Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (Oct. '22): "Lifted Up upon the Cross"

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 It's funny how hearing and reading a talk are completely different experiences.  When I heard, Elder Holland's talk in conference, I focused primarily on the first half of the talk and felt like it was a good defense of our beliefs but didn't really see application to my life.  After reading it, though, I realize that I must have missed over half of the talk.  I have no excuse for my previous understanding of the talk.  Now, I see that this talk does apply to my life.

The Activity:

  1. Provide all of the class members with something to write with and to write on.
  2. Read par. 12 "To be a . . . very much alone."
  3. Ask the class members to take a moment and reflect on their lives and those of their family members.  When have they (or a loved one) been asked to go down such a dark road?  What was the outcome?  How did they persevere?  What was learned as a result?  How was God active in their life at that moment?  Etc.?
  4. After a few moments of quiet contemplation, ask the class members to write down their experience in a way that could be shared with others as appropriate, e.g. letter, journal, etc.  Assure them that they are not writing a best seller-- just recording an experience for others to learn from.  
  5. After a few minutes of writing time, ask if anyone would like to read theirs aloud (or simply tell the story). 
  6. Encourage the class members to take their written copies home and to share it in some way with their family-- this could include simply putting it with other important family history documents.

Using the Activity:

I have a couple things to share about this activity.  

First, I understand that this seems like an activity where there is no teaching.  I believe that is a false statement.  The best teaching will come from the Spirit and reflecting on and recording these experiences will allow the Spirit to teach the class members in a more powerful and more meaningful way than we ever could.  Also, by recording this and sharing it with family members, it will teach those family members much as Lehi did when he shared his experiences with his family or like Alma (both, although I'm thinking of the younger) with his family.  Abundant research shows that knowing stories like this help youth and young adults in a myriad of ways.

Second, I have been thinking a lot lately about journals and their importance.  Writing helps us to remember and provides us a reservoir of faith and experience to draw on later in our lives.  Plus, writing helps to make something permanent. Writing can be a way to clear up things that we did not fully see at the time.  It slows down our thinking and allows for deeper insight into even the most memorable experiences.  So, writing this type of event will help provide even greater insight to the class members themselves.

I know that this is an unusual lesson activity in today's Church, but might I suggest that as Pres. Nelson has said "unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures"-- and this is fairly unprecedented for most Church classes.  

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope that you find it useful.  Please let me know how I'm doing in the comments.  

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