Sharing Time - March Week 3

Have I mentioned yet that this month is awesome?  We get to spend the WHOLE MONTH talking of Christ, rejoicing in Christ and preaching of Christ.  It's been so great and we still have half the month left!

This week focuses on Christ's resurrection and how it affects our lives. 

I found a couple of different ideas on how to talk about Christ's resurrection and this first one is my favorite.

Idea #1
Start out by talking about shoes, if you happen to love shoes like me, you could talk about how fun it is to wear different shoes.  Even how different shoes can make you feel differently.  Next, pull out a few different shoes: gardening, running, flip flops and/or cute date night shoes and talk a little about what each pair of shoes might be for (you could even be a little silly here acting like you're going to go garden in some cute heels). 

Then ask if they've heard the saying that you don't really know someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.  We can't really know how someone felt by wearing their shoes, but we can use our imaginations to think about how we might have felt if the same things happened to us. 

Today, we have some very special shoes that are going to help us learn more about Christ's resurrection (I was inspired by Little LDS Ideas; scroll down to the bottom, it's the last suggestion).

1.  Men's sandals: the apostles who followed Christ throughout His day and watched as He was crucified and died.

2. Men's boots (or some sort of work boots): the Roman soldiers who were tasked with guarding Christ's tomb.

3. Women's sandals: Mary Magdalene finding Christ's tomb empty and then meeting Him outside the tomb.

4. Sandals that lace up the leg (just use regular sandals and an extra pair of laces): the Nephites who saw, were taught and blessed by Jesus.

5. A child's pair of shoes: discuss how knowing that because Christ was resurrected means that we will also be resurrected affects their lives (this would be where you could have someone come in and talk about how the knowledge has affected their lives as the Sharing Time Outline suggests if you'd like).

As you go through each shoe, choose a child to come up, put them on and walk around.  Ask them how the shoes make them feel.  Whose shoes do they think they're wearing?  Have the kids help to tell the story based off the shoes from the perspective of the person.  Have them really try to be the person the shoes represent, how might they have felt? 

If you have the Armor of God guy, you can pull of His helmet, remind or ask them what it stands for (and if you don't, just skip that part) and bear your testimony that it is only through Christ that we can have salvation or be saved.

President Kimball said, "We believe and it is our testimony, and we proclaim it to the world "that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent" (Mosiah3:17).

Idea #2
Instead of shoes, you could tell the resurrection story with symbols.  I found two different ways to do this that I liked. 

The first is to bring a basket full of all sorts of objects up front, have the kids come up and pick one at a time.  As they come up and pick, they can try and guess what it might mean and help you tell that part of the story.  I found 17 different clues, along with scriptures, here.  I also found 11 clues (with some duplicates) on lds dot org (scroll down to #1).  You could either use them all (which would be too many unless you're much speedier than I am), or go through and pick out the ones you like the best.

The other way to use symbols is to use the rest of the idea on lds dot org.  Come in with a magnifying glass and wearing a trench coat.  Tell the kids that you're a detective in search of clues about the resurrection and you're going to need some help finding and interpreting the clues.  Then proceed to "look" around the room for your pre-hidden symbols/clues.

You can then end with your testimony just like idea #1.

Testimony Challenge
Each week I try to give the kids a challenge to help them work on their testimonies at home.  This week I would simply ask them to add something to their prayers.  When they're praying every morning and night, ask Heavenly Father to either help them gain a testimony of Jesus Christ's resurrection or ask to have their testimonies strengthened.  Next week, check with them and see who remembered to pray.

Good luck with your week!!