This is an escape/breakout room I created for a combined YW/YM activity a year or so ago. I set up six rooms in the building with identical clues so that each group of up to 8 kids could compete against each other and hopefully escape during the time allotted for mutual. The goal was to […]
Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02feb02.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. Scripture Mastery Devotional Preparation Activity Day This idea is similar to the idea above, but students are given time to prepare devotionals. If your students are like mine, devotionals are too often done “on […]
Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02feb02.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. Scripture Mastery “Be Prepared” Activity Day Allow students to prepare short talk outlines based on various scripture mastery scriptures. Then, whenever they get called upon to give a talk or thought; they’ll have a […]
Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02jan25.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. In the next several [Seminary-Notes] messages, we’ll consider some ideas for “non-game” scripture mastery activity days that you might wish to try. The first idea is to hold two “scripture mastery scripture chain” activity […]
This great idea comes from Shauna at http://seminaryatsixam.blogspot.com/ As students arrive, each seat has 2-3 post-it notes with a word, number, or punctuation mark. When I tell them to go, they must work as a group to get their words in order to make a scripture mastery scripture. Until they see who has the name […]
Give each student three 3X5 cards. Have them write a question on each card that an investigator might ask. The questions should require the use of a SM to answer. (They can look at the missionary application on the back of their SM cards to help them come up with these questions.) Divide the class […]

Tag: missionary

March 3, 2018
Missionary Escape Room

This is an escape/breakout room I created for a combined YW/YM activity a year or so ago. I set up six rooms in the building with identical clues so that each group of up to 8 kids could compete against each other and hopefully escape during the time allotted for mutual. The goal was to […]

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February 12, 2016
Scripture Mastery Devotional Preparation Activity Day

Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02feb02.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. Scripture Mastery Devotional Preparation Activity Day This idea is similar to the idea above, but students are given time to prepare devotionals. If your students are like mine, devotionals are too often done “on […]

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February 12, 2016
Scripture Mastery "Be Prepared" Activity Day

Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02feb02.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. Scripture Mastery “Be Prepared” Activity Day Allow students to prepare short talk outlines based on various scripture mastery scriptures. Then, whenever they get called upon to give a talk or thought; they’ll have a […]

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February 12, 2016
Scripture Mastery Scripture Chain Activity Day

Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02jan25.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers. In the next several [Seminary-Notes] messages, we’ll consider some ideas for “non-game” scripture mastery activity days that you might wish to try. The first idea is to hold two “scripture mastery scripture chain” activity […]

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February 12, 2016
Ken Alford on Tardiness

Ken Alford This information was originally published at http://kenalford.com/semlist/2002/02jan13.htm and sent out as part of Ken Alford’s email list to Seminary teachers.   It’s helpful for teachers who may be struggling with tardiness in the classroom: Punctuality always seems to be a challenge in the church, but it is especially so when you add teenagers and early […]

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January 6, 2015
At the Ohio lesson
In December 1830 the Saints were commanded to move to Ohio(see D&C 37:3), and in January 1831 they were 

promised that they would be “endowed with power from on high” if they would obey (D&C 38:32).

Those who gathered in Ohio were greatly blessed. Continuous revelations led the Saints to deeper understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition, they received the blessings that came from building a temple and preaching the gospel. While the Church grew in numbers and spiritual strength in Ohio, severe opposition also increased against the Church and its leaders. 

The Prophet Joseph Smith lived in Kirtland from January 1831 to January 1838.

Explain that in January 1831, the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife,Emma, as well as Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge, left New York for Ohio. Most of the New York Saints followed during the next five months.


I made up four Mini-lessons- and had them rotate from station to station


At the Ohio lesson

At the Ohio lesson

The Law of the Church

Sir Isaac Newton is well known for his three laws of motion. The first law of motion, the law of inertia, states that objects at rest will remain at rest, and objects in motion will remain in motion, unless acted on by an outside force. Inertia, a resistance to change, depends on both mass and friction. In this activity you will observe the inertia of a penny at rest.
I found this activity online...they had to put the index card on the cup with a penny on top of the card. Then flip the 
card out having the penny fall into the cup. 
Using their scriptures and journals answer some questions about the Law of the Church (D&C 42)
                                             At the Ohio lesson

D&C 38:32 and 88: 119 the promised to endow the saints with power from on high and gave them commandments.
I had a Kirkland Ohio Temple fact sheet for them to read and questions for them to answer
They were to then build a edible temple out of marshmallows, graham crackers and frosting

At the Ohio lesson

At the Ohio lesson
D&C 42: 6-7 the Lord gave them commandments about missionary work
Once the Kirtland Temple had been dedicated and the keys for the gathering of Israel had been restored, members of the 

Church began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in more places.

Using their scriptures: Map 3 in the Church History Maps section (“The New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio Area of the USA”).
 they found that:
Kirtland was an ideal location to begin to send missionaries throughout the world. Kirtland was near several main routes of transportation in the United States. From Kirtland, missionaries only had to travel short distances to access steamboats on

America’s major rivers and Lake Erie. They also had access to a national road system to the south and a canal system to the north. Because of this,Kirtland was the point of departure for missions to Canada, other parts of the United States, and Great Britain.

Because of missionary work during this time, the membership of the Church throughout the world increased by thousands.In 1837, 
Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde were called along with five others on a mission to Great Britain, where they baptized around 2,000 people. By 1838, when the Saints left Kirtland because of persecution, there were about 2,000 members of the Church living in
Kirtland and nearly 18,000 worldwide

Mini-lesson 4—Other Significant Revelations and Events       

Read D&C 42:61

Joseph Smith arrived in Ohio, the Lord told him that he would “receive revelation upon revelation” if he would ask God.

-Turn to the chronological order of contents of the Doctrine and Covenants (located after the introduction).

Determine the location where most of the revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants were received. 

Locate D&C 76; 89; 107; 137. Read the section introduction and skim the section summary located before the first verse.

In your journal write why each of these sections is significant.

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December 11, 2014
D&C 49-56

I followed up on our challenge to introduce ourselves to new move-ins and seek to welcome them to our ward at the beginning of class.  No stories to share, but I'll follow up again later. Last week we did not get to the gifts of the spirit in D&C 46, and since a student mentioned […]

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November 7, 2014
How to Teach with the Spirit

When I first began teaching, I kept hearing people say that teachers should "teach with the Spirit".  What did that even mean?  It's not like I can control when the Holy Ghost testifies or if another person can hear or listen to him, right?  Does teaching with the spirit mean I should scrap the manual […]

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June 11, 2013
The Day I corrected the Church Historian (almost)

I attended SVU's Education Conference this weekend. What a strange experience that was!  It was part fundraising convention and part spiritual feast.  So bizarre.  At points it actually seemed like we were at a timeshare sales pitch or an Amway convenction.  Other times it was just like BYU's Education Week, and sometimes even better.   I […]

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April 15, 2013
1 and 2 Thessalonians

The people at Thessalonica must have been pretty great bunch of folks.  Paul gushes over them, and then their faith is so strong in the second coming that they literally quit their jobs in anticipation of the event they thought would be soon!  These were fun books to cover. 1 Thessalonians 1-5 I spent a […]

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February 16, 2013
Chalk Talk

This idea came from a Pinterest post by Erin Guinup.  She didn't post a link to a website, but posted a picture of her chalkboard from doing this activity that you can see at right. You can see her pin on my Seminary Pinterest page. Basically, you start with a topic.  Each student is given […]

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January 29, 2013
Scripture Scramble Puzzle

This great idea comes from Shauna at http://seminaryatsixam.blogspot.com/ As students arrive, each seat has 2-3 post-it notes with a word, number, or punctuation mark. When I tell them to go, they must work as a group to get their words in order to make a scripture mastery scripture. Until they see who has the name […]

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January 12, 2013
Improving the Quality of Devotional Talks

Youth devotionals -- they can put the most patient of teachers over the edge.  The forgetting, the faking, the false doctrine, the too-familiar gospel cliches all combine in a slow-moving train wreck that can make opening exercises in your class a miserable experience. Students forget or ignore assignments, and we teachers act like it's okay […]

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December 31, 2012
Empathy

Students are asked to imagine themselves in a given situation, and are asked questions about the situation. For example Health Studies students being asked to imagine they are a child who has just been admitted to hospital. Students learning mission skills are asked what the investigator would be seeking. (See the document 25 Ways for […]

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December 31, 2012
Assigned Discussion Leader

One person in the group is asked to present on a topic or review material for the group and then lead the discussion for the group. This person should not be the regular group leader. Hints: When assigning a discussion topic to individual members of the group, you may need to be prepared to allow […]

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December 31, 2012
Fish Bowl

Form two concentric circles. The smaller, interior group discusses a topic, while the larger outside group observes. Good for larger classes. Hint: Describe how this activity presents students with an opportunity to model or observe group processing behaviors. Reverse roles as needed. Rotate perspectives as an observer. This could be useful for teaching missionary techniques […]

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December 31, 2012
Team Adds Details

Divide students into pairs and have one student tell [or write] a story from memory in as much detail as possible, with the second student adding in as much missing detail as possible. Now, the entire class looks over the story in the scriptures and adds in any additional details. The teacher and students work […]

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December 31, 2012
Role Playing

This is a familiar but underused teaching technique. When you invite students to role play, "The students' job is to shore up their friend, and they almost always bear testimony in the process -- almost without realizing it." (Becoming a Great Gospel Teacher, Eaton and Beecher, p 91) "We've had our students play everything from […]

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December 31, 2012
Touched by the Spirit

At what point in the scripture block did the Spirit touch you and whisper to you that something you read was true? Maybe a particular part was something with which you have already had experience. Bear testimony of it during class, and invite students to do the same. Look For: Be aware of your feelings […]

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December 31, 2012
Different Lenses

Read the same block with different eyes looking for different things, as if you were wearing a new pair of glasses with different lenses. A parent, a bishop, a missionary, a teenager, someone tired and depressed, someone newly married, someone needing repentance, someone who doesn't get along with their parents, etc. For example, ask the […]

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December 31, 2012
Ask a Friend

The purpose of this activity is to help students learn that they have the skills and tools to answer other's questions. They also learn they can turn their friends for help with gospel questions. After giving students something to read together, ask every one to write down a question about the passage. Instruct students that […]

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December 31, 2012
Student presents

Before class, invite a student to prepare a short talk or devotional about a topic or scripture passage. You should give the student clear instructions about what you're looking for in the talk. For example, don't just assign a student to read Moses 7:18 and give a talk on it. Explain to the student that […]

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December 3, 2012
I can share the gospel with my family and friends.

And if it so be that you should … bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy (D&C 18:15). The Apostle Paul was a great missionary. He said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16). Paul traveled to many places to share the gospel. He […]

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December 3, 2012
Living the gospel helps me to be a missionary now.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom. 1:16). Do you know any missionaries? Have you ever thought you might like to be a missionary? Did you know that you can be a missionary now? The best missionaries […]

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December 3, 2012
Prophets and apostles show us how to serve.

President Thomas S. Monson repeats what the Savior said — that in order to find purpose in life, lose yourself in the service of others. “Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish — and in effect […]

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August 8, 2012
Missionaries and Messages

Give each student three 3X5 cards. Have them write a question on each card that an investigator might ask. The questions should require the use of a SM to answer. (They can look at the missionary application on the back of their SM cards to help them come up with these questions.) Divide the class […]

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June 27, 2011
Families are blessed through sacred temple ordinances

Daniel pushed the handcart with all his strength. His arms and legs shook from the effort. He saw sweat run like tears down Jane’s face as his sister pushed beside him, while their parents strained to pull the handcart. He saw his mother’s mouth moving and her eyes shut, and he knew that she was […]

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March 13, 2011
Stretch a little Higher, Be a little better, Enlarge thy tent

As a prelude to the lesson, I began by calling a student volunteer to the front of the room. As it happened, it turned out to be the tallest student in the class. I asked him to show how high he could reach. He went over to the wall and rested his verrry long arm […]

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December 29, 2010
We are led by a living prophet today.

Eleven-year-old Rebecca stared out the bus window but didn’t really see the houses passing by. The after-school bus commotion raged around her but didn’t interrupt her troubled thoughts. If I don’t get an A on the final history report, I won’t get an A in history. That means no honor roll. It’s not fair. I’ve […]

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December 29, 2010
Prophets speak for Heavenly Father

I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded (1 Ne. 3:7). My name is William Paul McCallister, but everyone calls me Willy. I’m ten years old, and last year my parents decided that our family would go to general conference in Salt Lake City. We live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, so […]

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August 20, 2010
The Simon/Satan Says Game

How many of us like being told what to do? Yet every time we listen to the adversary, in essence we're following his commands. ACTIVITY Here the rules to the game "Simon Says/Satan Says" to get started. This is just like the normal "Simon Says" game, with a twist for the second round. 1. Prior […]

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August 3, 2010
Temple work helps me and my family come unto Christ

My family and I can come to Jesus by doing temple work. Elder David Sorenson taught the following: [T]emples are of great value to us because they help us express our core theology, that of coming to Christ. Temples … remind us and teach us about Christ and His Father. … Christ spent key parts […]

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August 3, 2010
Sharing the gospel helps others come unto Christ

The prophet Alma wanted to share the gospel with everyone. “O, that I were an angel,” Alma said, “and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare […]

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August 3, 2010
Following the prophet will help us come unto Christ

In the Bible we read of prophets who lived on Earth many years ago. We also read stories about these prophets in the Book of Mormon. Every single one of those prophets testified of Jesus Christ. We have prophets today who teach us about Jesus Christ, too. We may learn of Jesus Christ by following […]

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July 1, 2010
Why do 18-22 year olds leave the Church?

Our stake recently began a new push to get our college-age students attending our singles branch. There are some 500+ single adults in our stake, and about 30 of those attend sacrament meeting in the branch. While some of them do hold callings in home wards, most of them have simply stopped attending church altogether. […]

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June 25, 2010
National "Back to Church" Sunday

I happened to stumble on a link to this site:http://backtochurch.com/resources/statistics/ while researching a topic for the girls' camp devotional I helped with this week. What an interesting read! The site, http//BackToChurch.com/ is promoting a Christian "Back to Church" Sunday. It lists a number of extremely interesting statistics from a variety of sources regarding church activity. […]

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June 14, 2010
Jesus Christ went about doing good

This weeks’ Primary theme is Jesus went about doing good. Our former prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckely, talked about a missionary who followed Jesus and “went about doing good”: It was said by the Apostle Peter long ago that Jesus went about doing good. As His ambassadors, missionaries in our generation have gone and continue […]

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April 14, 2010
From Rock Star to Worker Bee - The New Member Dilemma

You've been investigating the LDS Church, and you're flying high! The missionaries are awesome -- they've been helping around the house and sharing spiritual thoughts with you a couple of times a week -- and you love and admire them! You've read the Book of Mormon and felt the Spirit witness of the truthfulness of […]

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April 13, 2010
The Holy Ghost Brings us Comfort by Shining our path way with Light

I was asked to speak at a Baptism on the Holy Ghost. The twin girls were 14 and new to the church. I purchased 2 small $1 flashlights and put them in simple gift bags. I spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost and used Scriptures that talked about how finding truth through the […]

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April 7, 2010
General Conference and Social Media

This is part of an email I sent out with our ward calendar as a general conference report. I'm copying it here because of the social networking links. I'm going to take a bit of liberty and make a General Conference report here -- not on the talks -- but on how the Church is […]

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April 5, 2010
Duty to God finally catches up to Personal Progress

I was delighted to hear about the changes to the Duty to God program announced at the Priesthood session of General Conference this weekend. Here's the video at Mormon Messages: Materials should be delivered to units worldwide in June, and use should begin immediately. First, learn about a gospel principle, and strive to gain a […]

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March 26, 2010
On Leaving Religion

So today I did some reading of the stories of some former members of the LDS church. I'm always interested to know what drives people from the Church. Many of the things they question or doubt are things that puzzle me, too. It's always a little off-putting. I have served closely with human, imperfect leaders […]

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February 10, 2010
Jesus Christ restored the gospel through Joseph Smith.

Do you know the name of the person who organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; established a bank, a newspaper, and a printing office; supervised the building of the Church’s first temple; initiated extensive missionary work; made a translation of the Bible; received keys of authority from Moses, Elias, and Elijah; and […]

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February 10, 2010
Jesus Christ restored the gospel through Joseph Smith.

Abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Rom. 15:13). It had been only a few months since Peter’s father, Dr. Mattias Koteles, a professor at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, had attended an important scientific conference in Austria. On his return, he had told his family an exciting story that had nothing […]

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February 10, 2010
Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God.

There is a hill in western New York called Cumorah. It may appear to be an ordinary hill, but for hundreds of years an extraordinary treasure lay hidden in it. When this sacred treasure was finally brought forth, it began to change the world. Over eighteen hundred years had gone by since Jesus lived upon […]

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November 16, 2009
Mormon Boys to star in new TLC show

It's not about Big Love -- it's about TOUGH LOVE. Hehehehe. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/popwrap/first_look_tlc_family_armor_PeN5BO... More Mormons on TV! We're just quirky enough to be "reality" TV, but wholesome enough for Prime Time. Honestly, the show sounds boring to me. But so did Dirty Jobs, and that has turned out to be a gem. Mike Rowe is my […]

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September 9, 2009
My family will serve others

My family has always been my greatest teacher. I was born in Sevilla, Spain; then my family moved to Paraguay and later to Uruguay. Because we moved around, I often had to say good-bye to my friends. I relied more and more upon my family to be my friends. We learned to enjoy being with […]

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September 9, 2009
I am thankful for my family. I will serve them.

Miguel Cortez is filled with love for his family and for everyone he meets. He not only loves people, but he loves the gospel and wants to do what is right. He likes the Book of Mormon story of when Nephi and his family crossed the ocean. Miguel hopes that he will follow and obey […]

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September 1, 2009
A sigh of release

Bishop told me in my PPI Sunday that I am about to be released in a couple of weeks. He even asked me for my ideas on who would make a good replacement. Huh? It was kind of weird. I almost wish he hadn't told me, because now I'm having trouble focusing on the calling. […]

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May 28, 2009
A Century of Missionary Work

Larry A. Hiller, "A Century of Missionary Work," New Era, Jan. 2000, 28 The missionary message has not changed since the time of Joseph Smith. But missionaries and missionary life have changed a lot—especially in this century. Elder Scott DuVall, of Taylorsville, Utah, serves in Hyderabad, India. His maternal grandfather, Joseph Cummings, served in the […]

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May 25, 2009
Beat Out

It's been a day-with-the-church-friends kind of day today. Made phone calls this morning for random RS stuff, then did a little Mafia Wars (I'm almost up to 100 mafia members), went to the ward picnic, delivered treats from the picnic to Bertie (the dying sister), and then went to Emily's to play Catan. We invited […]

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May 13, 2009
Good day

You know, I always think about Mary and Martha -- one was the cleaner and the other was the let-it-go kind of personality. I am definitely of the let-it-go persuasion. I think this puts me in the minority of women. The past few weeks have been let-it-go weeks. While I feel like I've accomplished good […]

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March 15, 2009
The new YW value

Stake Conference was today. I am trying to find Christ-like things to say about it, but it's pretty difficult, actually. Two of the talks were very good, 5 were okay, and two were downright bad. I did laugh out loud when the Mission President's wife said she thought the next YW value should be guilt! […]

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January 3, 2009
It's alive......

It's impossible to believe, but the website was up overnight under heavy load. Nearly 5,000 visitors yesterday and over 3,000 so far today -- yay! Jared has been working very hard to fix all the problems we've been riddled with over the past few weeks. He's also moving us to a faster server, but it's […]

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December 4, 2008
The Family: A Proclamation to the World” teaches my family how to be happy

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right (Eph. 6:1). When President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) was a young boy, his father was called on a mission. Ezra, the oldest child in his family, had six younger brothers and a sister. He knew that his mother needed his help to make their […]

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December 4, 2008
The Family: A Proclamation to the World” is modern-day revelation

He that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise (Prov. 12:15). Throughout my life, I have received “golden nuggets” of counsel and inspiration from the people around me. Some of those nuggets came from Primary teachers. I was a rambunctious (lively and somewhat mischievous) child who spent many hours sitting outside the classroom door in the time-out […]

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November 20, 2008
I will hear the words of the prophets when I listen to general conference

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7) Many peaceful events that happened before I was twelve years old were influenced by those sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators. When I was about seven years old, I attended stake conference with my family. Afterward, […]

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November 20, 2008
The prophet today teaches me how to strengthen my family

President Thomas S. Monson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Monson was born in 1927 in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a boy, he participated in sports activities. He also decided, without having been asked, to cut the lawn of a widow and leave the yard looking much better. As […]

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November 20, 2008
My family can be together forever through the ordinances of the temple

Let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people (D&C 124:40). Have you ever been excited for a special day? Maybe it was your birthday or a vacation. Seven-year-old Adair was excited for a special day. Her family set a date to go to the temple […]

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November 5, 2008
The Light Shining in Darkness

Source: From a book by Robert Folgrum, as quoted here [link no longer functions] Turn the light off in the room. Have one person hold the flashlight up and shine it down on the mirror. (You'll have to experiment to find the best way to do this.) The person with the mirror's task is to […]

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October 22, 2008
The priesthood blesses my family

Hung Hseng Chr (pronounced Hung Sheng Chur) sat on the grass by the edge of the river and watched the water lapping on the rocks. The sun felt hot against his skin, and the air was thick and humid. A tear ran down his cheek, and he brushed it quickly away with the back of […]

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October 13, 2008
The family is ordained of God and is central to His plan

Father plopped a stack of books on the table and announced, “Tonight for family home evening we are going to write our testimonies in a Book of Mormon. Practice first on a piece of paper. Then, using your best penmanship, write your testimony on the inside cover, and sign your name. We’ll glue one of […]

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October 4, 2008
I had a good topic to write about....

I had a good topic to blog about..... thought of it while I was cutting the grass earlier, but now I can't remember it. That's what 2.5 hours of riding lawn mower racket will do to your brain, I guess. Conference was good. The weather was so nice today it was a real challenge to […]

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August 18, 2008
What Moves Mormons During Emergencies

What Moves Mormons During Emergencies - SALT LAKE CITY | 11 Aug 2008 | After recent severe storms in Ruidoso, New Mexico, Mormon missionaries joined with local Latter-day Saints to help residents deal with the damage. After a day spent diverting and damming overflowing rivers, volunteers helped victims move out of flooded and damaged homes. […]

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August 14, 2008
Not Christian Enough

I got another one of those weird Christian emails today; you know the ones: "Jesus kills people who mocked him (like John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe)" or "America is God's Special Chosen Country" or "In God We Trust missing from US dollar coin" or "crazy liberals are taking prayer out of schools" or "lunatic goverment […]

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August 8, 2008
Is woman with cloned pups the '77 kidnapper of LDS missionary?

Is woman with cloned pups the '77 kidnapper of LDS missionary? - A former beauty queen whose obsession with an LDS Church missionary made international tabloid headlines 30 years ago appears to be the same woman who had her dog cloned in South Korea this week. [Deseret News LDS Feed] The link above has got […]

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June 19, 2008
Book of Mormon stories teach me how to live the gospel

Once there was a boy named Ammon. He didn’t make good choices and fought against the church with his brothers and his friend, Alma. One day Alma, Ammon, and Ammon’s brothers saw an angel. The angel told them to not fight against the church anymore. The boys were sad. The repented of the bad things […]

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June 19, 2008
The prophet holds all priesthood keys and leads the Church as directed by the Lord

Because Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to return to live with Him, He had His Son Jesus Christ create the earth and establish His church on it. Then Heavenly Father called special men, known as prophets, to teach and guide His people according to His plan. And when people strayed from His counsel […]

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March 17, 2006
Honoring Parents

Items needed an hourglass or game timer Show the hourglass or timer and discuss how we are all like the individual pieces of sand. We are all together in the top of the hourglass, and we go down the hourglass we may feel like we are being restricted and squeezed. People are telling us what […]

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March 14, 2006
Understanding your Divine Nature

This is part of a lesson that I taught called "Understanding Your Divine Nature". I held up the first pot (plain pot with the beautiful plant inside of it) and then held up the second (much prettier pot) and asked if they could be represented by a flower pot, which pot would you choose to […]

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August 24, 2005
Holy Ghost is a Comforter

I brought a comforter from home and talked about how the Holy Ghost is the Comforter. Then I held up a small wall hanging I had made using the attic windows quilt block and talked about how each of these 'windows' could represent a different role of the the Holy Ghost (Comforter, companion, etc.) and […]

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July 17, 2005
Temple Work

Items needed a volunteer rope or a necktie Before the lesson begins (on genealogy or temple work or redeeming the dead), pull aside one person and ask them to help you out. So that others who are in class can hear tell them you are going to need to tie them up (do so gently) […]

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June 18, 2005
Sharing the gospel with others

Items needed a plate of cookies Have someone walk around the room holding a plate of cookies -- but do not offer one to anyone. If someone asks for a cookie they give them just a piece. Liken this to missionary work or our missionary efforts. We have something wonderful in the Church why don't […]

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March 20, 2005
Open your Refrigerator Door (or Let Your Light So Shine)

Items needed a small refrigerator, plugged in OR a picture of a refrigerator.  You could even make a little display fridge that opens and closes. Set Up Display your refrigerator with the door closed. What you could say: Please listen with your spiritual ears as I describe some of the characteristics of my refrigerator. Inside […]

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January 31, 2005
The Missing Puzzle Piece

Items needed a simple, inexpensive puzzle for every pair of people in the class We bought inexpensive 24 piece puzzles. We had enough for two people per puzzle. Before we started I took out one piece from each puzzle. The kids had to put the puzzle together as a team. None of them could complete […]

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September 22, 2004
Thee lift me, and me lift thee

Items needed a staircase (maybe the steps onto the stage in your building) Have your class or family stand at the bottom of a staircase and you are at the top. Challenge any one of them to find a way to get to the top of the stairs without touching the stairs or the rails […]

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September 22, 2004
Sustain your Leaders

Demonstrate what sustaining a church leader means.I saw a great demonstration done at a Regional Workshop. Sister Myers had a Bishop come up and put his hands out. She had a pile of hymnbooks to represent his responsibilities. Every time she said one of his responsibilities, she put a book in his hands. His arms […]

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