Search for Gold in the Scriptures

How can studying the scriptures help me learn about Heavenly Father?

Throughout the ages, prophets have revealed truths about the nature of God.  As we diligently study their testimonies in the scriptures, we can learn about Heavenly Father’s attributes and increase our faith and testimonies.  The better we understand the nature of our Heavenly Father, the better we understand our own divine potential as His spirit children. 

Questions I asked during this lesson:  

What happens to those who do not have or do not use the scriptures? 

Why are scriptures important in helping us understand God?

Read: Alma 37: 8-9, Mosiah 1:3-7

We watched the video-The Blessings of Scriptures.  Which talks about people that went to great lengths so we could all study and have the scriptures.  We then wrote on the board truths about God.  I had the class find a scripture and then write what it teaches us about God.  

The central purpose of all scriptures is to fill our souls with faith in God the Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ.  -Elder Christofferson

We are blessed with so many different kind of scriptures:  the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and even words of the prophets from General Conference.  I hope that we realize how lucky we are to have all of these. 

Studying the scriptures kind of reminds me of searching for gold.  You can’t just go to any old place and search for gold right.  Just like learning about the Godhead you have to search in the scriptures to learn more about them.  You have to have a purpose when you are searching for gold and you have to have a purpose when your studying the scriptures.

When we search the scriptures we find GOLDEN information about the Godhead.  How to find gold in the scriptures:  Prepare with prayer, Ask questions, Study the words, Search for testimonies, Be diligent and always keep learning.  Think of what others ways we can find gold in the scriptures.

I’m so grateful for the scriptures and for the blessings they are in my life.  They have helped me learn about Heavenly Father and have made it so I have a testimony of His love for me and the rest of His children.  I hope and pray that we can keep searching the scriptures for this golden information about Him and learn to become more like Him.

How cute are these little bags of gold?  I loved how it had an old fashioned feel with the drawstring bags.  I filled them with chocolate gold nuggets and wrote on the front GOLD with a Sharpie to get the look I wanted.  I also had a little printable cut out for them to take along with a little bag of gold.  You can find the free printable below.

Find the 'Search for GOLD in the scriptures!' printable-HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Book of Mormon Youth Sunday School Lesson

How can the Book of Mormon help me strengthen my faith 

in the Atonement of Jesus Christ?

This outline/handout is from so long ago that I can't even find it on the Church of Jesus Christ's website!  Whoops.  Hopefully this will still be helpful and honestly we always need the Book of Mormon and need to realize how it can bring us closer to Christ so I think this lesson is applicable any time!

The first thing I try to remember to do is write something relating to the lesson on the board.  Most of the time I write the lesson topic or main point of the lesson.  It's a great way to get the class thinking about the topic and keep their minds focused on the topic throughout the class.

We watched this Book of Mormon Intro Video.  I shared a story about others asking me about the Book of Mormon and asked them how they would react and what they would say to their friends if that happened to them.  If you're stumped luckily it says right on the cover- The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. The primary purpose of the Book of Mormon is to convince all people that Jesus is the Christ.  It is packed full of examples of faithful disciples who had faith in Him and received the blessings of His Atonement.

We also read the Introduction of the Book of Mormon as a class. And I asked them-Why would another testament of Jesus Christ be so important for our day?

“We need our own secure and settled faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we need help in strengthening our families so that this faith flows into the hearts of our children and grandchildren.  Faith in Jesus Christ, when solidly anchored in our souls, brings true conversion, and in its wake come repentance, honest discipleship, miracles, spiritual gifts, and enduring righteousness.  This is an important part of the divine mission of the Book of Mormon.”

Elder Andersen

I then asked them to find a scripture that testifies of Jesus Christ and His Atonement in the Book of Mormon then be ready to share it with the class.  We then discussed how the Book of Mormon strengthened their testimony of Jesus Christ.  I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon.  My testimony really started growing and thriving when I read it sincerely and learned more about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith.  

 I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, 

and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding 

by its precepts, than by any other book.

Joseph Smith

I loved this topic!  It's a great intro for the Book of Mormon.  Another super fun idea would be to challenge the class to read the Book of Mormon for a class party, or even to give out a reading schedule to help keep them on track.

I went the route of chocolate as I usually  like to do! :)  These adorable chocolate Book of Mormons look tricky but really they are a breeze to make once you get the hang of it.  Cut black cardstock paper a little bit larger than the white page (printable you'll find below) you'll glue on, add two Hershey's chocolate Nuggets side by side on the black cardstock with glue tape (this stuff makes the whole process go SO much faster.  Then use the glue tape to attach the cut white paper to the chocolate, they will fit perfectly on top, crease down the center a little with a credit card to leave an indent.  Use tacky glue to attach the ribbon, sometimes I would attach the ribbon to close to the middle top before I put on the chocolates so it would sit nicely when I could fold it over and glue it again on top of the pages.  Let dry!  It's a process for sure but I love the end result!  

If you'd like the free printable for the Book of Mormon page you can find it HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Commandments Lesson

How do the commandments help me learn to be more like Heavenly Father?

This lesson is from quite a while ago.  I haven't shared several
youth Sunday school lessons, relief society handouts and some young women handouts and even some recipes and parties.
I'm hoping to share more of them as time goes on!
But if you have something you'd like to see first let me know!

I started this lesson asking the youth to imagine that they are riding along a mountain road, near a steep cliff, with a guardrail along the side of the road.  As you are imagining this I want you to think about the following questions-How are the Lord's commandments like the guardrail?  How are they like the road or street signs?

We talked about why Heavenly Father has given us commandments:  to help us understand His will for us, commanded to love, we obey the commandments because we love Him, to receive celestial glory, warnings, guidance, help, strength.

We read:
D&C 82:8-10
Matthew 22:34-40
Section from Forget Me Not talk from Dieter F. Uchtdorf

In the Forget Me Not talk Elder Uchtdorf talks about how "understanding the 'what' and the 'how' of the gospel is necessary, the eternal fire and majesty of the gospel springs from the 'why'."  I encouraged the youth to look deeper and notice the beauty that surrounds us, look more closely at the "why"s, when we realize why we are doing what we are doing it becomes sweeter and more meaningful to us.  I also asked them to think about-Why they come to church?  Why do they follow the commandments? etc.

We also talked about street signs and their different meanings.

We made a list of attributes of God.  We then talked about how specific commandments can help us develop those attributes and become more like our Heavenly Father.

Other questions I asked are:  Hoe does this affect the way they think about God's commandments?  How might it affect their attitudes toward obedience to the commandments?  How might it affect the choices they make?

When we focus on the WHY of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we realize commandments are like specialized instructions almost like a road map of life from our Heavenly Father.  Even if life gets ROCKY, if we stay on the ROAD of obedience we will return to our Father in heaven.

For the handout I wanted to give mini Rocky Road candy bars.  A full Rocky Road candy bar is always an option too, I just love the mini ones for handouts.  It happened to be fast Sunday when I gave this lesson so I didn't actually give a treat, I just ended up giving the tag and the youth was able to take one if they wanted.

Find the Free Printable for the 'Rocky Road Commandment' tag-HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Put Your Heart into the Sacrament

How can I make the sacrament more meaningful to me?

This lesson was one of my favorites to prepare for because it has such a universal and important message.  Everyone could use to make the sacrament more meaningful in their lives.

I started the lesson with asking the class about a time when someone did something especially for them.  Whether it was a present they gave or an act of service.  I asked them how it made them feel.  The Savior completed the Atonement for each of us individually.  When we partake of the sacrament we remember Him and renew the covenants we made with Him at baptism. 

Elder Runlund said, "Whatever our current direction or distance to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can choose to turn toward Them and draw closer to Them.  They will help us.  As the Savior told the Nephites following His Resurrection:  "And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, ... And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me."  To draw closer to the Savior, we must increase our faith in Him, make and keep covenants, and have the Holy Ghost with us.  We must also act in faith, responding to the spiritual  direction we receive.  All of these elements come together in the sacrament.  Indeed, the best way I know of to draw closer to God is to prepare conscientiously and partake worthily of the sacrament each week."

I also shared a story from Elder Runlund that went right along with making the sacrament more meaningful in our own lives.

We discussed what we could do to make the sacrament a more sacred experience and specific ways on how we could make it more meaningful.  One of the ways we talked about is reading hymns during sacrament specifically the sacrament hymns.  I had each person in the class share their favorite sacrament hymn and we read a few out loud.  Even though it is a little strange at first to read them and not sing it, I feel like reading the hymns silently or out loud help you grasp the words even more.

We then talked about what we can do to prepare for sacrament.  We read 3 Nephi 9:20 and D&C 59:8-12, and remembered that when we take the sacrament we are remembering and renewing the covenants we made at baptism.  We also watched a video "Upon My Holy Day-Getting Closer to God" (you can find it at that link, it's the second video listed).  

To help get this point across I was going to give each a chocolate heart so they would remember to 'Put their HEART into the sacrament!'  If you didn't want to do the chocolate heart you could also do mini heart mazes-I love this idea because you could give it on Fast Sunday or it's a great break from a sugary treat.

Find the free printable of "Put your HEART into the sacrament!" HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Lollipops and Family

What opportunities are there for learning and teaching in the home?

A couple Sundays ago I taught a lesson to our youth Sunday School class to go along with the August theme of Marriage and Family.  

I started the lesson with writing "How to be a good friend:" on the board.  I asked the class what they think makes a good friend, qualities or characteristics of their closest friends.  After having the board full of ideas I crossed out the word friend and wrote brother or sister.  Which was met with a lot of groans from the class. haha!

I talked about how important family is and how my siblings are my closest friends and I'm pretty sure they always will be.  We talked about memories that they had of their siblings (which weren't always good) and we talked about how they could learn and teach in those instances.  We also talked about how they could change the negative experiences so they could act differently or learn from them.

The role of the family in God's plan is "to bring us happiness, to help us learn correct principles in a loving atmosphere, and to prepare us for eternal life."  I asked the youth if they feel this way at home and if they help make home life sweet.  

We then talked about how it would be if they were parents and had children to take care of.  What would be their responsibilities toward their children?  We then read Mosiah 4:14-15.  I then asked if they respect their parents and help them fulfill those responsibilities.

We watched the video "A Heaven-Inspired Program", and talked about the importance of learning the gospel with our families through family scripture study, prayer and family home evening.  

L. Tom Perry said, "Family is the center of life."  Do we treat our family like they are the most important thing?

I asked the youth if they had ever seen the process of a lollipop being made.  I showed them THIS video, and told them that our family is kind of like that.  We each come from the same batch but are individual people.  Sometimes we go through hard times and are pulled and stretched and it can get heated, but at the end of the day we are put together and never separated.  We need to value the different colors and flavors that our siblings and parents bring to the mix of each family.

I challenged the youth to think about a family member that they can serve some way this week.  It didn't have to be a big thing, something little would be perfect.  

For the handout I gave everyone a small lollipop to remind them that they can make life at home sweet by being a good family member!  You can find the lollipops HERE!

If you'd like the free printable of "Family is the center of life." you can find it HERE!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway I have going on this week.  It's a movie night giveaway full of movie, candy and a popcorn machine!  Enter HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own. 

"Mint" to Make Covenants

How can I deepen my understanding of covenants?

One of the lessons I taught in July was about how we could deepen our understanding of covenants.  This lesson had loads of questions and class participation.

President Nelson said, "When we realize that we are children of the covenant, we know who we are and what God expects of us.  His law is written in our hearts.  He is our God and we are His people.  Committed children of the covenant remain steadfast, even in the midst of adversity.  When that doctrine is deeply implanted in our hearts, even the sting of death is soothed and our spiritual stamina is strengthened."

Some of the questions I asked throughout the class:

What is an example of someone making, keeping and breaking a covenant?

What is a covenant?  Why do we make them? 

What are some blessings we receive when we keep them?

Does making a covenant effect the way you act?

What can help us make and keep covenants?

President Nelson said, "The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper.  The rewards for a covenant keeper will be realized both here and hereafter.  Scripture declares that "ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, ...and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven...and dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness."

We also did a little exercise.  I started with asking the class what they knew about a specific covenant (baptism, sacrament, or eternal marriage).  Then I told them to search the scriptures, True to the Faith and Preach My Gospel to find something they didn't know about that covenant.  It was such a great experience to show the youth that they can find so much information when they need/want to.

We also read Mosiah 18: 8-10 and discussed what we promise and what the Lord promises us if we do those things.  

I paired these printable with a big York candy bar.  The ones I found were on sale at Smith's, but you could even give the mini version, mint brownies, Andes mints, or mint gum.  There are so many options with mint!

I know that we were 'MINT' to make covenants and I hope we realize how important they really are in our lives.  

If you'd like the FREE printable of "We were 'MINT' to make covenants." you can find it HERE!

Be a SMART cookie while learning the gospel.

What is the role of agency in learning the gospel?

Back in February I taught a lesson on how we can use our agency to learn the gospel in the youth Sunday school class I teach.  I thought this was the perfect time for our 14 year old class to hear this message, but really it's such a good reminder for everyone-no matter your age!

Some scriptures we read:  2 Nephi 2:26, Joseph Smith History 1:10-18, James 1:22, D&C 88:118, and D&C 58:26-28.  We talked about how Heavenly Father created us as agents who act, not as objects that are acted upon-which also includes learning the gospel.  We get to choose if we are going to make it a priority to learn the gospel for ourselves. 

We talked about how we could learn from Joseph Smith's example and what he did to learn the gospel.  I loved this quote from Elder Bednar, "As learners, you and I are to act and be doers of the word and not simply hearers who are only acted upon.  Are you and I agents who act and seek learning by faith, or are we waiting to be taught and acted upon?  Are the children, youth, and adults we serve acting and seeking to learn by faith, or are they waiting to be taught and acted upon?  Are you and I encouraging and helping those we serve to seek learning by faith?  We are all to be anxiously engaged in asking, seeking and knocking."

We talked about how we can be doers and not just hearers only.  And how we could apply those principles to guide our learning from sharing our testimony to reading our scriptures.  

We get to choose if we read our scriptures and pray every night or if we participate in church.  We talked about what blessings we will receive once we actively seek to learn the gospel.  Elder Bednar said, "In our personal lives, in our families, and in the Church, we can and will receive the blessings of spiritual strength, direction, and protection as we seek by faith to obtain and apply spiritual knowledge."

To go along with this lesson I wanted the class to realize they can be a 'smart cookie' while learning the gospel.  To go along with the cookie theme we made a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies.  If you don't have Wendy Paul's 101 Gourmet Cookies for Everyone Cookbook you totally need it in your life!  Her Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies are our absolute favorite!

We let the cookies cool and package them up in our favorite little bags to add a pop of color, and attached the tag you can print below.

If you'd like the free printable for the 'Hey Smart Cookie!' Tag you can find it HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

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Power of the Priesthood Youth Sunday School Lesson

How can you honor the power of the priesthood?

This lesson is a mix of a few different topics from the June theme of Priesthood and Priesthood Keys.  I was trying to incorporate the topic 'How do women and priesthood holders work together to build the kingdom of God?' and questions that the youth had for us about honoring the priesthood.  

I taught this lesson last Sunday on Father's Day (Can you believe I'm actually getting up a post the same week I gave it?).  With it being Father's Day I wanted to highlight the influence of fathers and how much our parents and father figures or mother figures do for us.  We started by watching the video Earthly Father, Heavenly Father.  I love writing thank you notes so then we wrote thank you notes to our dads or moms, or anyone that has been an example like that to us.  We talked about the importance of honoring our parents and then moved into honoring the priesthood.

I loved THIS talk by Linda K. Burton.  It's such a great talk about how priesthood power blesses everyone!  Perfect talk for this lesson.

One of the things she mentioned was to think what life would be like without having the priesthood here on earth?  Can you even imagine!?  There would be no temples, eternal covenants, no prophets, no light-hope, only darkness.

We also talked about how the priesthood is always used to serve, to bless and strengthen others.  As David A. Bednar has said, "Nothing about the priesthood is self-centered."

Just like a superhero!  

These were so fun to give to the class.  I think even younger kids would have loved them too! 

All you need is paper and a bag of Tootsie Pops!

I just found a cape cut out online and glued my printable to it.  If you didn't want to cut out the cute little masks, you could totally have them just with the cape and it would be a lot easier!  You can print the masks on the same color card stock you use for the capes.  I also used mini glue dots but if I were to do this again I would use superglue to attach the masks.

I hope we are all realizing how important the priesthood is, 

it really does bless all of us no matter our circumstance.  

If you'd like the FREE 'Power of the Priesthood' printable you can find it HERE!

This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

Prophets and Apostles are like Life Preservers Youth Sunday School Lesson and Handout Idea

What can I learn from living prophets and apostles?

This lesson outline and handout idea is from the May topic of Prophets and Revelation.  Even though this is a shorter lesson outline it is always nice to have a variety of time lengths to help promote comments and you can always add more to what you feel the class needs to hear.  

I love to start the discussion with a question.  I started with asking why we have prophets.  Then followed up with watching THIS video.  Then we followed up with why we need LIVING prophets and apostles.  And then watched THIS video.

We then read Mosiah 8:16-18.

Elder Ulisses Soares said, "Isn't it a blessing to have prophets, seers, and revelatory on earth in these days in which we live, who seek to know the will of the Lord and follow it?  It is comforting to know that we are not alone in the world despite challenges we face in life.  Having prophets is a sign of God's love for His children.  They make known the promises and the true nature of God and of Jesus Christ to Their people."

We also read Prophets in True to the Fatih, and looked for roles of prophets (ex: testify of Jesus Christ, teach the Gospel, provide guidance-peace-strength-understanding).  As a class we made a list on the board of challenges the youth face today.  I wanted each of them to select one challenge and search the most recent General Conference talks to find counsel that could help overcome that challenge.

I wanted the youth to know that living prophets and apostles are like life preservers.  When we listen and follow their counsel we will be able to receive strength, peace, understanding and guidance.  You can always trust the living prophets.  Your greatest safety lies in strictly following the word of the Lord given through His prophets, particularly the current President of the Church.

If we are in troubled waters and trying to make it through this life we can turn to the prophets and the apostles for help and like a life preserver they will help us and preserve our life so we can live up to our greatest potential.

I paired this cute tag with some mini powdered donuts that look
just like little life preservers if you ask me.  

If you'd like the FREE printable of the tag- 'Living Prophets and Apostles are like Life Preservers' you can find it HERE!

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.

The 'ROLL' of Joseph Smith Youth Sunday School Lesson

What does Joseph Smiths example teach me about learning the gospel?

This lesson is from April and the main theme for the month was The Apostasy and the Restoration.

I love teaching the youth in Sunday School, and I love making handouts that help me better grasp the lesson-and hopefully they get to grasp it better too!  I am such a visual person so these things help me SO much.  

I started the lesson with a few questions.  

-How do you learn the gospel?

-What do you know about Joseph Smith?

-How did he learn the gospel?  

This helped give them an idea to what we were going to talk about for the rest of the lesson.  I wanted them to keep in mind the title for this lesson-throughout the lesson.  

Elder Jairo Mazzagardi, "If you who hear me have any questions in your heart, do not give up!  I invite you to follow the example of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he read in James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally."  He cares about His children.  He answers our prayers."

We watched the video suggested in the outline HERE.  

Then read the hymn Joseph Smith's First Prayer.

We also talked about Joesph Smiths attitude.  He was open to finding the truth and ready to receive inspiration.  We likened that to other principles and attributes that help us learn the gospel such as humility, pondering, likening the scriptures to ourselves, asking inspired questions, etc.

Elder Christensen said, " Similar to Nephi, the Prophet Joseph Smith was also "exceedingly young"  when his " mind was called up to serious reflection" about spiritual truths.  For Joseph, it was a time of "great uneasiness," being surrounded by conflicting and confusing messages about religion.  He wanted to know which church was right.  Inspired by these words in the Bible, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,"  he acted for himself to find an answer.  On a beautiful morning in the spring of 1820, he entered a grove of trees and neat in prayer.  Because of his faith and because God had a special work for him to do, Joseph received a glorious vision of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and learned for himself what he was to do.  Do you see in Joseph's experience a patter you could apply in gaining or strengthening your own testimony?  Joseph allowed the scriptures to penetrate his heart.  He pondered them deeply and applied them to his own situation.  He then acted on what he had learned.  The result was the glorious First Vision--and everything that came after it.  This Church quite literally was founded on the principle that anyone--including a 14-year-old farm boy--can "ask of God" and receive an answer to his prayer."

We then discussed what questions they have about the gospel and how they can follow the example of Joseph Smith and learn about the gospel and figure out those answers.  

How sweet are these tags?!  I'm all for sweet treats and cinnamon rolls are at the top of my list.  It was SO easy to grab a carton of these mini cinnamon rolls at Costco, but I found similar at Walmart too.  I've been taking the relaxed method as of late and I'll just bring the container to church and I don't even worry about individually packaging them for each student.  It's so nice as saves so much time! 

You can find the free 'Ask of God' printable tags HERE!