savor the food.  There are times you need to eat quickly, but there are also times to enjoy each mouthful.  

I hope that this activity is useful and helps you find a direction to take in your lesson.  God bless.

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