Lesson 6: D&C 10-11

 February 1-7
Doctrine and Covenants 10-11
"That you may come off conqueror"

Materials: video, whiteboard and marker, scriptures
Opening Song: "The Golden Plates" (Children's Songbook, 86b)
Opening Prayer:
Scripture: D&C 10:52

Attention Activity: 

Play a round of 20 questions with your family with the item being The Book of Mormon. 

Lesson: 

Joseph Smith started translating the Book of Mormon in 1828. He read from the gold plates using the Urim and Thummim to translate the writing in  Reformed Egyptian to English. As he said the words, Joseph would have a scribe write them down. Joseph used three different scribes while translating The Book of Mormon: Emma Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris. These three people did not get to see the plates while Joseph read them. They had to believe what Joseph said about the plates was true--they had to rely on faith. 

Martin Harris's wife did not have faith. She thought Joseph Smith was lying about the gold plates and her husband was wasting his time in helping him to translate. Martin asked if he could borrow the manuscript of what had been translated so far to show his wife what good work they were doing. 

Watch the video: "The work of God" from the churchofjesuschrist.org. Ask a family member to briefly recap what happened in the video. 

Activity: What can we learn?

On a whiteboard or piece of paper have a family member list things we can learn from Martin Harris and Joseph Smith's trial with the loss of the 116 pages of "The Book of Lehi." Some ideas are listed below.

• We need to accept the Lord's answers, even if we don't agree.
• We need to stand up for our faith and beliefs, especially with people we are closest to.
• We need to ask forgiveness when we do something contrary to the will of the Lord.
• God has a plan for everything--even the folly of man. 
• When the Lord inspires us to do something we cannot understand we do it anyway. 
• Satan can not interfere in God's plans.

How do each of these truths influence you and your family? Just like a young child should accept "no" as an answer after asking for a candy from her parent, we need to accept answers we don't like when the Lord gives them. We need to remember that He is in control and ultimately knows whats best for us and best for the kingdom of God. 

Satan tried to interfere with the translation of The Book of Mormon on more than one occasion. Mobs tried to hurt Joseph and steal the plates. The devil influenced the hearts of those close to Joseph like his father-in-law, Isaac Hale, who said, "I consider the whole of it a delusion" (Saints 1, "The Gift and Power of God"). Satan orchestrated the theft of the 116  pages in order to discredit Joseph Smith's translation. 

Even through all this tribulation, Heavenly Father's work in the restoration of the gospel pressed on the translation was completed. Read 1 9:5-6. Remind your family that the Lord had prepared for the loss of the manuscript 2,400 years previously by asking Nephi to include the small plates and again by instructing Mormon to include them in the compilation of the gold plates. 

Bear your testimony of The Book of Mormon. Remind your family that we can learn a lot of different lessons by learning about the struggles of the early saints like Martin Harris. 

Closing Song: "Sweet is the work" (Children's Songbook, 147)
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment: Easy homemade oatmeal cream pie recipe here