May Sharing Time 2011

Week One

“We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.” [Articles of faith 1:6]

Needs and resources: A picture of an Old/New Testament temple cut into five piece puzzle, a picture of a modern day temple cut into a five piece puzzle, each of the two puzzles to have the one of the following written on the back of each piece; Prophets, Apostles, Bishop, Teachers, Patriarchs/Evangelist. Items for chosen blindfold activity, a picture of the restoration.

Display a completed puzzle of an Old/New Testament temple.

When Jesus lived on earth all the ordinances and principles of his church were taught and practised so that those who chose to learn of Him and follow Him would indeed be able to return to live with their Father in Heaven.

But after Jesus Christ died, the people became wicked and His gospel and priesthood were taken from the earth. Break the puzzle of the temple up into pieces and remove them.

Explain that this was called the Apostasy, and the people were in spiritual darkness - like having their eyes closed spiritually.

Have all the children close their eyes, and discuss what they can see, and how much they think they could do to perform a normal routine if they had to do so in darkness?

Select a child to come to the front of the room and do a 'normal' activity blind folded, like pouring a bowl of cereal or rice and lentils from a jug and put toothpaste on a toothbrush.

Explain that without light we cannot see what we are doing making it difficult to do what we need too, and when the gospel and the priesthood were removed people were left in spiritual darkness and unable to do the things that are necessary to return to the presence of Heavenly Father.

Have them close their eyes a second time and hold up a picture of the First Vision, and tell the children to open their eyes. Explaining that Jesus restored His church through Joseph Smith.

So when Joseph Smith prayed to Heavenly Father to know which church he should join, [have a child come forward and act out this prayer], Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared [again have children come forward to re-enact this and have them give the child who prayed a set of puzzle pieces], saying that eventually they gave Joseph all that would need to be restored.

Restored means to give back everything in it's completeness. Not just one piece or even giving back a part that might be slightly damaged. Everything is given back in perfect order.

Let us see what 'Joseph' was given. Have 'Joseph' do the puzzle.

Draw the children's attention to the fact that this picture of a temple is different to the last picture puzzle. Do the other puzzle and display both. Turn the puzzle pieces over to reveal that both are actually made up of the same things; apostles, prophet, bishop, teacher, patriarch/evangelist.

Point out that the restored Church has the same kinds of leaders as the church did when Jesus Christ was upon the earth.

Does anyone know what the name of the restored church is?

Bear testimony of our church's restoration and that it's ordinances have been restored in their fullness.

April Sharing Time 2011

Week One

“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel” [Articles of faith 1:3]

Needs and resources: Flannel board and characters, [unfortunately I don't have access to a scanner to digitalise illustrations I have drawn for this, however, I found these from previous Friend magazines. Hope that helps]. 'Chosen' letters and images to be backed-up, handout badges and “I lived in Heaven” keys and poster doors 1, 2, and 3, all to be mounted and cut with appropriate illustration behind door face. 

Lesson: I will firstly count the children and teachers attending off, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, . . . so that each is assigned a number 1, 2, or 3 Then I'll have those with the numbers one and two take a seat one side of the room and those with the number 3 go to the other side of the room.

My introduction for this Junior Sharing Time will start with a flannel board story. I will tell it, being sure to include the following points:

1. In our pre-mortal life you and I were spirit children and lived with our Heavenly parents.

2. Jesus was the first born spirit child of Heavenly Father so He is the older brother of our spirits.

3. Lucifer, who we know as Satan, was also a spirit child of Heavenly Father.

4. Heavenly Father called a meeting for all his spirit children. At this meeting he explained his plan for us to become like Him. He told us that he wanted us to go to earth to get a physical body, so that we could one day become like Him. He explained that on earth we would be tested to see if we would keep His commandments.

5. At this meeting Heavenly Father also explained that on earth we would all make mistakes and we would all die. Heavenly Father needed someone to be a Saviour, to suffer for our mistakes and sins, and to die for us so that we could be resurrected.

6. Lucifer wanted to save everyone by taking away their freedom to choose, which would have made it impossible for us to make mistakes or be righteous. Lucifer also wanted all the honour and glory to be his and not Heavenly Fathers.

7. Because He loved us, Jesus volunteered to be our Saviour. He wanted to follow Heavenly Father’s plan and give the glory to Heavenly Father.

8. Heavenly Father chose Jesus to be our Saviour. Lucifer was angry and rebelled against Heavenly Father.

9. Heavenly Father’s spirit children had to decide whether to follow Jesus or Lucifer.

10. One-third of Heavenly Father’s spirit children chose to follow Lucifer, and they were all cast out of heaven. Lucifer became Satan, and the spirits who followed him became evil spirits, who try to get us to do wrong things. These spirits who followed Satan did not receive physical bodies.

11. All the spirits who chose Heavenly Father’s plan and followed Jesus in the pre-mortal life have been or will be born on earth with physical bodies of flesh and blood.

Write on the board “Jesus Christ was _____________ to be our Saviour.” Have the letters c, h, o, s, e, and n scattered around the room [these letters will be backed to illustrations of Jesus Christ ministry as our Saviour]. Let the children discuss the picture and reveal the letter. Then unscramble the letters to complete the sentence. Invite a child to read Moses 4:2 to check their answer.

There were no “I'm not sure, or I don't knows” in the war in heaven. Everyone took a side wither with Christ or with Satan. Each of us had our agency there to choose. I will explain that the scriptures tell us that 1/3 of the host of Heaven chose to follow Satan, and 2/3 chose to follow Jesus, at this point I will have the children and teachers look across the room at each other and ask themselves if they think it was easy to battle against friends and family members.

I'll then ask them who did they think they chose in the pre-mortal life? How do they know that?

I'll then lead a small discussion about their memories as a baby. Can they remember the first time they had a bath? Can anyone remember the first time they ate mashed banana? Can anyone remember choosing Christ in our pre-mortal life? Explaining that just as we can't remember those things we did as a baby, doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Our pre-mortal life is like that too, just because we don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen. And it did happen. We know through prophets and scripture that those who chose to follow Jesus Christ in that life, were allowed to come to earth and gain a body.

I'll then animatedly ask: Who has got a body? Who lives on Earth? WOW! Look at you all. We all chose Jesus Christ to be our Saviour. As I make this exclamation I will place a badge on each child that says “I chose Jesus Christ.” And commend them for their wonderful, righteous choice.

I'll then present the class with an oversized set of keys, asking what they think the keys might be for, or too. I will explain that these keys are for these doors, drawing their attention to the poster door display. I will explain that each door has a question that needs to be unlocked, and that each key has a phrase on it, but only one is the correct phrase and key for a door. To work out which is correct I'll ask the class to listen with care to the words that they sing as I accompany “I Lived in Heaven” [CS, 4].

We'll then sing the first verse of the song to discover the answer. We will also discuss some other things we learnt from that verse by having a child select the correct key and match it to the right door. In doing so the door will be opened to reveal an illustration of the answer and other points brought out of the songs verse. This activity will be repeated with the other verses and questions.

I will conclude this activity with my testimony that Jesus Christ is indeed our Saviour and that we did truly live in Heaven with our Father before coming to earth. And that the way only sure way to return to Him is by making that same choice again, [drawing their attention back to their badges]. To choose to follow Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Week Two

“Jesus Christ is the perfect example for me."

Needs and resources: A take-home board game pack made up for each child consisting of colour dice, game board, tokens, character pieces and instructions. Classroom previously set up as a larger version of the board game - for this I am just placing large spot cards around the room as they appear on the board, and I have made larger tokens [Jesus, CTR and a wrong choice], to be backed to the same coloured card and just placed card side up in the middle of the room/board. Also a large fun sized coloured dot dice – again remember to match the colours you used on your 'floor board'.

Lesson: I will be following the Primary Outline for the opening of our Junior Sharing Time by singing "Do as I'm doing" (CS, 276) and ask the children to follow me as I do several simple actions, such as clapping hands, stretching arms above your head, or marching in place.

I'll then ask: “What were you doing?”

I'll then explain: That to do as someone else is doing is to follow their example.

I'll follow this up by asking the children to name some things they have learned by following someone's example (for example, how to make a bed or play a game).

I'll then draw their attention to the display on the board, "Jesus Christ is the perfect example for me." I will testify that Christ was the only person who has lived on the earth who has set a perfect example for us to follow.

Today, we are all going to get to practise following Jesus Christ's example by playing on the board game you can see on the floor.

To Play:

• The youngest player begins by standing on the start spot and rolling the colour spot dice.
• They then choose a colour spot card from the middle of the board that matches the spot colour shown on the dice.
• If the reverse of the spot card chosen shows a perfect example of our Saviour and the player can give an example by saying "Jesus is my perfect example because he.......", this player can then move their character to the next colour spot of that colour on the game board.
• If the underside of the card chosen shows a CTR shield, the player then has to apply an example of Jesus to a 'real-time' situation of their own. By saying “I can follow Jesus by doing.......” Likewise this player can then move their character to the next colour spot of that colour on the game board.
• If the underside of the card chosen shows a crying child, our representation of a wrong choice, the player says “Oh no, Jesus said love everyone” and they remain where they are.
• The colour spot card is then either discarded [if you made lots], or mixed back into the centre of the board.
• Play then moves to the next player.
• Play continues until a player reaches the 'finish' colour spot by rolling the correct colour of the finish spot and avoiding picking up the wrong choice tokens.

At the end of our time I will give each child a game board of their own to take home and encourage them to share the game and what they have learnt with their family. 

Week Three

“Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved."

Needs and resources: Labels for demonstration, food colouring and a dropper, two tall glasses with figures of a girl and boy drawn on, bleech, large jug of water - preferably glass too, an image of Christ in Gethsemane, hair brush, examples of wrong choices folded and placed inside a small container – I'm using a basket.

Lesson: I will show the children the two glasses and explain that each represents their body – the glass is the physical person. For our spirits to gain a body, our spirits had to leave Heavenly Father and come to live on earth. While I explain this I will pour water to fill the images on the glasses. The water represents our spirits, we lived with Heavenly Father, clean and pure. We came to earth and gain a body both, are clean and pure because they are free from sin.

But watch what happens when we choose to make a wrong choice and choose to sin.

I'll then have a child select a wrong choice from the basket, read it out, and then using a dropper have them add food colouring to their glass [boy glass for boys, girl glass for girls].

I'll point out how the food colouring spreads throughout the water and makes it no longer clean. I'll have someone read Alma 11:37 and explain that when we sin, our spirits become unclean, like this water.

At this point I'll draw their attention back to the large jug of water and ask what would happen if I were to pour this unclean water back into this jug? 

Would you like the drinking water in the jug to be unclean too?

Heavenly Father has said no unclean thing can enter Heaven. What are we going to do? We have made mistakes, and the wrong choices have made us unclean. How can we ever get back to our Father in Heaven if we are unclean?

At this point I'll take out a hair brush and ask one of our teachers to brush hair, with the stipulation that they cannot bend their elbows. This is quite a hilarious sight to see them trying to comb hair with straight arms. Then I'll give the same brush to a seated neighbour and again with only straight arms, have the child brush the teaches hair. It is possible for this to happen.

I will explain that there are things we cannot do for ourselves, another person must do it for us.

I'll then bring their attention to a picture of Christ in Gethsemane. And hand out their own picture handout of the same image, while explaining that we cannot cleanse our spirits of the sins and mistakes we make by ourselves, but Jesus Christ has done it for us. I will testify that one way the Atonement of Jesus Christ saves us is that it saves us from sin. I will explain that when we choose to repent, the Atonement cleanses us from sin and we are forgiven.

Then while explaining the steps of repentance [1. Recognise, 2. Repent, 3. Restitution, 4. Resolve], I will have a child add a few drops of liquid bleach for each step, then finally stirring to make the water in the glasses clean again.

Because of Jesus Christ's love for you and of His willingness to pay the price for our sins, when we choose to repent we can be cleansed, forgiven and able to return to our Heavenly Father.  

Week Four

“Jesus Christ was resurrected, I will be too."

As this week falls on Easter Sunday, I thought I'd try to make it something special for the children, something that would invite the spirit and given them an opportunity to feel of the importance and bring Christ into their Easter celebrations this season, seeing for a moment beyond the chocolate to it's true meaning and reality.

I have in advanced asked several adults and one young woman to come this particular week to our combined sharing time in character. And prepare themselves in such a way that they can share the story of their characters witness of Christ's death and resurrection, and testimony to the reality of his life's purpose.

I have been fortunate enough to have the following characters prepared to witness to the children:

Mary the mother of Jesus,

The apostle Peter (see John 20:2-10),

Mary from the tomb (see John 20:11-18),

The apostle Thomas (see John 20:24-29),

A young Nephite who was blessed as a child by Jesus. (see 3 Nephi 11:8-17).

At the end of this presentation I am considering preparing gingerbread biscuits in the shape of eggs each decorated with jelly beans and attaching the following poem:

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins we make.

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for His hour of sorrow.

Pink is for our new tomorrow.

An egg full of jelly beans, Colourful and Sweet

Is a prayer, a promise, A loved one's treat!!

March 2011 Sharing Time

Week One and Week Two

Prophets speak for Heavenly Father

 "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, ....whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." [Doc. & Cov. 1:38]

Apologies for the lengthy delay, things regarding my health have gone slower then I would have liked or even expected. But as week one and two of March are the same topic, maybe you can adapt this for your second week. Hope it helps.

Needs and Preparation: Costumes of the four selected prophets for a child to wear, the label and tin can phone [made with enough string length that the second participant can be out of the room], preferably a priesthood holder to 'man' the other end of the phone, four prophet images/graphics hidden prior to class, an image of Thomas S. Monson and Jesus Christ.

Lesson: I'll introduce this lesson by using the following idea...I'll “let my mobile phone ring. I'll answer it, saying to the children that I'm expecting a really important message. Then be really disappointed because it will be from my husband instead. After the call I'll explain, I'm disappointed because it wasn't a message from Heavenly Father. Then I'll check my email, but no new messages. Someone will rush in with a note for me, but it will be from my visiting teachers.” [Thank you to Karissa from this comments forum. My brain is at times like a thick fog as I'm still coming off meds and this was the kick start I needed.] I'll sigh and ask: “Do you know where I can look for direct messages from Heavenly Father?

I'll listen as the children come forward with ideas and guide the discussion, when the 'prophet' is suggested I'll dig a little deeper, just to see what their knowledge base is and  then enthusiastically draw their attention to the tin can phone.

This prop will be set up and labelled “For use by the prophet.” I'll then get really excited and ask the class if there is a prophet here today? I'll have them look around until they find the first graphic, [an image of the prophet with their name]. Whoever found this prophet graphic will then get a chance to dress as this prophet and try out the tin can phone.

I'll have the child representing the prophet speak into the phone saying something like “Hello, this is Noah here, what would you like me to say?” Then have them listen carefully so they can relay Heavenly Fathers message. I'll have my husband on the other end, and out in another room, feeding messages through based on Genesis 6:13-14, Genesis 7:5, 7-10. And at this point I am just going to say how he is always so awesome! He accepts any crazy assignment I ask of him, and then brings the WOW factor with him - THANK YOU! I love you Mwah!  When 'Noah' has finished relaying the message, we'll discuss how his message was received by the people who heard it originally, and what happened as a result.

Then we will start again, looking for our next prophet. I will lead the group through the above process so that we cover Moses (Exodus 14:8-9, 13-14, 21-22), Samuel the Laminite (Helaman 14:1-8, 16:1-3), and Joseph Smith (Doc. & Cov. 89).

At the conclusion of this activity I'll ask the children: If we cannot see Heavenly Father to talk to him, how do we know what Heavenly Father wants us to do?

I'll go on to explain that one of the ways Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ send messages to people on earth is by speaking to Their servants and then commanding those servants to speak to the people.

Today, when we hear this man, [show an image of Thomas S. Monson]

Ask: “Does anyone know who this is?”

Then I'll say, we must understand that his words are given to him by our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, [show a second image of Jesus Christ]. President Monson speaks the words God wants us to hear. 

At this point I'll lead and guide a short discussion by asking: "What happened to people who chose not to listen to the prophets words, or do what they asked?" And, "What happened to those people that did follow the prophet?"

I'll conclude this discussion with my testimony that President Monson does tell us the things God wants us to know and do, and that like the people from the scriptures, we can choose to follow or not. But I know that when we follow the prophets words we are doing what our Heavenly Father has asked us to do.

Resources: The instructions for the tin can phone are below, while the four prophet graphics are here, if you need a tin can label mine is here too. And I have found these links to images of Thomas S. Monson and Jesus Christ. 

To make a tin can phone you will need:

Two metal cans, clean and dry, [be sure that there are no sharp edges].

Ten to Twelve feet of a piece of small diameter string such as kite string or nylon string.

What you do:

1.Make a 'Tin Can Telephone' by punching a small hole in the bottom of each can. Each hole should be just large enough so that the string will go through.

2.From the outside, insert one end of the string into the hole in one can. Tie a couple of knots in the end of the string so that it will not slip back through when pulled tight. Do the same with the other end of the string using the other can.

3.With one person holding each can, stretch the string so that it is tight, [please remember this and factor it into your classroom set up]. And as you probably know, or remember, one person talking into one can sends vibrations through the tightened string to the other can. The person with their ear to the other can will be able to hear what was said. Have fun. 

Week Three

We are led by a living prophet.

Needs and Preparation: Two puppets to represent time era's from scripture, poster outline and multiples of specific crayons for colouring outline in, assignments made to teachers or those asked to present, a bean bag, and a second bag containing clues to each of the stories being presented a Friend magazine for each of the children.

Lesson: I'll introduce my scripture children, by name, one by one. Then have a small discussion with each paper puppet explaining the time that they lived, where they lived, and who the prophet was that they followed.

At the end of this discussion, one of the puppets will get my attention and whisper in my ear. I'll then let the following play out;

"Abish would like to know your names too." I'll encourage the children to introduce themselves, [and possibly even have our little shy puppet tell me things she likes about each, like she likes your shoes, or the colour of your hair etc..] She will then ask where the children live, and finally, who the prophet is that lives today?

I will conclude the children's discussion by explaining that just as these children were led by prophets in their life time. That today we are led by a living prophet, his name is President Thomas S. Monson.

Today we are going learn some of his teachings, and the things he has asked us to do by colouring a picture of President Monson. I will then present each child with an A4 outline poster of the prophet. Explaining that they are to listen carefully and see if they can match the labels on the prophets picture with the correct story. 

But before we start let us first select a clue. I am going to have a bag of clues, an object to represent each story. I will have a child pull one from the depths of the bag and we'll all have a look at it, and have a little talk about what it is, and what it could mean.

Between each presentation, I'll link it back to the selected object. Before then having another pulled from the bag.

As the story presentations are made [in whichever form those presenting choose], we will match it to the labelled area on the prophets picture and colour it in. The story presentations will be shared between myself and the other teachers that attend our sharing time. The teaching stories and matching area to colour, I have chosen to use, are as follows:

Hair: We'll carry you - Story clue: Large stone.

White shirt: A lesson in reverence - Story clue: Tissues.

Red tie: A prophets pledge - Story clue: Picture of a wagon.

Left side of suit jacket: A gift for Billy - Story clue: White envelop with pretend $4.75 inside.

Right side of suit jacket: Give thanks for everything - Story clue: An eye patch.

These are articles from the Friend written by our prophet. They will be told in our own words and as some contain examples of how other children are applying the principle taught [at the bottom of the article], I will fit them into the discussions with the children while they are busy colouring in their pictures, simply to help stimulate ideas for application.

At the close of these presentations, and in an effort to help get all the wriggles out, we'll play a few rounds of bean bag toss.

I'll ask the children to stand in a circle and name the person they will toss the bean bag too, then toss it to that child. The child who receives the bean bag then has to complete the statement “I will follow the living prophet by....” before then selecting the next person to toss the bean bag to. I'll try hand give them plenty of time so that they can think of and listen to as many ideas as possible.

I will then conclude the time with my testimony and with a challenge for them to pick one thing the prophet has asked us to do, and practise following that teaching throughout the coming week. I will also give each child a Friend magazine, showing them where to find the prophets message and encourage them to read and follow what he says.

Resources: The paper puppets, a scripture girl and a scripture boy and the President Monson colouring page with labels. An image of the prophets story bags I will do is coming as I just thought of them today, 17/03.