Last month I was in charge of teaching Young Women's. My topic was all about the restoration and The Book of Mormon. It was such a fun topic to teach. I love the new teaching program because it made it so much easier to have a discussion with the girls. It had 5 different lessons, but they didn’t have to be taught in a certain order or certain way, so I was able to combine a few of them and really hit the points where our girls needed it the most. We talked about the restoration of the gospel, the restoration of the priesthood, the Book of Mormon and the First Vision. I basically just read all the info, read a lot of scriptures and talks and then went to young women's. I had some stuff outlined or planned, but for the most part I wanted the girls and the spirit to steer the lesson and let me know where we needed to go! I loved how much these girls already knew and how after the first week they started to open up more and more and I made them push a little farther and start participating a little more. I love how much they love Joseph Smith and had a desire to learn more about this topic! The last week of April I focused mainly on the First Vision and specifically Joseph Smiths part in the Restoration of the gospel. I showed this clip from the Joseph Smith movie (if you have never watched the whole movie do it! Its AWESOME!) The part of the clip I showed starts at about 9:55 if you want to watch it here.
I wanted to show the clip, because I think it shows the First vision so much better than I could ever explain it,and it definitely set the tone in the room for the remainder of the lesson. I think out of all the topics and all the info my favorite thing the girls and I talked about was the personal characteristics of Joseph Smith.
I shared a part from a talk by Tad R. Callister where he says “Suppose for a moment someone told you these three facts about a New Testament personality and nothing more: first, the Savior said of this man, “O thou of little faith” (Matthew 14:31); second, this man, in a moment of anger, cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant; and third, this man denied knowing who the Savior was on three occasions, even though he had walked with Him daily." I then asked the girls after reading that what they thought of that man after hearing just those things.Of course many of them said he didn’t sound like a very good guy.After some discussion they all realized it was the apostle Peter. "If that is all you knew or focused upon, you might have thought this man a scoundrel or a no-good, but in the process you would have failed to come to know one of the greatest men who ever walked the earth: Peter the Apostle.” All the girls were so surprised to look at it in this light! It’s so easy to remember Peter for all the wonderful things he did and what an amazing man he was, as it should be, so I asked why is it so easy for people to look past his short comings and remember the good things? We then discussed how the worlds view on Joseph Smith is sometimes opposite. So many of them look at him for the few flaws or myths they know about him and remember him in a negative way. So few really have spent the time to know the man for who we really was. They focus on the bad instead of the overwhelming good. They both were prophets, they both received revelation and council from Jesus Christ, they both followed in his footsteps but Joseph Smith never denied Christ, not once.
My testimony for Joseph Smith is so overwhelmingly powerful! I feel so grateful to have been able to teach on this topic, because my love for this gospel and for Joseph Smith has only grown. I’m so grateful for his ability to be brave and step up and ask the question of which church is true! Without that action at only the age of 14, I would not have all the blessings of this true gospel in my life! I think about what I was doing at 14 and am even more amazed by the attributes this man possessed. I think about all that this one man restored and am in awe! He brought Christs church back to this earth, he restored the priesthood, he made it possible to have modern revelation, and brought us the Book of Mormon which is the word of God and one of the biggest blessings in my life.
Well my month of teaching had to come to an end, but I wanted to continue to encourage the girls to keep writing in their journals and bring them to church, so I made them all a church bag for their scriptures and journals. I had them all tell me their two favorite colors and this was the result.
I wanted to show the clip, because I think it shows the First vision so much better than I could ever explain it,and it definitely set the tone in the room for the remainder of the lesson. I think out of all the topics and all the info my favorite thing the girls and I talked about was the personal characteristics of Joseph Smith.
I shared a part from a talk by Tad R. Callister where he says “Suppose for a moment someone told you these three facts about a New Testament personality and nothing more: first, the Savior said of this man, “O thou of little faith” (Matthew 14:31); second, this man, in a moment of anger, cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant; and third, this man denied knowing who the Savior was on three occasions, even though he had walked with Him daily." I then asked the girls after reading that what they thought of that man after hearing just those things.Of course many of them said he didn’t sound like a very good guy.After some discussion they all realized it was the apostle Peter. "If that is all you knew or focused upon, you might have thought this man a scoundrel or a no-good, but in the process you would have failed to come to know one of the greatest men who ever walked the earth: Peter the Apostle.” All the girls were so surprised to look at it in this light! It’s so easy to remember Peter for all the wonderful things he did and what an amazing man he was, as it should be, so I asked why is it so easy for people to look past his short comings and remember the good things? We then discussed how the worlds view on Joseph Smith is sometimes opposite. So many of them look at him for the few flaws or myths they know about him and remember him in a negative way. So few really have spent the time to know the man for who we really was. They focus on the bad instead of the overwhelming good. They both were prophets, they both received revelation and council from Jesus Christ, they both followed in his footsteps but Joseph Smith never denied Christ, not once.
My testimony for Joseph Smith is so overwhelmingly powerful! I feel so grateful to have been able to teach on this topic, because my love for this gospel and for Joseph Smith has only grown. I’m so grateful for his ability to be brave and step up and ask the question of which church is true! Without that action at only the age of 14, I would not have all the blessings of this true gospel in my life! I think about what I was doing at 14 and am even more amazed by the attributes this man possessed. I think about all that this one man restored and am in awe! He brought Christs church back to this earth, he restored the priesthood, he made it possible to have modern revelation, and brought us the Book of Mormon which is the word of God and one of the biggest blessings in my life.
Well my month of teaching had to come to an end, but I wanted to continue to encourage the girls to keep writing in their journals and bring them to church, so I made them all a church bag for their scriptures and journals. I had them all tell me their two favorite colors and this was the result.
I think the girls really liked them and responded to my way of teaching! I hope they continue to reach a little farther and strive for more.
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