Lesson 26: D&C 67-70

 June 21-27
Doctrine and Covenants 67-70
"Worth... the riches of the whole earth"

Materials: coloring pages printed, house pictures printed, scripture verses printed a pasted to house pictures, coloring utensils
Opening Song: "Isreal, Isreal, God is calling" (Hymns, 7)
Opening Prayer:

Attention Activity: Below are links to several coloring pages that go with today's lesson. Print at least one each and have family members color them. 

Parents teaching the gospel (verse 25) :  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2009/03/coloring-page?lang=eng

Baptism (verse 27): https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/magazine/fr09may17_color.jpg

Prayer (verse 28): https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-may-2017/2017-05-37-coloring-page-eng.pdf

Keeping the Sabbath day Holy (verse 29): https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/liahona-april-2016/2016-04-37-the-sabbath-is-a-special-day-eng.pdf

Work hard; don't be lazy (verse 30): https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-september-2016/2016-09-36-i-can-help-my-family-eng.pdf

Don't be greedy (verse 31): https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/friend-august-2016/2016-08-36-coloring-page-eng.pdf

Lesson: For our opening song today we sang the words, "come to Zion." What is Zion? Where is Zion? Zion refers to any place where righteous people live. Sometimes in the scriptures, Zion is a specific place or city. Other times, Zion is wherever the children of God gather together. 

We can "come to Zion" in a physical sense by attending our church meetings and activities and by attending the temple. We can also "come to Zion" spiritually through doing things that will make us more Christlike. In D&C 68, the Lord gives important counsel for "the inhabitants of Zion." In other words, he gives the members of the church important advice on becoming a Zion people. 

Activity:

(Before FHE, print 6 copies of the house image below and the list of verses from D&C 68. Glue one of the verses on to a copy of the house. Tape the houses around your home in different rooms.)

25 And again, inasmuch as ^aparents have children in Zion, or in any of her ^bstakes which are organized, that ^cteach them not to understand the ^ddoctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when ^eeight years old, the ^fsin be upon the heads of the parents.

27 And their children shall be ^abaptized for the ^bremission of their sins when ^ceight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.

28 And they shall also ^ateach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.

29 And the inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the ^aSabbathday to keep it holy.

30 And the inhabitants of Zion also shall remember their ^alabors, inasmuch as they are appointed to labor, in all faithfulness; for the ^bidler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord.

31 Now, I, the Lord, am not well ^apleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are ^bidlers among them; and their ^cchildren are also growing up in ^dwickedness; they also ^eseek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of ^fgreediness.

Directions: Around the home, I have taped the pictures of a house. When I say go, you will go find the pictures; there are six total. 

Once your family has found all the houses, have them read the verse on the back. Then show the the coloring pages from the beginning of the lesson. Have them match their verse to the picture that matches it best. 

We want to be a Zion people--we want to be righteous and live the way Heavenly Father wants us to live. This means we need to be doing things we already know we should be doing like listening to our parents teach gospel principles, keeping our baptismal covenants, praying, keeping the Sabbath day holy, working hard, and avoiding greed and pride. These are simple things that make a big difference. 

Our home can be a Zion home--a place where righteous children of the Lord dwell and learn about the gospel. What things could help our home become a Zion home? What should we avoid doing in our home that will drive away the Spirit? Which thing we talked about today could you work on this week? 

Bear your testimony on becoming a Zion people. You can tape the coloring pictures up around your home to remind your family how they can work on being a Zion people. 

Closing Song: "As Zion's youth in latter-days" (Hymns, 256)
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment: Mixed Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars see Pinterest page for details

Lesson 25: D&C 64-66

 June 14-20
Doctrine and Covenants 64-66
"The Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind"

Materials: play dough, story from the friend, "Forgiveness" video
Opening Song: "I'll walk with you" (Children's Songbook, 140)
Opening Prayer:

Attention Activity: 

Give each member of your family some play dough. Ask them to make a heart shape with their play dough. When they are through, take one the hearts and rip it in half. Sometimes because of the actions of others, our hearts get broken. We get hurt; we feel let down, offended--even betrayed. This is an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of mortality. So what do we do when are hearts get broken? Do we become angry and bitter? Or do we heal? How can we heel our own broken hearts?

Lesson:

Heeling our hearts after someone has wronged us can only be done through forgiveness. What is forgiveness? What does it mean to forgive someone? Have your family take turns reading D&C 64: 7-10. When we forgive, we let go of any anger or bad feelings. We move forward without further blame or grudges. Forgiveness is a divine attribute. Can you think of an example of forgiveness in the scriptures?

Activity: Story about forgiveness in The Friend. Read here.

In the story, Jaide read a story about Jesus forgiving the soldiers who came to arrest him. Christ is the ultimate example of forgiveness. He forgave those who beat him, spit on him, and nailed him to the cross and asked Heavenly Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do." 

Joseph Smith was another example of forgiveness. He received D&C 64 after one of his friends, Ezra Booth, left the church and started writing bad things about Joseph in the newspaper. Joseph kept moving forward with the restoration. He would even try to continue to teach people after they would beat him. 

How can we be more forgiving of others? Sometimes, we do not always get an apology from the person that hurt us, but we still have to forgive. The atonement of Jesus Christ can help heal the hurt. An important thing to remember about forgiveness is, that the atonement of Christ works for others, the same as it works for us. We may need to remind ourselves that other people can be made clean through the atonement of Christ. If Heavenly Father can promise to "remember their sins no more," certainly we can too. 

This does not mean we need to keep getting hurt. If we are in a situation with someone who continues to hurt us emotionally or physically, we can forgive them and still stop associating with them. Forgiveness is not accepting or excusing bad behavior, but deciding that you will not let anger and bitterness towards that person keep you from having charity towards them. 

Activity: "Forgiveness" video from President Uchtdorf. 

Like Elder Uchtdorf said, we need to stop judging others. We need to let go of bitterness, anger and hate and start forgiving and having charity. Show one of the play dough hearts from the beginning of the lesson. Our hearts can be mended. Sometimes it take time and effort. Sometimes forgiveness is a process--a decision you have to remember to make every day. The end result is a mended heart, a heart full of Christlike love. Bear your testimony of forgiveness. 

Closing Song: "Help Me Dear Father" (Children's Songbook, 99)
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment: Salted caramel recipe here