Elder Quentin L. Cook (Oct. '21): "Personal Peace in Challenging Times"

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 The concept of peace was repeatedly addressed during this general conference (for good reason, no?) and to me this talk felt like the capstone to all of those addresses.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that everyone has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Explain that Elder Cook laid out 5 "works of righteousness" that will help us have God's peace in our lives.
  3. Divide the class into 5 groups and assign each group one of these 5 works:
    1. Love God, live His commandments, and forgive everyone
    2. Seek the fruits of the Spirit
    3. Exercise agency to choose righteousness
    4. Build Zion in our hearts and homes
    5. Follow the current admonitions of our prophet
  4. Ask each group to read aloud their assigned section in their groups and then discuss Elder Cook's counsel.  You might ask them to address questions such as the following:
    1. How do these works increase peace in our lives?
    2. What might these principles look like applied in our lives?
    3. What experiences have you had with applying these principles in your own life?  and how have they brought you increased peace?
  5. Give the groups a few minutes to talk
  6. Come back together as a class and ask each group to share what they talked about.

Using the Activity:

If you have used or read other ideas from my blog, you have quite likely heard me say (read me write?) that participation increases our access to revelation because it is a form of exercising faith.  Logistically, in many quorums and classes, it is impossible to have everyone speak during a single class.  By dividing into smaller groups, that challenge is easily addressed.  Also, for people who are a little shy or may even feel like they have nothing to contribute to a particular topic, small groups make it easier for them to participate.  Hence, the use of small groups here and in other activities on my blog.  

Another important part of this activity is having the groups read aloud the section they will be discussing.  Let's be honest:  many of us come to class unprepared.  For whatever reason, we have not read the talk we will be discussing recently (or, in Sunday School, read the scripture passages), and we may not remember them well.  That also makes participation tricky.  By giving the class time to read and hear a specific section of the talk, we are also making sure that people have had a chance to review the content of the talk that they will be discussing.  This helps them feel more prepared and it also highlights the exact words of our leaders in the class members' minds.  

I hope you find this activity useful-- even if it is only to come up with a different idea.  God bless.

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