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Week 3 COME FOLLOW ME: Doctrine and Covenants – TEACHING IDEAS & RESOURCES | D&C Section 2

Joseph Smith History 1 – 26

Questions to Ponder:

Each Come Follow Me Lesson asks important and reflective questions. When I first began my individual study… these questions threw me off. Simply because many of these questions required so much depth and individual reflection in order to answer honestly. My first approach to Come Follow Me was to get in, get out, get it done, check it off. These questions simply didn’t allow me to do so. In fact, I felt a little sick when I would read a question like, “How does the spirit speak to you?” and I wouldn’t know the answer right away. After a time, and pondering on that specific question I realized IT’S OKAY. In fact, I think these questions were meant to be set aside, thought about, and pondered. When we try and come up with the quick easy, obvious, answer, we are depriving ourselves of an opportunity to reflect, ponder, pray, and RECEIVE REVELATION. Is this not the whole reason for Come Follow Me? Are we not trying to finetune and recognize how we, and how to receive personal revelation.

So each week I will list out some of the questions issued in Come Follow Me. Maybe you pick to ponder about all of them, maybe you pick just one. Whatever you do, ponder on this for the ENTIRE week. Pray about it, discuss it with loved ones, then at the start of the new week, take the time to write down your impressions or thoughts, share them with your family, testify of powerful insights.

• Joseph would bring forth the Book of Mormon; what have we been asked to do with it?
• Joseph would receive priesthood keys to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers; how are we turning our hearts to our ancestors?
• Joseph was told of prophecies that would soon be fulfilled; what is our part in helping to fulfill them?
• When we take part in God’s work, we can expect to face opposition and even persecution, just as the Prophet did. But we can also have faith that the Lord will make us instruments in His hands, just as He did for Joseph.
• As you read Joseph Smith—History 1:27–33, consider that God has a work for you to do, as He did for Joseph Smith. Ponder this invitation from President Russell M. Nelson:
  • “Ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, how He feels about you and your mission here on earth. If you ask with real intent, over time the Spirit will whisper the life-changing truth to you. … I promise you that when you begin to catch even a glimpse of how your Heavenly Father sees you and what He is counting on you to do for Him, your life will never be the same!” (“Becoming True Millennials”
• 

  COME FOLLOW ME: DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS – TEACHING IDEAS & RESOURCES | D&C 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65

  You may sometimes feel the way Joseph did in verses 28–29. What can you learn from Joseph’s example about what to do when your actions are not consistent with the work God has called you to do?

• As you read Joseph Smith—History 1:34–65, consider what details in these verses might stand out to you if you had never heard of the Book of Mormon before. As a believer, why is this account important to your testimony of the Book of Mormon?
• Moroni quoted to Joseph several Old and New Testament prophecies, such as Isaiah 11; Acts 3:22–23; and Joel 2:28–32. Why might these prophecies have been important for Joseph to know?
  • Why are they important for you to know?
• What do words like “plant,” “hearts,” and “turn” in this section teach you about the mission of Elijah and the blessings of the priesthood keys he restored?
  • How have you felt your heart turn toward your ancestors?
  • Think of ways you can experience such feelings more often.
  • Perhaps you could ask a relative to share a story with you about one of your ancestors—even better, you could record it. Maybe you could identify a deceased ancestor who never received gospel ordinances and then perform that work in the temple.
• How did Joseph Smith feel about his mistakes?
  • • What did he do in response to those feelings?
    • What do we learn from him about what to do when we make mistakes?
• You could ask a family member to read aloud part or all of Moroni’s message from Joseph Smith—History 1:33–42 four times (because Moroni repeated this message four times). Between each reading, ask the other family members to share what they remember from his message, without looking at the scriptures.
  • Why might the Lord repeat important messages several times?
  • What are some other ways the Lord teaches us through repetition?
  • Identify the promises God made as part of His covenant with Abraham. How do we “plant” these promises in our hearts?
• To help family members turn their hearts to their fathers (or ancestors), you could invite them to learn about an ancestor and to share what they learn with the rest of the family.
  • Why does the Lord want us to learn about our family members and perform temple ordinances for them?
  • How are we blessed when we participate in family history and temple work? (see Dale G. Renlund, “Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 46–49).

Lesson:

This isn’t the first time this has happened. In fact, as I look back I can think of a handful of times where something similar has happened, in relation to preparing these posts or hoping they will come together.

You see, I’ve been praying, sometimes as a formal prayer, but mostly a plea from the depths of my heart, that Heavenly Father would help me to figure out how to make these weekly posts work. Because genuinely, I WANT to do them. They are good for my soul. However, putting these posts together takes a lot of sacrifice in the sense of time and dedicated thought, which as a mother with 3 young children, and a business on the side, time and dedicated thought are two of my most precious and rare resources.

I’m reminded of a time when I was listening to the Saint’s Radio program, “All Things Creative.” Again this was an instance where I just happened to turn on the radio, and it just happened to be an episode about LDS Bloggers. Which seems like a 1 in 1,000,000,000 types of chance when you consider the type of material that radio program puts out. The light streamed through my daughter’s window, and I knew that I needed to make THIS. On Lemon Lane. It had always been something I had wanted to do but was never ready to pull the trigger, but something spoke to my soul that there was room for this space and that I could create something helpful, and maybe even meaningful to others. This is my sacrifice, this is my widow’s mite, this is the sharing of my talents to build up the Kingdom of God.

If you remember, the Parable of the Missing Bath Bomb, click here to read the sweet story, I’m learning that if it’s important to you, It’s important to God, and if you are willing to put in the work, through His grace, we can be enabled.

and well, it happened again. Yesterday, I was working on Teaching on Lemon Lane into the early hours of the next day like I often do. I had a show about Vikings playing in the background… my ancestors…?? I got sidetracked thinking I should find out if any of the well-known vikings were in my family line, cue family search, cue rabbit hole, cue I think I indexed for the first time in my life and it was fast and easy! My heart swelled as I looked through the different famous relatives on my tree. (Check out how to find yours in LESS than 30 seconds using the Family Search Activity I’ve linked below!)

Fast forward to today. I start reading through this week’s Come Follow Me, a little anxious as I go in blind not sure what this week will be about, let alone what I will write about. Then, an almost smirk overtakes my face as I read Doctrine and Covenants 2.

1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of ^aElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and ^bdreadful day of the Lord.

2 And ^ahe shall plant in the hearts of the children the ^bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.

3 If it were not so, the whole ^aearth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

Elijah.

Family History.

Coincidence… or tender mercy.

The hand of God is in our lives. He is in mine. When I take the time to work. When I am willing to sacrifice. When I am intentional. He is there. He is in the details.

ALSO,

I’m so excited to share with you one of my absolute FAVORITE resources on the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Saints Channel, formerly Mormon Channel, put together a program called, “Perspectives.” Essentially it is a collection of episodes featuring different quotes, journal entries, quotes, and experiences related to the prophet Joseph Smith. I hope you take the time to listen to ALL of them WITH your family or your students, but today I will take the time to link two of my favorites. Perspectives on the Prophet Joseph Smith by Gordon B. Hinkley, and Emma Smith.

Next week I will share Elder Holland’s…

• Click Here to Listen to Gordon B. Hinkley’s Perspective on the Prophet
• Click Here to Listen to Emma Smith’s Perspective on the Prophet Joseph Smith

If you do this activity PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take pictures and tag me! Post to the Facebook group, or tag @livingonlemonlane on Instagram! If you appreciate these object lessons or resource ideas, don’t forget to pin these images to your Pinterest. This is a SMALL and SIMPLE way to support the efforts of Living on Lemon Lane and sharing these ideas with your friends and family.

To stay up to date, and show your support make sure to follow @livingonlemonlane on Instagram!

Make sure to tag a friend to help spread the word. 

Watch or Listen To:

With young children, I understand the STRUGGLE and the attention span you are dealing with. Below are some of my favorite videos or audio recordings|podcasts you can listen to and watch with your children.  Many of these are PERFECT for when everyone is strapped in the car seat. My 5-year-old now requests many of these over the radio. This allows us to listen, review and discuss together, and listen again throughout the week.  Many of the videos I share can be found on the Saint’s Radio Channel App. (Formerly Mormon Channel App, If you don’t already have this, DOWNLOAD NOW.)

Drawn In: Free Sample of Subscription Videos

The ONLY Paid Subscription I use for Come Follow Me

The Buried Treasure Video above is A FREE SAMPLE and example of the weekly videos you get in the membership!

I’ve recently teamed up with David Bowman artist, author and creator of the Drawn-In Video Subscription to bring a discount to all Living on Lemon Lane readers. This is the ONLY Paid Come Follow Me product that I have a subscription to, and it is worth every cent. Each week you get TWO engaging and fun videos (around 20 minutes long each!) as well as exclusive content and printables! Like his books, instead of just introducing the scripture story he explains a principle, then takes it a step further by exploring APPLICATION.  Click here to watch his Free Videos, If you’re interested make sure to use the promo code LEMONLANE10 at checkout to receive 10% off of the yearly membership!

• Click Here to Learn More, Use Code LEMONLANE10 for an exclusive discount off the yearly membership!Head to davidbowmanart.com to watch more FREE episodes and learn more about subscribing ($4.95 per month – gets you 2 episodes PER WEEK that go directly with Come Follow Me as well as supplemental PDF print outs)

SO EXCITED! Angie Mae Killian released a new Family History themed song, and like anything she does… It is inspired and beautiful. @angiemaek

Read:

• THE CUTEST illustrated story of the First Vision

Activity Suggestions:

Click Here to Download

Click Here to Download

Activity Suggestions From Come Follow Me:

• Possible Activities

  • Help the children say the name “Elijah” a few times. Ask them to listen for this name as you read Doctrine and Covenants 2:1. Explain that these are Moroni’s words to Joseph Smith, and they teach that Elijah would come to restore priesthood authority. Elijah later did appear to Joseph in the Kirtland Temple and gave the Prophet the power to seal families together.

  • Ask the children to tell you something they love about their families. Display a picture of a family next to a temple—your own family, if possible (or see Gospel Art Book, no. 120). Testify that Heavenly Father wants families to be together forever, and this is one reason He gave us temples.