After viewing the most recent General Conference session last April, I felt impressed that I needed to review the messages that were shared with my children. What better time and place to do that then during Family Home Evening?
This week I am sharing the lessons that we have done in the last few months which were related to the April 2011 General Conference. In most cases I focused on one or two quotes from the talk, and then had a coloring page or activity for the children to do. The highlighted quote and activity page are displayed on our wall throughout the week as a reminder of the lesson. In addition, I make sure to show a picture of the General Authority whose words we are studying, so my children can connect a face with the words.
“There is a hymn about the Lord’s invitation to this work that I have sung since I was a little boy. In my childhood I paid more attention to the happy tune than to the power of the words. I pray that you will feel the lyrics in your hearts today. Let’s listen to the words again:
“The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls to all of us. Sometimes it may be a sudden feeling of sympathy for someone in need. A father may have felt it when he saw a child fall and scrape a knee. A mother may have felt it when she heard the frightened cry of her child in the night. A son or a daughter may have felt sympathy for someone who seemed sad or afraid at school.”
Henry B. Eyring, “Opportunities to Do Good”, April 2011 General Conference
Lesson Plan
Discuss what it means to “Do Good”. Sing the hymn “Have I done any good?” (Hymns, 223).
My children aren’t familiar with this hymn, so I created a few posters to help them with the words. The girls helped me with the coloring.
Watch the following video (Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing “Have I done any good?”)
Take turns letting each family member share something good they did recently to help another person. Challenge the family to find ways to “Do Good” everyday.
Watch this video (President Monson Mormon Messages)
Additional Notes
Elder Ballard’s talk tied in nicely with this theme. We didn’t make the connection during the lesson, but I shared the following quotes with my family later in the week.
“In all of our service, we need to be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The still, small voice will let us know who needs our help and what we can do to help them.
President Spencer W. Kimball said: “It is vital that we serve each other in the kingdom. … So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving … help with mundane tasks, but what glorious consequences can flow … from small but deliberate deeds!” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 82).
And President Thomas S. Monson has counseled:
“The needs of others are ever present, and each of us can do something to help someone.
“… Unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives” (“What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2009, 85).
M. Russell Ballard, “Finding Joy through Loving Service”, April 2011 General Conference