Week 13: The First Vision

Song: Joseph Smith's First Prayer (H. 26)

Thought:

In the spring of 1820, 14-year-old Joseph Smith was searching for the true Church of Jesus Christ when he read a passage in the Bible: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” ( James 1:5; see also Joseph Smith—History 1:11–12). With simple, unwavering faith, young Joseph followed the counsel in that passage. He went alone to a grove of trees, where he prayed to know which church he should join. In answer to his prayer, God the Father and
Jesus Christ appeared to him. Among other things, They told him that he should join none of the churches then in existence. (See Joseph Smith—History 1:13–20.) (Taken from True to the Faith: Joseph Smith)


Object Lesson:
(Ahead of time: Take two cans of food that are similar in size, but contain different foods. Remove the labels.) Show your family the two cans and discuss how from the outside they look the same. The only difference between them is possibly what is on the inside. Compare these two cans to the many different churches found on the earth. Explain that from the outside they may seem the same, but the difference is on the inside. Joseph Smith had questions about the many different churches on the earth in his day and wanted to know which church he should join. He decided to pray to Heavenly Father to find out for himself. What happened when he prayed we now refer to as the First Vision. (Idea adapted from here.)

Video: The Restoration
(This video in full is almost 30 minutes long. I would not necessarily recommend watching the entire video in today's lesson. Consider previewing the video and cuing it up so that the focus of it is on The First Vision.)

Lesson Activity:

Here is a coloring page that younger members of your family may enjoy coloring!

Consider the following activity from the Come, Follow Me curriculum for members of your family able to participate:
Invite them to write down some of the blessings they have received because of the First Vision. Ask them to look for other blessings of the First Vision as they read the last 10 paragraphs of President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “The Fruits of the First Vision.” Invite them to share what they find and their feelings about the importance of the First Vision.

This Week's Challenge: Challenge each of your family members to find time this week to go off to a quiet place and pray out loud to their Heavenly Father to find out for themselves about the First Vision. If there are members of your family who have already received a witness of the First Vision, challenge them to pray for an opportunity to share their testimony of it with someone else.

The Restoration

This is a longer video, but it is a wonderful overview of the restoration of Christ's church in these latter days.

Week 12: Forgiveness

Song: Help Me, Dear Father (CS. 99)

Thought: The great Atonement was the supreme act of forgiveness. The magnitude of that Atonement is beyond our ability to completely understand. I know only that it happened, and that it was for me and for you. The suffering was so great, the agony so intense, that none of us can comprehend it when the Savior offered Himself as a ransom for the sins of all mankind.
It is through Him that we gain forgiveness. It is through Him that there comes the certain promise that all mankind will be granted the blessings of salvation, with resurrection from the dead. It is through Him and His great overarching sacrifice that we are offered the opportunity through obedience of exaltation and eternal life. (Forgiveness by Gordon B. Hinckley)

Object Lesson:
 Prepare a simple obstacle course.  Have each person try to get through it backwards.  After everyone has had a turn, let them go through the same course looking forward.  Discuss how looking forward is like forgiveness, because when we forgive, we can concentrate on our future and forget the hurts of our past. (Found here)

Video: Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

Lesson Activity:
For young children tell the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt as a slave by his brothers. Explain that when he was older he had a chance to get back at them, but instead forgave them and even helped them to survive a famine. Let them color this picture.

Read together with the older members of your family, the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23–35, and help your family calculate and compare the debts of the servant and his fellow servant (see “Weights and Measures” in the Bible Dictionary). What does your family learn from this parable about forgiveness? (Come, Follow Me: Why do I need to forgive others?)

This Week's Challenge: Challenge your family to focus this week on offering true forgiveness to those who may have hurt or offended them. As an added challenge encourage them to accept the forgiveness others seek from them. If someone says "I'm sorry...." respond with "I accept your apology" rather than "that's okay" or "don't worry about it." Remind your family that it is okay to acknowledge that what has been said or done cause pain, but that it is important to let go of that pain--even if no one ever apologizes!

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

This video shares one families experience with tragedy and how the power of forgiveness has blessed their lives.

Week 11: Repentance

Song: Repentance (CS. 98)

Thought: The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to “re-turn” toward God. It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel. (“Repent … That I May Heal You”
Neil L. Andersen)

Object Lesson: Consider using the following example from Repentance: Making the Inside Clean
By Michael Weir Allred. Either describe this scenario to your family or have a bucket with water in it, a brick, and additional water to refill the bucket.

Picture in your mind a bucket of water. That bucket represents you and me, and the water represents the Spirit, which can reside within us. The water can also represent our pure, worthy state.
Now imagine that you have a brick and have dropped it into the bucket. That brick is like sin—it’s hard and rough and impure. As soon as it enters the bucket, it causes some of the water to slosh out. When we sin, we displace some of the good things in our life, like our peace of mind and some of our capacity to feel the Spirit.
Repenting is like taking that brick out of the bucket of water and making the water pure and clean again. But the repentance isn’t complete by just removing the brick, because the bucket is still not full. We must add more water to fill the bucket again.
When we repent, it is not enough just to forsake sin; we must replace the empty space left by sin by living righteously. We need to refill our spiritual bucket by doing those things that invite the Spirit back into our lives. We need to recommit to living an obedient life, to forgiving others, to restoring damages, and to enduring faithfully to the end.


Video: Rescued by Christ
As you watch this video together ask your family to consider how this man's life could have turned out differently had he not chosen to make Christ his best friend. Following the video discuss ways that we can reach out to others who are going through the repentance process or who have repented of past mistakes. Remind your family that the worth of souls is great and that there is joy to be found in each person who repents.

Lesson Activity:
For the younger members of your family consider using one of the following activities from the Primary 3 Lesson Manual:
1. Prepare the following sheet for each child. Have the children write the four steps used in repentance. For younger children, draw circles for the two faces and have the children draw the faces in the circles themselves. Suggest that the children place this paper in their homes where they can easily see it to remind them how to repent and change their sad feelings to happy feelings.

(The four steps are: Feel sorry, Ask forgiveness, Right the wrong, Don’t repeat the wrong)

2. Have the children act out feeling sorry and asking someone for forgiveness for some wrong they have done. Emphasize that sincerity is important when asking for forgiveness. This sincerity often shows in their tone of voice. Demonstrate for them how to ask for forgiveness both insincerely and sincerely, and have them practice asking with the right tone of voice and posture.

For the older members of your family consider using the following activity from the Come, Follow Me lesson for YW. Assign each family member to read one of the five aspects of repentance that Elder D. Todd Christofferson identifies in his talk “The Divine Gift of Repentance.” What do they learn from this talk about how we can know if we have truly repented? What else do they learn about repentance from Elder Christofferson’s message?

This week's challenge: Encourage your family to continue last week's challenge to be worthy to partake of the sacrament by fully repenting. Work together as a family to utilize the 4 steps of repentance in our family relationships each day.

Rescued by Christ

Through repentance and the atonment of Jesus Christ we all can be saved.

Week 10: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

Song: Faith (CS. 96)

Thought:
“I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed” (“Faith—the Choice Is Yours,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 33).

Object Lesson:

Items Needed:  Any type of air freshener that will spray in the air

What to do: Hold up the air freshener.  Who can tell me how an air freshener and faith are similar?  Discuss.  Spray some air freshener in the air.  Ask them how it smells.  They'll say good.  Ask them, how do you KNOW it's good?  Tell them that although they can't SEE the air freshener, they can SMELL it.  Heavenly Father gave us many different senses to confirm truth.  Just like Heavenly Father and Jesus, they are there, we just can't see them, but we can feel and know of their effects in our lives.  Sometimes we just need to use our other senses.  By following them in faith....OUR faith will turn into knowledge. (Knowledge Requires Faith)


Video: Pure and Simple Faith
Prior to watching this video ask your family members to watch for the mountains that were removed through faith. Also, ask them to determine what knowledge this girl and her family now have because of their choice to act in faith.

Lesson Activity:
For younger members of your family consider adapting the following Sharing Time lesson from The Friend, 1984: The Fruits of Faith

Remember that without faith you can do nothing; therefore ask in faith (D&C 8:10).
President Harold B. Lee once said that “faith and a knowledge of the scriptures can help us meet the challenges of today” (Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation 1984). Reading about faithful, courageous men and women in the scriptures can help us to develop the faith and courage we need to make difficult decisions in our own lives. And observing how faithful people today solve their problems can also help our faith to grow.
Faith is like a seed that grows until it bears fruit. Some of the fruits of our faith are the blessings, courage, and strength we receive when we are prayerful and faithful in doing what is right.


Instructions
1. Read scripture references on tree one at a time. Decide what person the story is about and write that person’s name below the reference. Cut out apples not on tree and match each blessing with the person receiving it.

2. Choose another person from the scriptures who showed great faith. Write that name and reference on blank apple on tree. Write appropriate blessing on blank cutout apple.
3. Play the matching game with your family. Let each person tell one story. Ask your parents to tell faith-building stories about your relatives. Make additional apples as needed.

For older members of your family consider the following activity from the Come, Follow Me curriculum for YM and YW.
Ask your family to read the first three paragraphs of Elder Marcus B. Nash’s talk “By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled,” and invite each person to write a one-sentence definition of faith, based on what they read. Ask them to read the story about Ann Rowley from Elder Nash’s talk and identify what Sister Rowley believed and how she acted on her belief. Invite them to share what they find and any experiences they have had that demonstrate the power of faith.



This Week's Challenge: Remind your family that faith is an action. We express our faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ when we act in faith and keep His commandments. Challenge your family to act on their faith this week and pray for increased faith and testimony as they do so.

Pure and Simple Faith

When the Lord commands a mountain to move, it will move! This young woman's example of faith strengthens my testimony of the Savior and His love for each of us individually.

Week 9: The Atonement

Song: The Third Article of Faith (CS. 123)

Thought:
Jesus Christ “came into the world … to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; that through him all might be saved” (D&C 76:41–42). The great sacrifice He made to pay for our sins and overcome death is called the Atonement. It is the most important event that has ever occurred in the history of mankind: “For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; … yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement” (Alma 34:9). -Gospel Principles

Object lesson:
To explain death and resurrection, consider this object lesson: Put your hand in a glove. Explain that a hand in a glove can be compared to a person’s spirit in his or her body. Take off the glove. Explain that this is like physical death—the spirit (the hand) and the body (the glove) are separated. Then put the glove back on your hand. Explain that this is like resurrection—the spirit and body are reunited. -Gospel Principles

Discuss with your family that through the Atonement Christ was able to overcome physical death and thus we all will be resurrected again someday. Explain that through the Atonement Christ also took upon himself all of our pains and sins, thus saving us from the fall.

Video: None Were With Him

Lesson Activity:
For younger children consider reading the book "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. Once you have read the story ask them who the Tree reminds them of. Discuss ways that the Savior is like the giving tree and that in sacrificing everything for us he fulfilled the Atonement. Have each child color a picture of an apple tree. If they are old enough have them write or draw something that they consider a blessing in their lives because of the Savior on each of the apples.

(A few years ago a young girl in our ward gave a talk using this story and bore her testimony of the Savior based on it's principles. I have never read the story the same way since!)

Invite the older members of your family to read one of the principles of the Atonement in Linda K. Burton’s talk “Is Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ Written in Our Hearts?” Invite them to discuss what they learned and share an example from their own lives or the lives of people they know that illustrates the principle. (Suggested activity for both the Aaronic Priesthood lesson as well as the Young Women lesson.)

This Week's Challenge: Encourage your family to focus this week on the Atonement and how we can apply it in our lives. This month we will be learning about Faith, Repentance, and Forgiveness. Invite them to begin applying these principles in their daily lives and prepare themselves to worthily partake of the Sacrament on Sunday.

None Were With Him

Elder Jefferey R. Holland bears witness of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.