May Sharing Time - My Family Will Be Blessed as We Follow the Prophet

"One admonition that has been a strength to me is the powerful declaration of the Prophet Joshua, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15). ...

In our world today, one thing has not changed since Joshua spoke: Those who choose to serve the Lord  will always listen attentively and specifically to the Prophet.  In modern Israel, serving the Lord means carefully following the Prophets" (Elder Andersen).

We have been taught to follow the prophets, to choose as a family for a very long time.  It is truly advice or any age and every family.

I think following the idea in the Sharing Time Outline to have a few families come in and share how the follow the prophet is a great idea.  I would additionally ask them to share what they've learned from the most recent conference and what they've done (or plan to do) to follow that specific counsel.

If you choose to ask more than one family, I wouldn't plan on doing anything else.  Ask enough that they'll each have 3-5 minutes (I'd say 3-4 families) and be excited that you get a fantastic sharing time without having to do too much work.

You could also choose to have just one family speak for a minute or two to introduce the topic and then use the last idea in the outline to help the kids learn more about what our prophet has taught us most recently.

Last year I made up a game to help the kids learn about what our apostles taught during conference and how those teachings can be applied in our lives.  I decided to make another one for this conference seeing as it would fit beautifully with this weeks topic.

This game would fit great with the last week too, so if you want to have families come in for the third week, you could still use the game during the fourth week.

It's sort of a modified game of memory.  You match a quote from conference with the apostle who said it.  To help more easily match them up, I put a picture that goes along with the quote (or in some cases, the talk) both on the quote and on the back of the apostle picture.

To play, you'll need:

Pictures of the apostles.  I printed out and laminated quarter page size pictures of the apostles a few years ago and I use them frequently at home and in primary.  Very worth the ink.

Pictures that match the quotes to tape or sticky onto the back of the apostle pictures.

The quotes and pictures (both the pictures and the quote pictures shown below are here).

I would arrange the board like this:

Put all the prophets on one side (with the quote picture stickey-ed on back) and the quote/pictures on the other side.

Make sure to line up the prophet pictures with enough space either next to or underneath so you can put the quotes there once they've been matched.  You could take them off the board as you find matches, but I like the idea of the kids being able to see them the whole time.

Game instructions:

1. Call on a child to choose a quote and prophet picture (I would also ask them to try and name the apostle they've chosen).

2. Check the picture on the back of the prophet picture to see if they match.

3. If they match, proceed to step 4, if not, start again with step 1.

4. Have the child read the quote and lead a short discussion on how we can use that specific counsel in our personal and/or family lives.

5. Put quote back on board next to the apostle who said it.

6. Start again with step 1.

Teach the children that our "... prophets speak to us in the name of the Lord and in plainness.  As the Book of Mormon confirms, "For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding" (2 Ne. 31:3).

While it is important to search and ponder, God will always speak to us in a way that we can understand individually.  This is why many people feel General Conference was specifically for them.  Through the Holy Ghost, we will hear what we need exactly at this time in our lives, making the teachings and counsel given very personal. 

President Uchtdorf went on to say, "Let us listen to the prophets of our days as they help us focus on the things that are central to the Creator's  plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

As we listen and try to feel and follow Heavenly Father's direction for us, and for our families, we will grow stronger.  Our faith, testimonies, families and so much more will be impacted in positive ways.  I am so thankful for the amazing gift and blessing conference can be in all our lives!!

Happy Sharing Time,

Leah