This blogpost features some resources and ideas to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for July 10-16, 2023. Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET:
These printable activity sheets are meant to be printed 2 to a page and
are especially meant for kids ages 8-14, though the coloring pages are
for all ages and many older teens/adults also enjoy the activities.
Hand them out with your sacrament programs or use them as a discussion
starter in your families/classes.
TEACHING IDEA:
PREPARE: Familiarize yourself with the story of Saul's conversion. (this link is a good overview)
NEED: Brownie or cake mix + ingredients to make them (if you're making them for a class, you may want to have some already baked for them to eat.)
Have the ingredients/finished product hidden when you start the discussion. Start off by talking about how good the cake/brownies look on the front of the box. Then open the box and pull out the bag of the powdered mix and talk about how what's inside the box doesn't look much like the picture on the outside.
Then talk about how they need to be transformed in order to be what is shown on the box. If you have time, go ahead and make the brownies/cake together....talking as you add each ingredient and how by itself it doesn't look like much, but together they transform the brownies/cake into the best version of themselves.
Now relate it to the story of Saul. Saul starts off like that powdered mix. He's not his best self yet. He's sinning and persecuting Christians before he is transformed by his encounter with Christ. Christ adds "ingredients" to Saul's life --like love, mercy, and forgiveness--that help him to be totally transformed. Christ can do that in our lives as well. He takes us as we are and helps us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.
QUOTE(S):
"Often, the answer to our prayer does not come while we’re on our knees but while we’re on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits, remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answer to our own."
"Waiting on the Road to Damascus," Dieter Uchtdorf, April 2011
"God is full of grace, love, quiet courage, soft promptings, whisperings, beauty, and strength. I think He prefers to let us grow gradually, building a strong foundation and sparing us some of the agonies that comes from suddenly being thrust into the presence of the divine. That doesn't mean that we won't have pain or He won't intervene from time to time. But the small and simple things manifest God's love as much as the big, dramatic, and glorious.
Another tidbit of knowledge I learned that day in Sunday School and in the years since is that, as a culture and as human beings in general, we enjoy flashy, dramatic stories that gloss over the inglorious details. How many times had I read about Paul and Alma and so many others without truly registering the amount of pain and fear involved in their experience or the growth and repentance that came after?We want the incomprehensible joy that Alma felt and the infamy that Paul attained without experiencing the suffering and work in between."
"One Beautiful Aspect of Paul's Conversion I Overlooked for 20+ Years," Danielle Wagner, LDS Living, July 2019
VIDEOS:
Saul of Tarsus: Animated New Testament Bible Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnMMOP5Is_Q
Stephen Testifies and is Martyred https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye6T7sGvAtA
TALK TO REVIEW:
This talk would be excellent to read and familiarize yourself with before teaching a lesson on this week's material: Waiting on the Road to Damascus, Dieter Uchtdorf, April 2011
HAVE FUN LEARNING THE GOSPEL TOGETHER!!!! 😁
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