Sharing Time - April Week 3

Last week we ended with re-building Christ's church through a bunch of cups to show we truly are the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

This week, tell them we're going to start again with the church being restored, but we're going to have to move backwards through time because we skipped over some very important pieces that led to the restoration.

Now, you might be asking yourself how exactly we're going to be able to move back in time, so, let me tell you!  We're going to make a timeline down the middle of our primary room!  Okay, I might be getting exclamation point crazy, but I'm pretty excited about this idea.  In addition to the timeline, you'll need a board to stick up pictures for each of the dates.

Depending on your room setup, you can put the timeline wherever works best for you.  We happen to have an isle down the center of our primary room, so that would work best for us.  The original idea (found on an old Sophia's Primary Idea's blog post) suggests using string, which would be fun, but I think it would be easier to use tape.  Simply tape your timeline down on your floor wherever works best.  The longer it is, the more fun for the kids.

Your timeline will start with the word Restoration, April 6, 1830 and then have 5 marks for your 5 different dates (or you can just tape your clues/envelopes right to the timeline).  You could space them to show the time, the first 4 would be fairly close together with a larger space until number 5 and an even bigger space until number 6.  So, starting at the front of your room you'll have:

1. April 6, 1830 - Restoration of Christ's church
2. June 1829 - Translation of the Book of Mormon completed
3. May 15 - 29, 1829 - Restoration of Melchizedek Priesthood (see this article for the dates I've used)
4. May 15, 1829 - Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood
5. Spring of 1820 - First Vision
6. 1789 - American Constitution Established

For senior primary, inside each envelope, stick a code so they have to figure out what the important event is.  To make it simple, I would just mix up the main word from each date.

1. RESTORATION = NIROERSOTAT (I wouldn't mix this one up or put it in an envelope, but it's an option)
2. TRANSLATION = NTLSATRAOIN
3. MELCHIZEDEK = ZILMDKECEHE
4. AARONIC = NOAACRI
5. FIRST VISION = RISFT NVSIOI
6. CONSTITUTION = TSITNUTOCINO

You can copy and paste mine, I'd do one word per sheet, fold it up and stick it in the envelope.

Choose a child to come up front and walk back through time AND as you're moving backwards through time, having them walk backwards would be pretty fun.  Once they get to an envelope have them pull it up and pull out the clue (for senior primary, for junior, you can just have a number that correlates to the picture).

Once they guess the word, pull out a picture to stick on the board for further discussion.  You can find and use your own pictures, but if you don't want to, you can either use your own GAK pictures or pick some up from the library. 

1. This is a great starting point as it picks up exactly where last week left off.  We had the apostasy and then there was a restoration!  There isn't a GAK picture depicting the April 6th first meeting, but I did find this one online that you could print out if you'd like one.  You can take a minute to review anything you went over last week or just move on to the next step.

2. GAK 416 - Ask why the Book of Mormon is important and wait for their answers, our kids often surprise me with their thoughtfulness.  Make sure you or they talk about how it restored important gospel truths (but briefly, this is your whole topic next week).

3. GAK 408 - What is important about the Melchizedek Priesthood?  What are some of the things you can do with it?  I think it would be great to have a Melchizedek Priesthood holder talk for a couple (2 or 3) about what he does with his priesthood and how it blesses his life and those around him.

4. GAK 407 - When do boys get the Aaronic Priesthood?  What are things they can do with it?  Have an Aaronic Priesthood holder talk for a few minutes (the same 2 or 3) about his priesthood and the difference honoring it makes in his life and those around him.  You can ask anyone, but the Priest Quorum 1st Assistant would be great and I'm sure they'd love to serve the primary!

5. GAK 403 - The First Vision is a perfect example of our theme (the theme to go along with our armor of god guy) for this month of Knowing, Living and the Loving the gospel.  Joseph read and studied until he knew the scriptures to be true.  He had enough faith to test out or LIVE one of the principles he'd learned, prayer.  Depending on how much time you have left, you can have a child tell you the story of the first vision, or maybe tell you their favorite part.  I really like the Encourage Understanding section in week two where it suggests asking the kids how they would have felt if they had been there, if they could have seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  This is such a great opportunity to help them feel the Holy Ghost.

6. This one obviously doesn't have a GAK pictures, but you can download one to print out here (click the download all sizes button and choose the size you want).  I think it's important to realize that the United States was part of God's plan.  It's no coincidence that just over 30 years after it was signed, the First Vision occurred.  Heavenly Father needed a place where we could be free.  Free to choose which religion we wanted.  Free to exercise our agency.  There are many places where these freedoms are found today, but not then.  The freedom had to exist to make the restoration possible, this is why there were so many years in between the last apostasy and the final restoration.  The world, the people, had to be ready.

Testimony Challenge
Bear your testimony of the restoration, of the first vision and the blessings of the priesthood.  Bear your testimony of the importance of having a testimony.  Of working on it everyday, every week.  Encourage the children to learn, to live so they can know and love the gospel.

I also found a couple of cute sheets you could send home with the kids if you like to do that.  The first one is a picture of Joseph and Oliver receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood with a pretty great poem.  The second one is a crossword puzzle, also about the restoration, and some of the different offices held within the priesthood.  They're both pretty fun!

Good luck with your week!