3 Matt.; Mark 1; Luke 3 (Jan. 28-Feb.3)

Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord

The object of this lesson is to instruct the children about Christ's baptism and how we can follow his example. It's also to teach the children about the Aaronic Priesthood.

For this lesson, Brian and I were not as prepared as we normally are. We had a lot of chaotic events throughout the week. However on Thursday, we received the Friend magazine in the mail which gave us a lot of help and inspiration to teach the lesson. Therefore, many of the resources we used for this lesson can be found in the February 2019 edition of the Friend.

Invite Sharing:

We teach the 7-8 year olds, so the children in our class will have the opportunity to be baptized this year. We opened the class by asking who in our class will be turning 8 on their next birthday. Everyone raised their hands. We then asked, what will you have the opportunity to do once you turn 8. Be sensitive to children in your class who may not be able to be baptized due to situations beyond their control. (Part-member families, divorced families etc.) We had a child in our class who is choosing to wait until he is 9, so his father can baptize him. It is something that is very important to him. We made sure to tell the children that turning 8 simply means you will have the opportunity to be baptized but you can be baptized anytime. Some people are baptized when they are 9, 33, 68,100! Some are even baptized much later (baptisms for the dead)-- It's never too late!

Teach the Doctrine:

Brian and I are at an advantage this year that we are teaching children 7-8 year olds which means that we can really pick and choose activities from both the "younger children" and the "older children" sections.

Some Activities We Plan to Do:

Beforehand, gather together:

 1. Look up questions for the baptismal bishop's interview.
2. Matching game found in the February 2019 issue of The Friend
3. Print out or bring the February 2019 issue of The Friend Yo-Yo Decision story.
4. Print out the coloring pages "8 steps to baptism" found in the February 2019 issue of The Friend.
5. Place 1 or 2 mini Take 5 candy bars in a baggie and attach the tag found below in activity 5.
6. Crayons.

1. We asked the children if they knew that before you are able to be baptized you will participate in a bishop's interview. This is when the bishop will ask you several questions to make sure you are ready to be baptized. He also wants to make sure that you are being baptized because you want to be and not due to outside pressures. Brian then read them several questions to expect. We made sure to instruct them to answer the questions in their mind. They were very surprised that they would be asked to define several church principles: tithing, fasting, word of wisdom etc. Now, they can prepare how they might answer those questions and figure out how they feel about each principle for themselves.

2. We taught them about what they promise when they are baptized and what the Lord promises us if we keep those commandments. We helped reiterate by playing a matching game that can be found in the friend magazine.

3. We then read the Yo-Yo decision found in the friend magazine mentioned beforehand. We asked the children if they understood what the Holy Ghost is. Then we asked how will we feel when we have the Holy Ghost if we are going to make a wrong choice? A dangerous choice? A good choice?

I told them a story about my cousin who was driving on the highway when she had a prompting to change lanes. She listened to the prompting and a moment later a car swerved right into where she would have been had she not changed lanes. This was the spirit guiding her, to protect her from a potentially dangerous situation. 

4. We printed out the 8 steps of Baptism coloring sheet from The Friend. We talked about each step and had them color one at a time. Our last class (when we taught 8-9 year olds) really enjoyed coloring but this new class doesn't like it as much.  However, our current class really loves to draw so we will incorporate more drawing into our lessons in place of coloring in the future.

5. For the treat, I purchased mini Take 5 bars and made the following little handout:

We renew our Baptismal covenants                           

When we TAKE the sacrament each week.

Baptismal Covenants

TAKE UPON YOURSELF THE NAME

OF JESUS CHRIST

Be proud to be a member of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Saints.

KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS

Heavenly Father has given us steps

To help us have the greatest joy and

Return to him.

ENDURE TO THE END

Follow his example until the end.

HELP OTHERS

When we help others, we are

Showing love to our Heavenly

Father.

I hope this has been helpful to you. See you next week!