Elder Anthony D. Perkins (Oct. '21): "Remember Thy Suffering Saints, O Our God"

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 This talk with its emphasis on finding joy in the midst of trials echoes the promises and principles shared in many of the talks from this conference.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that everyone has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Ask the class members to think about moments of trials in their lives and/or the lives of friends and loved ones.
  3. Direct them to think about the kinds of questions prolonged trials cause us to ask at such times.  
  4. Make a list on the board of some of these questions.  Similar questions are okay.
  5. After you have a list of 5 or so, divide the class into small groups so that there is at least one group per question on the board.
  6. Assign each group one of the questions on the board.
  7. Have the groups look through the talk to identify places in the talk where Elder Perkins addressed their assigned question (or addressed a similar issue).
  8. After a few minutes, ask the groups to come back together and have someone from each group share what their group found.

Using the Activity:

Times of trial can hit even the strongest members hard and cause moments of questioning and concern.  We all know good members of the Church who have found themselves in these situations.  Many of us may have been those people.  Because of this truth, this activity is designed to underscore the idea that the gospel contains the answers that we are seeking in these moments.  In one sense, the gospel is made to help us avoid trials and afflictions; at the same time, it is designed to get us through those trials and afflictions which will come.  

This activity is also useful because it pushes the class members to dig into the talk with purpose and reason.  Any time we read anything with a definite purpose, our understanding deepens.  So, this activity will help our class members get more out of this talk as well.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I pray that you found this activity useful.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make this blog more helpful.  

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