June 29- July 5
Alma 23-29 They "never did fall away"
Materials: play printed out (below), swords 1 per person (plastic sword, cardboard tube, paper sword, etc.), blanket, sheet of paper, pencils, scriptures
Opening Song: "Teach me to walk in the light" (Children's Songbook, 177)
Opening Prayer:
Scripture: Alma 24:15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us ahide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us bclean thereby.
Attention Activity:
Invite a family member to come up. Take their hand and demonstrate a pinky promise. What is this? When we promise something, what does that mean? Today we are going to be talking about a group a good people who made a promise to God.
Lesson:
Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah have been successful in converting many of the Lamanites including the kings. This made the other wicked Lamanites angry with them and want to destroy them. The Lamanites who have converted to the gospel decide to give themselves a different name to set themselves apart. Do you remember what the name is? (Alma 23:17) They called themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.
Activity: Using the passage below have your family act out Alma 24.
Cast: Ammon, Anti-Nephi-Lehi (ANL), Lamoni, a Lamanite, an Amulonite. Props: Swords (1 per person, a blanket)
In the land of Midian the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and the sons of Mosiah gather to hold a council to decide what they should do to defend against the angry Lamanites.
Ammon: Brothers! It is good to see you!
Lamoni: I wish it was under different circumstances. Let me first introduce my bother, Anti-Nephi-Lehi. My father appointed him to be the next king of his lands before he died.
ANL: It is good to see my fellow brethren in Christ. Unfortunately, the Amalekites,
Amulonites, and all others who do not believe in God now wish to destroy us. So, what shall we do?
Lamoni: I thank my God, for sending these Nephites (Point at Ammon) to teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am also thankful that we can repent of our many sins.
ANL: Yes! It was hard for us to repent though.
Lamoni: Yes, we had committed many sins and murders. But our swords (hold up sword) which were once stained with the blood of the Nephites are now clean and bright through our repentance. I don't think we should use our swords again; I don't want to shed anymore blood. Let us hide our swords away as a testimony to our God that we will shed no more blood since we have been made clean.
ANL: We should bury them deep in the earth!
Lamoni: Yes, let's bury our swords as a testimony! And if our brethren destroy us, we will go to God and be saved.
ANL, Lamoni, and the people of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies gather together each with a sword. They bury their swords and weapons in the earth [under a blanket].
Lamoni: We now covenant never to use weapons again for the shedding of man's blood. We will die before taking anymore lives. We will work and not be lazy.
The Lamanites come. They find the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehies kneeling on their knees without any weapons, praying. The Lamanites kill 1,005 of them without any resistance.
Lamanite: (confused) What is this? Why don't they fight? I can't do this anymore. Throws down sword. (sadly) What have I done? Oh Lord, I am so sorry for killing all these innocent people.
Amulonite: (angrily) What's going on now? Why are you saying sorry? This is all the Nephite's fault. Let's go with the Amalekites away from here.
The Amulonites and Amalekites leave.
Ammon: 1,005 of the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehies died today, but the Lord works in many ways to the salvation of His people. The Lamanites who killed these men have now repented and joined us and they number more than those who have been killed today.
End Scene
Show the picture from the manual "Anti-Nephi-Lehies buring their weapons" by Dan Burr. Why did the Anti-Nephi-Lehies bury their swords deep in the earth? Do you think they were blessed for making this choice? How? (Read Alma 24:26) Even though a lot of righteous Anti-Nephi-Lehies died, there were more Lamanites converted.
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies Burying Their Swords (62565), by Del Parson; GAK 311; Primary manual 3-54; Primary manual 4-33; Alma 24:17
What is one thing you are really good at? What's one thing you do that Heavenly Father would be proud of? Now, can you each think of an area where you could improve. What is one thing that you need to try harder to do?
Pass out a slip of paper and pencil to each person. Have everyone write down one thing they need to overcome or stop doing like a bad habit, etc. Do you have a bad habit or something you could overcome or abandon? Collect the papers and decide as a family a symbolic way to get rid of them (i.e. bury them in backyard, burn them, throw them in the dumpster, etc. )
We all can choose to let go of our personal demons--the things that hold us back. We can all choose to overcome or sins and bad habits. The people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi decided not to fight, even though it meant their certain doom. They said they would rather be killed than break their oath and shed more blood. What hardships are we willing to endure to overcome our own personal faults? The Lord blessed the people, not by protecting them, but by adding to their numbers. Heavenly Father always has a plan.
Closing Song: "If the Savior stood beside me" (Additional Songs for Children, Hymns app)
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment: Sugar cookie cheesecake bars recipe here
