Last October I was challenged by our ward's Relief Society to read the Four Gospels from October to Christmas and then the Book of Mormon from Christmas to Easter. Yesterday I finished. Fitting so much time to read in my day (sometimes a lot more than others as I played catch-up) has been such a part of my life these last months that I feel I have to share what has become a part of me. What a great experience to walk with Jesus everyday as I spiritually prepared for Christmas. For the Book of Mormon we were given a brand new book and a newly sharpened pencil and encouraged to highlight everything that described the characteristics of God. The words I highlighted the most were:

Power
Power of his Word
Delivered
Directed
Preserved
Prepared
Supported
Strengthened
Led
Prospered
Redeemed
Resurrection
Mercy
Justice
Hear/Answer


Of course there were others, but these words were found countless times. You could find one of these words on almost every page. It amazed me how the book came to life to me in a very different way. I felt so enlightened as I began to see that this book is not only a history and a record full of amazing doctrine as well as a Testament of Jesus Christ, but is also a plea from our loving Father in Heaven for us to let Him into our individual lives. Story after story relates the Lord's hand- guiding, leading, supporting, prospering, and delivering. I am SO thankful that I was given this challenge! I am so grateful for my new understanding of God's will to be a part of my life.

Every time I finish the Book of Mormon I am so touched by the sacrifices made by countless people so that I can hold a copy in my hands. I know it the Word of God. I KNOW that there is GREAT POWER in its pages. I pray that I can be submissive and humble enough to ask the Father to let this power be a part of my every day life. I bare my testimony of its truthfulness, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sustaining Preisthood Bearers

Lesson-13

I tried this last fall and it worked so well I'm going to do it again. I asked the girls ahead of time to pick one of their favorite talks from conference and answer the following questions about the talk. Then I had them present what they had prepared for about 2-3 minutes. (It really ended up being just a minute for each girl, but I was proud of them for doing "church" homework- and following up on conference.) I think this ties in perfectly with this lesson.

What was the message of this talk?

What did you like about it?

How did it make you feel?

What changes are you making in your life because of it?

I think I'll also get one of those picture pages from one of the primary conference activity packets I found on Sugar Doodle with all the apostles on it and have the names blank and have them fill in the names as part of the questionnaire at the beginning of the lesson.

Growing and Maturing in Self-Reliance 1&2

Lesson- 11&12

We combined these lessons into one. One idea that would have been really fun that I didn't think about until the morning of, would be: Get a picture of each of the girls when they were a baby from their parents and hang them up in the room. Number them and have the girls write the numbers on their papers and guess who is who. After everyone shares who they really are, discuss how the girls have changed since then. What can they do for themselves now? How would it feel to back to being that dependent? Use the questions from the other introduction activities in the lesson.