Elder Anderson holds a really special place in my heart. I feel like everything he says resonates bold and true. If you don't remember the amazing and inspiring story of these missionaries pictured above, I highly recommend reading THIS!! I think this talk/wisdom/gift from God is absolutely crucial to understand and apply in Primary callings.
Monthly Theme: The Gospel will be Preached in All The World
Monthly Scripture: “This gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” D&C 133:37
Week 1 The scriptures teach that the gospel will be preached in all the world.
* HERE and HERE are some AMAZING videos put together from lds.org about the gospel in Africa and Asia!! But wait, there's more!! HERE are more videos of different members, in many different parts of the world, and some travels of the apostles!! Look through and see what you'd like to share with the kids! Aren't people around the world beautiful!! God loves ALL His children!!
* President Ezra Taft Benson has said, "You are needed in the service of the Lord today as never before. “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few.” (Luke 10:2.)" May 1984 Ensign Our Commission to Take the Gospel to All the World
What does harvest mean? How can we labor in the field? Why will the gospel be preached in all the world?
Have 10-12 questions about missionary work. Divide into groups and give each group a box of straws or toothpicks. After a person from the group answers a question, they have 20 seconds to pick up as many straws or toothpicks... with ONE hand (the other hand behind their back) and put it in a cup. Try to make sure everyone in the group gets a turn to answer a question and pick up straws!
Was it fun to see how many straws you could get?? D&C 18:15, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" We do our best to help as many people as we can, but like the scripture says, even if it's just one person who we help, our joy will be great!!!
* Studies have shown the more senses you involve in the learning process, the more concrete the lesson learned will be. Rarely do we get to use the sense of smell in teaching, but today's our lucky day!
Bring in different spices in a Ziploc bag. Now, when we smell, it's NOT a big sniff, just a little one!! We don't want spices in our nose!! You can have pictures of the place and it's flag on the board for the children to point to when they guess. You can also invite a super helper to very carefully walk around the room holding the bag of spice, so others can smell. ONLY that super helper gets to touch the bag!!!
Oregano - Greece
Onion Powder- Hungary
Chili Powder- Mexico
Curry Powder- India
Jerk Seasoning- Jamaica
Basil- Italy
Soy Sauce (careful!! don't spill!!)- China
Choose a primary friend who is sitting quietly, hands to themselves, feet still, eyes up front, and ready to learn! Is everyone in the world the same? Why do you think Heavenly Father created us all different? Do you think He loves all His children? Where are some places you have traveled? What are some delicious foods you enjoy??
Around the world, our brothers and our sisters enjoy different meals. We have some spices used in cooking and if you'd like to smell them and guess what country, then please raise your hand. I'll ask you a question about missionary work or have you read a scripture, because today we are learning, "The scriptures teach that the gospel will be preached in all the world." (And of course, have about 10-12 questions and scriptures prepared ahead of time about missionary work.)
Week 2 Missionary work blesses everyone.
* Beforehand, have some children do detective work!! They are going to search out and find all about how missionaries have blessed people in their family.
Bring in a brown trench coat, sunglasses, and a hat. Tell the primary friends that we have some detectives that did some digging this week and are going to share how missionary work blesses their family. Invite them to dress up if they like!
After a few children who dressed up have shared, hold up a small stone. What happens if we throw this in a pond? There are tiny ripples that spread through the whole pond!! It's the same with missionary work. Missionary work spreads and spreads and spreads!! It blesses everyone!!
Invite a primary friend to hide the stone. Invite another person to dress up as the detective and leave the room, then come back in once it's hidden. Have them find the stone. How have missionaries blessed your life? Ask the children and write down their thoughts on the chalkboard. Keep on playing and inviting new answers or experiences!!
* Invite a few adults to dress up and come in as special missionary guests- Alma the younger, Ammon, and Paul. ABISH was one too!! Have them speak about 3 minutes to tell their story and encourage others to serve missions. Open it up for any questions that they can answer in character!! Missionary work blessed a lot of ancient people and that blesses us today!!
* HERE is a story about how sharing The Friend with her grandma helped a little girl to be a missionary. The gospel is for both the young and the old!!!
Bring in enough activities from old Friend magazines to pass out to the primary children. Invite them to do the activity, ask an older child or teacher if they need help!! Give them plenty of time and then ask them to share how they could use the gospel knowledge from that Friend activity to help them be a missionary!!
Week 3 I can prepare now to serve a mission.
* “More of you young men and women will catch this wave as you strive to be worthy of mission calls. You see this as a wave of truth and righteousness. You see your opportunity to be on the crest of that wave.” President Russell M. Nelson, Catch the Wave, April 2013
Give each child a piece of paper with a surfboard outline. Invite them to design their own gospel surfboard! What are some principles they know are true? How can they prepare to serve a mission? They can draw pictures of that or write it down. Draw a visual on the chalkboard too. What is the crest of the wave??
Bring in a boogie board if you have one. Invite the primary children to come stand on it and share their work! If there is time see if you can do a human wave (where kids stand up and raise their hands above their head, then sit down and the friend next to them stands up and you go down to the other end of the room- the human wave that people do in stadiums). If that is too difficult have one person give the next person a high five and then that person gives a high five to the next person, etc.
* “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him.”—President Thomas S. Monson, “Welcome to Conference”
When is the time?? NOW!!! Bring in a basket of garden tools and a shade hat. What is the Lord's vineyard? Why do you think Jesus taught in parables?
Arrange the tools a certain way and invite a primary friend to step out. Take 2 tools away. Invite them to come back in and guess what's missing. We want to serve missions!! How can we prepare?? What do we need to not forget about being a missionary?? Have some questions prepared about preparing for missionary work to ask the children in between each round of the guessing game.
End with the question, when is the time as President Monson said for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, and to labor in the vineyard?? NOW!!!
* Bring in about 6 Preach My Gospels, you can ask other teachers to bring their copy in and get some from the library. Divide into groups, and put some younger children who can't read with older children.
Tell the children that this is a very special book that helps missionaries! Have them look through the pictures, have them read a paragraph each- just open the book wherever!!! Have them decide on something to share with the primary as a group about something from Preach My Gospel.
Invite the children to go home and for scripture study, a couple days this week, read from Preach My Gospel. If you still have time, turn to Chapter 6:How Do I Develop Christlike Attributes? Have the children tell you what the attributes are. List the attributes on the board and invite the children to draw a picture of something they can do to strengthen that quality in themselves!!!
Week 4 I can be a missionary now.
* HERE is a link to an article talking about how family home evening was a missionary tool for some people. Have the children prepare a family home evening, they can write a simple outline (older children can write for younger ones or they can just work together) and then challenge them to be a good missionary NOW and invite someone special to their family home evening!
* HERE is a great friend article about a girl who was a missionary on a bus. She told a man about the articles of faith, and he was so impressed he went home, looked up the church and was baptized.
Have numbers 1 through 13 on the ground. Invite 8 primary friends to come up front and walk AROUND the numbers (if they walk on, the paper will get ruined) while the primary pianist, who is quite possibly the world's most talented piano player!!!!! plays missionary songs. When she stops, the children stop. Can each primary friend fill in the blank, answer a question about that number, or even recite it??
For example, We believe in God the eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in who else?? The Holy Ghost!!
Article of Faith #8 talks about believing in the Bible and Book of Mormon as far as they.... what? What does translated correctly mean?
When we know are articles of faith it helps us to be a missionary now, because we know the doctrine!!!
* Invite primary children to act out some case studies having to do with being a missionary, not later... but now!!!
Case studies are just scenarios. You'll probably have time for 10-12 depending on the actors/actresses! You can even have some simple jackets or hats for them to put on if they like, and a couple props (having to do with the scenario) to use. Here are a few:
- Helen just moved to town with her 3 brothers. She is your new next door neighbor. She seems very shy. How can you help her and be a missionary now?
(One child acts as Helen, the other acts out what they would do to help!)
- Your teacher at school wants to show a PG-13 movie that you have heard has some bad language in it. You don't feel comfortable watching it, but she is your teacher and you really like her.
(One child plays the part of the teacher, the other acts out what they could do to be a missionary now!)
- At the grocery store, an old lady falls down and drops a bag of her food. There really aren't a lot of people in the store and no one seems to notice.
(One child plays the part of the fallen old lady, the other acts out what they would do to be a missionary now!)
Hopefully through these examples, we can see that missionaries share the gospel AND help! help! help!! They are examples of Christ like love to others. We may not have a badge yet, but we can have one written on our heart like Elder Anderson has said!!
2 comments :
For week 1 sharing time, I enjoyed involving my own children showing a picture of a cousin who recently opened her mission call and is currently in the MTC. We showed a pic of her getting it out of the mailbox. We explained how it felt like a long time waiting for everyone who wanted to watch to be on a big group skype call later that evening. We waited because it is special I elaborated. A teacher shared her experience opening her mission call. I transitioned from that to talk about how important a mission call is, from the Prophet and that you could go anywhere the Lord needs you. We then had my children who are in a Spanish program read the "Scripture of the week" D&C 133:37 in Spanish. We had read it already in English. Two brothers were invited to do it in another language. One in Dutch because he joined the church in the Nederlands because missionaries visited him there. He later went on his mission to Taiwan. Another brother read it in Thai and showed the scripture's complex alphabet and complicated tone related meanings with the kids. He explained how the spirit helped him with a personal anecdote. We then pinned mission locations on a map as directed in the outline. To conclude, I explained how much I loved that they were excited to go wherever the Lord needed them to go on their mission. I announced that they didn't have to wait. The Lord wanted them here in their school, in their class, on their street and in their extracurricular activity (examples) specifically. Their parents had considered carefully where to live and where you should go to school. The Lord DID call them already to be member missionaries where they were. I showed them a 9x13 manila envelope. I explained that I had a call (not the real one they would get from the prophet when they were older), but one from me personally to serve as a member missionary reporting Monday morning. They were told that this was something they needed to wait and open when they got home with their parents and read together how to be member missionaries.
It took only moments to customize and print each one. I did it at our family business so I'll admit I didn't worry about the expense of the manila envelopes which had been in a supply cabinet for years. It was a time crunch as I have 60 in my primary, but I recruited help in stuffing the envelopes in a pinch just by pulling my visiting teachers family out of the hall before church. So doable and I got a huge response from parents.
Do you have a copy of the call you gave them?
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