You Are Not Lost

I am excited that you decided to stop by and am so grateful to be able to share a little bit of my love for the Savior and His gospel with you. Before jumping into today's family home evening lesson I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been so supportive and encouraging to me. It truly means so very much. I want to make your experience here as beneficial as possible. My objective is to come up with family home evening lessons that are meaningful yet simple in regards to the amount of effort and preparation necessary to make them happen.

In addition to family home evening lessons, my goal over the next few month is to write more material, more frequently in regards to scripture study, family history, family traditions and ways to incorporate, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, into our families. If there is something in particular you would like to see more of please comment below and let me know.

Preparation:
Read Elder Echtdorf's talk from the April 2018 general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, Behold the Man!

Materials Needed: 
An item that you can hide.

Opening Song: 
My Heavenly Father Loves Me 

Opening Prayer: 

Gain Attention:

Hide an item of some sort somewhere in the room or house before family home evening starts. We hid our youngest child's doll. Explain to the family that there is an item hidden someone and that we are going to play, Hot or Cold, to find it. You can play the version where you simply say hot, hotter, hottest as the near the item or cold, colder, freezing as they move further from the item. Or, you can play the singing version where you singer louder the closer they get to the item and more softly as they move further from the item.

Instruction:

Once the item is found, ask the children if any of them knew where the item was? Ask them, who knew where the item was the whole time?

Read 3 Nephi 17:4 as a family.

Explain that just as the item that was hidden was not lost to you because you knew where it was, none of us will ever be lost to our Heavenly Father because he knows where we all are and what we are all going through.

Ask the children what we should do if there is a time that we feel lost. (It is okay if they answer this question for being physically lost as well as spiritually lost. It may even provide a chance to make sure our children do know what steps to take if the are physically lost.)

Discuss as a family that there may be times in our lives when we have done things wrong that make us feel bad and feel that Heavenly Father does not love us. There might also be times where we have done nothing wrong yet feel distant from our Heavenly Father and uncertain what we should be doing. Explain that in this past general conference Elder Echtdorf talked about this and he said,

"When you feel lost or forgotten, behold the Man.

When you are despairing, deserted, doubting, damaged, or defeated, behold the Man.

He will comfort you.

He will heal you and give meaning to your journey. He will pour out His Spirit and fill your heart with exceeding joy.

He gives 'power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.'

When we truly behold the Man, we learn of Him and seek to align our lives with Him. We repent and strive to refine our natures and daily grow a little closer to Him. We trust Him. We show our love for Him by keeping His commandments and by living up to our sacred covenants.

In other words, we become His disciples.

At this point you may want to take out a piece of paper and write or draw a plan, depending on the ages of your children, of what to do if we are lost spiritually based off of what Elder Echtdorf taught was necessary to do to behold the Man. (You may also want to write down a plan for what to do if you are lost physically on the back side of the paper.)

Remind children that even if at those moment we do not feel lost, there are others who probably do. Discuss as a family ways you can help others who feel lost know that they are loved and that our Heavenly Father loves them and knows where they are. 

To conclude bear your testimony of a time where you felt lost and how turning to our Savior helped you or simply bear you testimony of the fact that our Heavenly Father loves each of us and will always be there for us. 

*I feel like this lesson could easily be changed to focus on quite a few different topic, such as missionary work. So if you feel that another topic would be more beneficial for your family that is always an option by simply shifting your discussion about 3 Nephi 17:4 towards the topic you would like to cover and substituting the quote by Elder Echtdorf with a quote about your chosen topic. 

Activity Ideas: 

Play Hide n' Seek as a family. 

Play a few more rounds of Hot and Cold

Treat Idea: 

Brownie Batter Puppy Chow (Or Muddy Buddies) from Mel's Kitchen Cafe 

Family Scripture Study

Sometimes I think it would be quite entertaining if I were to post a video of our family scripture study on here. Some days it might be considered picture perfect but those days are certainly the exception. More often it is filled with mom and dad reminding the children to sit still as the over-tired crazies flop around the room. This is our reality right now and we are assured by so many that we will miss these days that we do our best to find joy in it all. Although, in our imperfection we fall short often times.

To help keep those little hand occupied in a more productive manner during scripture study we initiated these scripture journals for each of our children. Each child picked out their own colored notebook at the store as well as a set of crayons or colored pencils. Once each notebook was labeled with its owners name it was placed in a special place to be reserved for scripture study and church only. Our hope is that by reserving them for these times only they will not loose their novelty.

When we are really on top of things, we label each child's notebook page with the chapter that we are reading that day. At the beginning of scripture study we read the chapter heading and then discuss a few things that are going to happen that the children might want to color a picture about. Then, as we read the chapter the children color. At the end they tell us about their pictures and then put their notebook back in the assigned place.

Going and getting their notebooks and putting them away has served as a great transition for our bedtime routine. It has also been so much fun to see what they decide to color and then to hear their descriptions of the events they are hearing about in the scriptures. I feel like this toddle version of the scripture study journal would pair nicely with a more traditional scripture study journal for older children if the age of your children varies more.

Sharing the Gospel

Materials:

• Some sort of drink, snack, or treat

Opening Song: 

We'll Bring the World His Truth 

Opening Prayer: 

Gain Attention: Have a drink, snack or treat of some sort that you like, for example a plate of cookies. Walk around to each family member and tell them that these are some of your favorite cookies. Then offer them a cookie. If they say they want one you give it to them and if not you don't try to pressure them you just kindly accept they refusal.  

Instruction: Ask the children if they felt uncomfortable with you offering them a cookie. Ask if they think less of you because you offered them a cookie. Explain that sharing the gospel should not be any more complicated than offering someone a cookie. It would be silly if I went around the room and tried to hand feed each of you a cookie when you are completely capable of eating it on your own or worse yet tried to force it into someone's mouth. Just the same it is silly for us to think it is our responsibility to make sure someone accepts the gospel or try to force them into it. It is simply our responsibility to share and invite. As we do so some may not want what we are offering but we do not need to be discouraged anymore than if they had simply refused a cookie we have offered them. We can simply keep loving them. 

Share this quote from President Nelson's talk that he shared at the conclusion of the April 2018 general conference: 

I bless you to raise your voice in testimony, as I do now, that we are engaged in the work of Almighty God! Jesus is the Christ. This is His Church, which He directs through His anointed servants. I so testify, with my expression of love for each of you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Watch this video found on LDS.org about sharing the gospel. 

Discuss as a family ways that you can share the gospel and invite others to come unto Christ. Extend an challenge if you feel one is appropriate. 

Conclude with your testimony. 

Activity Ideas: 

Make cookies to share with some neighbors. 

Go for a bike ride as a family. 

Treat Idea: 

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

 

 

Preparing for the Feast

It is that time of year again when our thoughts should be turned to preparing for the feast. Not the physical feast that will happen at the end of November but the spiritual feast that will be at the beginning of October. General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint is one of my favorite times of the year and as a result I thought it would be appropriate to create a paper chain to countdown the days.

This idea started out as a simple paper chain that I could hang in the front room for the children to see and countdown the days until conference. My thought was that this would help them see that this is something that is important in our lives and something to be looked forward to. However, over the last few weeks it has evolved a bit and became a bit more significant.

Each link of the chain not only contains a quote from one or two of the talks given in the general sessions in April but it also contains a challenge related to that talk. My hope is that as we make a special effort to put what we learned last April into action we will be better prepared for the messages we will hear this coming October. I would like to invite each of you to join us in this journey as we count down the days until General Conference.

I created this free printable to hopefully make this a simple as possible for you to create and start. Today, September 12th, there are 24 days until General Conference. If you do not get the chain made up today, just include one or so less links once you do. Also, I will be doing this challenge in a digital format on my Instagram account @motheringamidangels so feel free to follow me there.

Click Here for Free PDF Download 

Coloring Outside the Lines

Preparation: Read Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk from April 2018 entitled Until Seventy Times Seven. 

Materials:

• Coloring Book Pages (Here is a great one of Nephi and here is one of Moses)
• Crayons or other coloring material

Opening Song: Choosethe Right

Opening Prayer:

Gain Attention:

Tell the children that today we are going to be working on staying in the lines as we color. If you have older children you can adjust this to be some other skill they could work on. Give each child a coloring page and tell them that you are going to show them how to do it. Start coloring the page explaining as you do so that this is the best way to do it. At some point you can allow them to hold the coloring instrument while you control their hand. Continue to do this until they have just plane had enough of you doing it for them. (You can also instruct the older children to be bossy teachers as well for the younger children.)

Instruction:

Discuss with your children how they liked coloring this way. Ask them how skilled they would become at coloring if you always did it for them or guided their hand.

Talk about Nephi’s experience trying to obtain the brass plates found in 1^st Nephi Chapters 3 and 4. Also discuss how Moses was faced with the task of getting all of the Israelites out of Egypt. After you discuss these two stories read this quote from Elder Robbins’ talk:

“Nephi’s unwavering faith helped him go from failure to failure until he finally obtained the brass plates. It took Moses 10 attempts before he finally found success in fleeing Egypt with the Israelites.”

“We may wonder—If both Nephi and Moses were on the Lord’s errand, why didn’t the Lord intervene and help them achieve success on their first try? Why did He allow them—and why does he allow us—to flounder and fail in our attempts to succeed?”

Discuss possible answers to this question. You may even want to direct children back to the feeling they felt as you did not allow them to color on their own so that they wouldn’t mess up. Following your discussion have each child read one of the reasons Elder Robbins listed in his talk. (We have each family member participate and simply whisper what to say into our children’s ears.):

•     First, the Lord know that “these things shall give [us] experience, and shall be for [our] good.
• 
  
•     Second, to allow us to “taste the bitter, that [we] may know to prize the good.
• 
  
•     Third, to prove that “the battle is the Lord’s” and it is only by His grace that we can accomplish His work and become like Him.
• 
  
•     Fourth, to help us develop and hone scores of Christlike attributes that cannot be refined except through opposition and “in the furnace of affliction.”  

Read Doctrine and Covenants 101:9 

Coming to this earth and expecting to never make a mistake is like expecting to play basketball without ever missing a basket or play the piano without ever playing the wrong note. Elder Robbins stated, 

“ Repentance is God’s ever-accessible gift that allows and enables us to go from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm. Repentance isn’t His backup plan in the even we might fail. Repentances is His plan, knowing that we will. This is the gospel of repentance, and as President Russell M. Nelson has observed, it will be ‘a lifetime curriculum.’”

Close by bearing your testimony of the lessons that are learned as we make mistakes and of the blessings of Christ’s Atonement.

Activities Idea:

Learn and new skill together.

Go to a local art museum.

Treat Idea:

No Bake Cookies from Live Well Bake Often

You are a Child of God

Preparation: Read Elder Brian K. Taylor's talks from April 2018 General conference entitled, Am Ia Child of God?

Materials:

• ·        Pretzels (Optional)
• ·        Picture of Christ in Gethsemane 
• ·        Picture of Joseph Smith Reading the Bible
• ·        Picture of the First Vision 
• ·        Pretzel Object Lesson Printable
• ·        Supplies to Make Pretzels

Opening Song:

 I am a Child of God 

Opening Prayer:

Gain Attention:

If you have pretzels, take a pretzel and show it to the children. Break it in half and ask children if it will still taste just as good as before. (If you do not have pretzels, just ask the children if a broken pretzel would still taste as good as a whole one.) Explain to the children that our Heavenly Father loves us no matter what. He loves us if we are whole or if we are broken and what he really wants is for us to return to live with Him because we are his children.

Instruction:

Relate Moses’ experience found in Moses Chapter One where the Lord refers to Moses as his son. Then read and discuss Moses 1: 12-13 as a family.

Next read this quote from Elder Taylor,

“Coming to know these truths with certainty helps us overcome trials, troubles, and afflictions of every kind. When asked, “How can we help those struggling with [a personal challenge]?” an Apostle of the Lord instructed, “Teach them their identity and their purpose.”

Read this quote from President Russell M. Nelson:

“Something powerful happens when a child of God seeks to know more about Him and His Beloved Son.”

Show the children the pictures of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. Have children tell you what they know about what is happening in the pictures.  Explain that both the Savior and Joseph Smith are great examples of seeking to know our Heavenly Father.

Read this quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

“With blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sough Him whom He had always sought—His Father. ‘Abba,” He cried, ‘Papa.’”

Read this quote from Elder Taylor:

“As we follow the examples of the Savior and the Prophet Joseph in earnestly seeking God, we will come to understand in a very real way that our Father know us by name, that we are His children.”

Conclude by bearing your testimony of the fact that each of us are children of God.

Activity:

Make homemade pretzels as a family and use the Pretzel Object Lesson printable to direct you as you each shape your own pretzels. (You may want to make the dough before Family Home Evening so that all you need to do is shape them together.)

Treat:

Homemade Pretzels! A good recipe can be found on Salt and Baker  

Click here to download printable 

Prepare to Meet God

Preparation:

 Read Elder Quentin L. Cooks Talk from the April 2018 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, Prepare to Meet God.

Materials:

Who Would You Invite                          How Would You Prepare 

Opening Song:

 I am a Child of God 

Opening Prayer:

Gain Attention:

Show the family the Who Would You Invite printout. Ask them if they could invite anyone to dinner tomorrow, who would they invite? Write the answers around the mystery head. Once they have each added a person or two to the page pull out the how would you prepare page and place it in front of everyone. Ask the family what preparations they would make for the visit and fill in their responses.

Instruction:

Read Alma 34:32 then explain that just as we would make preparations for a special visitor we should be spending our time here on earth preparing to meet our Heavenly Father again.

Ask your family, “How can we prepare to meet God?” Discuss your answers then read this quote from Elder Cook’s talk:

“Pursuing divinely appointed responsibilities in righteousness, unity, and equality will prepare us to meet God.”

Discuss one or all of these divinely appointed responsibilities with your family.

Righteousness:

This year in primary the theme is Choose the Right. Discuss with children what it means to choose the right.

Unity

Read Doctrine and Covenants 38:27 and then read and discuss this quote from Elder Cook:

“The unity we seek is to be unified with the Savior and His teachings.”

Equality:

Talk about how when we walk into the temple we are all dressed differently in our Sunday best but when then we all go and change into white clothes that look very similar and are all white. We all have different experiences in this life but we are equal in the Lords eyes.

To conclude read this quote from Elder Cook, share the challenge and close with your testimony:

Fulfilling divinely appointed responsibilities, based on righteousness, unity and equality before the Lord, brings personal happiness and peace in this world and prepares us for eternal life in the world to come. It prepares us to Meet God.

Challenge:

Have each family member think of something they can work on this week to prepare to meet God.

Activity Idea:

Spend some time learning and practicing etiquette rules as a family so you would be prepared if someone special ever came to dinner.

Treat Idea:

Orange Julius from Lil’ Luna 

How We Can Minister

Preparation: Read Bishop Gerald Causse’s talks from the April 2018 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Entitled, It Is All about People. 

Materials:

Basket full of items such as cans of food or bags of flour or you could simply use a large pile of books.

Markers

Paper

Opening Song: If the Savior Stood Beside Me 

Opening Prayer:

Gain Attention:

Place a basket full of cans of food in front of the family. Have each child come up and take turns trying to move the basket to a designated location. Allow them to struggle for a bit and ask if there is another way we can get the cans to the location. Then have each children take a can or a two at a time to the designated location.

Instruction:

Read this quote by President M. Russell Ballard,

“What is most important in our Church responsibilities is not the statistics that are reported or the meetings that are held but whether or not individual people—ministered to one at a time just as the Savior did—have been lifted and encouraged and ultimately changed.”

Explain that just as the children could not move the basket of cans all at once we cannot take care of those around us in our wards, neighborhood, and family all at once. We must take care of them one at a time as the Savior did.

Read this Quote by Bishop Causse you may even want to pause after each question he poses and have the family answer:

“Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like if the Savior Visited your ward or branch next Sunday? What would He do? Would He be worried to know if the visual aid were good enough or if the chairs were positioned properly in the classroom? Or would He find someone He could love, teach and bless? Perhaps He would seek out a new member or a friend to welcome, a sick brother or sister in need of comfort, or a wavering young person who needed to be lifted and encouraged.

What classes would Jesus visit? I wouldn’t be surprise if he visited the Primary children first. He would probably kneel down and speak to them eye to eye. He would express His love to them, tell them stories, congratulate them on their drawings, and testify of His Father in Heaven. His attitude would be simple, genuine, and without affection. Can we do likewise?”

Give each family member a piece of paper or you could even have them write on the outside of a can of food. Instruct them to write down the name of an individual they will minister to or an idea of a way they plan to minister one by one this week. You may also want to come up with a way you can minister one by one as a family this week.

Read this quote from Bishop Causse’s talk,

“I promise you that as you strive to be one the Lord’s agenda, nothing will become more important than finding those people you can help and bless. At church you will focus on teaching individuals and touching their hearts. Your concern will be to foster a spiritual experience rather than organize a perfect activity, to minister to your fellow members rather than check a box for the number of visits you have made. It will not be about you but about them whom we call our brothers and our sisters.

[The Church of Jesus Christ’s] strength and vitality come from the daily actions of millions of His disciples who strive each day to follow His supreme example by caring for others.”

Conclude with your Testimony

Activity Ideas:

• ·        Make a treat to share with another family and doorbell ditch it
• ·        Go for a bike ride
• ·        Make card to send to others to brighten their day

Treat Idea:

Make s’mores in the microwave.

Setting Goals

Preparation:

It may be beneficial to read Elder Oaks talk, Small and Simple Things, from the April 2018 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also read through the section of Preach My Gospel entitled, How Do I Use Time Wisely.

Materials:

You will need various pieces from different board and card games. 

Opening Song: Improve the Shining Moments 

Prayer:

Gain Attention:

This idea came from this clip about goal setting. 

Gather random pieces of four or more board games and or card games. Instruct the family to gather around the different pieces to play a game. Tell them that there are no rules and to simply begin playing. Allow them to play the game for a while then ask them to stop. Ask how each of them are feeling about the game, if it has a purpose, or if it has an ending. Then explain that much like a game without rules life does not have much purpose if we do not set goals.

Instruction:

Read this quote by President Ballard found in Preach My Gospel: 

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”

Also read this quote from Preach My Gospel:

“Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith.”

Quote from President Dallin H.Oaks:

“We are surrounded by media influences and cultural deteriorations that will carry us downstream in our values if we are not continually resisting. To move upstream toward our eternal goal, we must constantly keep paddling. It helps if we are part of a team that is paddling together, like a rowing crew in action. To extend that example even further, the cultural currents are so strong that if we ever stop paddling, we will be carried downstream toward a destination we do not seek but which becomes inevitable if we do not constantly try to move forward.”

Discuss this quote and decide on a goal that you would like to work towards as a family so you can be paddling together. If age appropriate you could also have your children each set a personal goal as well. Then go through these questions found in preach my gospel about your goals and adjust them as needed.

Questions:

·        Is the goal specific?

·        Is the goal realistic?

·        Will the goal make us stretch?

·        Are we committed to this goal?

Bear your testimony of goal setting and share your own personal experience with goal setting or have a family member share his or her own experience.

Activity Ideas:

·        Go Kayaking/Canoeing/Floating as a family and relate it back to the quote from President Oaks about needing to paddle together.

·         Make a treat together and talk about how the directions are like our goals that give us direction to meet our end goal, exaltation.

Treat Idea:

Scotcheroos from Six Sisters’ Stuff

When to Start

When my first child was born, I had so many ideas of things that would be important for me to do with him when he was born to ensure his success in life. As an elementary education major I had so many things that I had been taught were important; However, this quote from President Joseph Fielding Smith had the greatest impact in helping me decide what was most important. He stated, “Do you, my good brethren and sisters, want your families, your children; do you want to be sealed to your fathers and your mothers before you? … If so, then you must begin by teaching at the cradle-side. You are to teach by example as well as precept.”

It was at this time that I made the decision that I would begin to have personal scripture study and prayers with my son at his crib-side. It has since then become a part of our nightly routine with each of our young children. As they get older we will turn the responsibility over completely to them but while they are young we have chosen to do it with them.

In a talk given by Elder L. Tom Perry in 1983 he further emphasized the point of starting to teach our children early as he stated, “I read recently an article in a magazine designed especially for Latter-day Saints about a study that was made of the benefits of reading to children. It stated that when a mother or a father consistently reads to a child, the child enters school at a much higher level and excels in reading during these early grades. If there is a direct correlation between the early training a child receives from parents and the rapidity with which a child learns, how important would it be, then, for us to spend time reading the gospel of Jesus Christ to our children, to imbue and instill in them, in their tender and early years, faith in the gospel of our Lord and Savior?”

Here is a list of some of the methods we have used over the years for our children’s personal scripture study:

• ·        Watch a Bible Video from LDS.org 
• ·        Watch Scripture Stories videos found on LDS.org 
• ·        Read Scripture Stories found in the gospel library app
• ·        Picture Method 
• ·        Repeat after Me Method

The Repeat after Me Method is what we are using currently. We read a small section of the scripture and then have our children say it back to us, then we move on and read another small section and have them repeat. It is really simple and works well for us. Even our not quite two year has caught on to this method after watching her brother and sister. She will repeat back the words in her toddler gibberish and I must say it is one of the cutest things I have ever heard.

*Both of these quotes came from a conference talk given by Elder L. Tom Perry in April of 1983 entitled, Train Up a Child. You Can find this talk here. 

  

The Sacrament

Preparation: Read Elder Claudio D. Zivic’s talk from the April 2018 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entitled, He That Shall Endure unto the End, the Same Shall Be Saved.

Materials:

• ·      Gospel Art Picture of Christ Administering the Sacrament (Found in Gospel Art Book) 
• ·      Gospel Art Picture of Priests Blessing theSacrament 

Opening Song: The Sacrament 

Opening Prayer:

Gain Attention:

Place the picture of the Savior Administering the Sacrament and the picture of the priests blessing the sacrament on the floor in front of the children. Have them identify things that are the same about the pictures.

Instruction:

Ask children what things they would want to do today if they only had a few more days on earth. Listen to their answers and share some of your own. Talk about how we would choose to do those things that are most important to us before we die then explain that just before the Savior died he taught his apostles about the sacrament.

Read this quote from Elder Claudio D. Zivic’s talk:

“Attendance at sacrament meetings is one of the key ways we can evaluate our determination to serve Him, our spiritual fortitude, and the growth of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Partaking of the sacrament is the most important thing we do on the Sabbath day. The Lord explained this ordinance to His Apostles just before He died. He did the same on the American continent. He tells us that if we participate in this ordinance, it will be a testimony to the Father that we always remember Him, and He promises that, accordingly, we will have His Spirit to be with us.”

As a family think of ways you can make your sacrament experience more meaningful each week. Choose something you will work on as a family or individually this coming week to make sacrament meeting a specifically partaking of the sacrament more meaningful.

Activity Ideas:

• ·      Make homemade bread together to be used for the sacrament at church this coming Sunday.
• ·    Go to a local splash pad together.
• ·     Play a board game together.

Treat Idea:

Make root beer floats.