5 Love Languages

Contributed by Marcy R.

I want to do something to explain the 5 love languages to my kids. They've already seen this Studio C Santa 5 love languages skit, so I think I'll use it as an opener. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pr42yeJGzc

I found this short message that I think is so important for my family this month: https://www.lds.org/…/ch…/2013/12/the-real-joy-of-christmas…

My two favorite quotes from the message:
President David O. McKay: “True happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it.”

President Thomas S. Monson: “May we give as the Savior gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift. We give as a remembrance of all the Savior has given. May we also give gifts that have eternal value, along with our gifts that eventually break or are forgotten. How much better the world would be if we all gave gifts of understanding and compassion, of service and friendship, of kindness and gentleness.”

I have some kids that love to give physical presents, but they aren't as good at showing love in the other ways. I've heard one in particular say, "I don't know why they don't want to play with me. I give them so many things." Yet this particular kid can be quite mean sometimes. I want to teach my kids that how we treat others is so much more important than what we wrap in a box for them once in a while.

"Which Way Do You Face?" Elder Lynn G. Robbins

Contributed by McKelle A.

Elder Lynn G. Robbins' talk "Which Way Do You Face?"

We all dressed up (sort of), and acted out the story of Daniel. Then I asked the kids when they thought Daniel was the bravest. Then I read the quote from Elder Robbins “While it certainly takes courage to face perils, the true badge of courage is overcoming the fear of men. For example, Daniel’s prayers helped him face lions, but what made him lionhearted was defying King Darius.” We talked about how true courage is standing up for what is right ALWAYS, even sometimes against our friends.

We then talked about times we might have to show this type of courage. (We talked about if a friend says "do 'such and such' or I won't be your friend" or if most kids are teasing somebody else). We didn't really get into apostasy questions like the talk discusses a bit, seeing as Zeke is 5 

Then I told the kids that Elder Robbins told us how we can get this kind of courage: Praying.

We finished by talking about how the Savior was the bravest person to ever live, and how we want to be brave like Daniel and like Jesus and always do what is right.

Loving Other and Living with difference OR Trifle not with sacred things

Contributed by Natalie T.

This can be used with two different talks.

Loving others and living with differences by Dallin H. Oaks

Trifle not with sacred things by Elder Larry S Kacher

Song: Kindness begins with me

Scripture: 3 nephi 11:28-30
John 15:12

Thought: "Being part of a family is a great blessing. Your family can provide you with companionship and happiness, help you learn correct principles in a living atmosphere, and help you prepare for eternal life. Strong families require effort. Your family will be blessed as you do your part to strengthen it. Be cheerful, helpful, and considerate of family members. Many problems in the home come from family members speaking and acting selfishly or unkindly. Seek to be a peacemaker rather than to tease, fight, and quarrel. Show love for your family members each day. (From For the strength of the youth)

Object lesson:
Need: sharpies and white dinner plates. ( I bought mine at the dollar store)

Have each person take a sharpie and write down anything they said that day or week that was unkind. My older children asked if anyone one would see it and I said no. . Or for younger ones, you can right unkind words or draw how they felt when they said something mean. Once everyone is finished writing down everything on their plate walk outside and have each person drop their plate. (It should break into many pieces). Then have them say they are sorry to the plate. Ask them if saying sorry made it all come back together. (Go back inside if cold :)).

Quote: "on this mortal journey we must never think that our choices affect only us" Elder Kacher

We then talked about how when we are unkind, especially with our words, we hurt others. Our words can be "sharp". Our words are powerful and our actions are powerful and we must do all we can to make them ones that will not hurt others.

I then brought out a China plate and asked who would want to write on this plate. (The older ones said no, the younger ones not realizing it's worth wanted too :))And I explained how precious it was to me and how I cherished it. And I explained that this is how we felt about our children and how our Heavenly Father feels about each of us. We are precious to him and need to be kind to one another.
Quote:"kindness is powerful, especially in a family setting. ". "As difficult as it is to live in the turmoil surrounding us, our Savior's command to love one another as he loves us is probably our greatest challenge. ". Elder Oaks

I then ended by repeating the song how "kindness begins with me". And we talked about how we each need to work on ourselves being kinder to others and also kind to ourselves. And if we each did that contention would decrease and there would be more love in the home.

Closing song: love one another

You can make this as short or as long as needed. With a big family we need things for everyone to do. We also talked a little about who makes us feel angry and how when we choose to be kind we are letting the savior when our hearts and not satan. 

• 

  Marcy R Very dramatic object lesson--the kids would love it. We've used the toothpaste example--if you squeeze out a tube of toothpaste can you then get it back in the tube? You can't un-say or undo things, so be careful how you treat others.

  7 hrs · Like · 1
• 

  Teresa J We did the tooth paste as well

  6 hrs · Like

Living the Gospel Joyful

Contributed by Marcy R.

President Uchtdorf

Loving the Gospel Joyful

Tonight I had the kids draw themselves at the bottom of a paper. Then I had them draw a big umbrella above the picture of themselves. Finally, I had them draw things they loved "raining" down from the top of the page (they drew money and foods and music notes and soccer balls).

We listened to President Uchtdorf's 1 or 2 paragraphs about the umbrella of fear, doubt and sin keeping us from the blessings that God is constantly raining down on us. The talk is "Living the Gospel Joyful" from the women's session and it has some nice visuals of the umbrella while he speaks.

After watching, we labeled the umbrella (fear, doubt and sin) and the "rain" (blessings from God) and talked about how obeying the commandments closes the umbrella so we get the blessings. We turned our papers over and drew the umbrella closed and labeled that obeying commandments.

We also talked about what spiritual gifts we desire or that the Lord might be raining down. And we thought about some ways we could personally close the umbrella.

Here is a PDF to use.

“Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority”

Contributed by McKelle A

Elder Richard G. Scott


Here is the PDF

FHE Lesson centered on Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk “Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority” from the Oct 2014 General Conference
“Despite all of the negative challenges we have in life, we must take time to actively exercise our faith. Such exercise invites the positive, faith-filled power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives. Our Father in Heaven has given us tools to help us come unto Christ and exercise faith in His Atonement. When these tools become fundamental habits, they provide the easiest way to find peace in the challenges of mortality. Today I chose to discuss four of these tools. As I speak, consider evaluating your personal use of each tool; then seek the guidance of the Lord to determine how you could make better use of each one of them.”

Because our family has young kids with short attention spans, we split this lesson into two, over two weeks, with two of the tools discussed on each weak. We made up clues to have them guess what each tool was.
W began the discussion asking our kids why we were sent to Earth. We talked about how part of the reason was so that we could learn through difficult experiences. Just like the times when riding a bike is hardest that is building our muscles, so it is with hard times in life. Then I told them that Elder Scott spoke in general conference about four things we needed to do in order to exercise our faith even when we have hard things.
Prayer:
Clues:
* When we do this, we are talking to someone
* We do this with our arms folded
* We often start this by saying “Dear Heavenly Father”
Blessings mentioned by Elder Scott:
o “Your heart will fill with peace.”
o “Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer.”
Important quote: “Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life”
-ask them what nonnegotiable means, and discuss what this means we need to be doing EVERY DAY.
Scripture Study
Clues:
* Elder Scott says that doing this is more important that school, work, tv, or even sleep!
* This involves reading.
* We do this every night as part of bedtime.
* We read the words of the prophets of old, like Nephi, or Moses.
Blessings mentioned by Elder Scott:
* Studying the scriptures will help “children to recognize, understand, and act on the promptings of the Spirit”
Come back to Elder Scott’s statement “Feasting on the word of more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!”
Weekly Family Home Evening
Clues:
* It is a lot of fun
* We do it together as a family
* We are doing it right now!
Blessings Elder Scott mentioned:
* A time to bear testimony in safe environment
* Learn teaching, planning and organizational skills
* Strengthen family bonds
* Develop family traditions
* Talk to each other
* Have a marvelous timetogether!
Quote “Do not let…anything else become more important than that time you spend together at home with your family.”
Temple Attendance
Clues:
* Mommy and Daddy sometimes go here on dates
* It is a place where we do service for other people
* It is a house of God
* It is where families get sealed together
Blessings
* Come to understand the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ


Summary quote: “When we are consistently praying morning and night, studying our scriptures daily, having weekly family home evening, and attending the temple regularly, we are actively responding to His invitation to “come unto Him.” The more we develop these habits, the more anxious is Satan to harm us but the less is his ability to do so.”

Change in Format

I have asked some amazing women to contribute to this blog. So the FHE formats will no longer be listed in weekly posts, but rather I will list all of the Talks and as we do a FHE for that talk we will post a link for the lesson.

The lesson will be accessible through our facebook group LDS Ensign Topics and PDF's in Google Docs.

Enjoy!

"Welcome to Conference" and "The Reason for Our Hope".

 "Welcome to Conference" and "The Reason for Our Hope".

This week will be a little different as I discovered we would need to cover 2 this week. We listened/read "Welcome to Conference" last night and we will be listening and having a lesson on "The Reason for Our Hope." tonight.



We read last night as a family

 "Welcome to Conference".

 One of the points of discussion was 

"As I mentioned in April, when all the previously announced temples are constructed and dedicated, we will have 170 operating temples throughout the world. Because we are concentrating our efforts on completing temples which were previously announced, we are not at the present time announcing any new temples. However, in the future, as we identify needs and locate properties, announcements of additional temples will be made."

We talked about how the church "lives within it's means" and that maybe the demand is high but funds are low. 

We also talked about how maybe in our lives we need to concentrate on completing things in our lives before we take on more so that we aren't spread too thin. 

You could use the following...

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/what-is-general-conference
General conference talks vary in length from about 5 to 20 minutes. Topics are not assigned; each speaker chooses his or her own subject matter. Talks usually cover basic gospel principles or address significant issues of the day, with speakers encouraging individuals and families in their efforts to follow Jesus Christ.

Preparing for Conference and the Benefits of it..

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/prepare-for?lang=eng

Strengthening Faith and Testimony

By Elder Robert D. Hales
Oh, how we need general conference! Through conferences our faith is fortified and our testimonies deepened.... (watch or read more)

Individual Impact of Conference

“If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.” –Jeffrey R. Holland (watch video & read more)

Why We Need Prophets Today?

By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Today is not different from ages past. The Lord does not love the people of our day any less than in past times. One of the glorious messages... (read more)

Tonight we will be reading and doing FHE on

 "The Reason for Our Hope"

Materials:

Dry Erase Board (or mirror)

WET Erase Marker (Dry will not work)

Spray Bottle

Rag

Picture of Christ

 

LESSON

Opening Song: Hymn 193: I Stand All Amazed (its a song from the Primary program this year, so it's also great practice!)

ATTENTION QUESTION: Have you ever done or said something that you wish you could undo or take back?

Pres. Packer said. "We may not live perfect lives, and there are penalties for our mistakes, but before we came to earth, we agreed to be subject to His laws and to accept the punishment for violating those laws."

Explain that we did know before we came to earth that we would make mistakes and that we would have to have punishments when we did.

QUESTION: What mistakes do we sometimes make? (write these on the board)

"It would be a difficult world to live in if we could never be forgiven for our mistakes, if we could never purify ourselves and move on."

QUESTION : How would you feel if we could never erase the mistakes that we made? (have one child try and erase the mistakes with the dry towel)

Tell the children:
"The Savior wrought the Atonement, which provides a way for us to become clean."

Show the bottle of water and the picture of Christ. Tell them that we cannot erase our mistake all on our own. We need the cleansing power of the atonement. 

Spray the water on the board, but don't erase yet. 

QUESTION:  Are our sins washed away now? How come? 

Tell the children that the Atonement makes it possible for our sins to be washed away, but we have to do our part to wash them away. We have to go through the repentance process. We have to"Repent and forsake sin" "Listen to and heed His words and the words of His chosen servants" THEN we "will find peace and understanding" we will be forgiven

Those who will repent and forsake sin will find that His merciful arm is outstretched still. Those who listen to and heed His words and the words of His chosen servants will find peace and understanding even in the midst of great heartache and sorrow. The result of His sacrifice is to free us from the effects of sin, that all may have guilt erased and feel hope.

"If we are not aware of what the Savior’s sacrifice can do for us, we may go through life carrying regrets that we have done something that was not right or offended someone. The guilt that accompanies mistakes can be washed away. If we seek to understand His Atonement, we will come to a deep reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ, His earthly ministry, and His divine mission as our Savior."

Bare your testimony about the Atonement. Tell them that they can gain a testimony as they try this in their lives. 

Closing song: Testimony

Conference Family Home Evenings

As a family we started last Conference reading one talk a week, trying to get through all of the talks (except Priesthood and Women's Sessions). We did pretty good, but were short about 6 talks. 

We purchased a Conference edition Ensign for each of our children and gave them a highlighter and a pen.

 Each Sunday we would listen to a talk and encourage them to underline in pen things they did not understand and Highlight things they really liked.

 After we listened to the talk we would discuss the questions and let them share the things they liked. Even our 5-year-old enjoyed highlighting things. He would sometimes surprise us with the things he "accidentally" highlights. We would always read something he "liked". With our 12-year-old Daughter, we sometimes would have to say "OK, only one per page this time"

I have loved the review of the principles within the talks. I have enjoyed hearing the questions and thoughts of my children and husband. 

The men and women who give these talks, pray and ponder and as President Monson said " They have sought heaven’s help concerning the messages which they will present, and they have felt inspiration regarding what will be said. All who have been asked to speak feel a great responsibility in doing so. " I know that they were inspired by God to prepare and share their specific topics. I have been pondering on how to further increase our knowledge, understanding and application of the principles within these talks. So I've have decided that the next 6 months, I will be basing our Family Home Evening off of the talks from the October 2014 LDS General Conference.

“Conference messages … are deserving of our careful review and study.”

—President Thomas S. Monson, “Until We Meet Again,” April 2014 general conference

My goal is to go through all 28 talks (not the priesthood and Women sessions) in 25 weeks. We will be listening and marking on Sunday, then discussing and applying on Monday. I hope to make the lessons fun and intersting. 

So if you'd like join with me in incorporating Conference into your weekly FHE's! 

I'd love to hear any thoughts you had or inspirations for conversation or lessons as you have prayerfully considered what your family needs!