Come Follow Me Teaching Resources and Ideas for November 20-26, 2023 {1 and 2 Peter}

 This blogpost features some  resources and ideas to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for November 20-26, 2023.    Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.

PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET:   

These 1/2 page activity sheets are designed to be printed double-sided and cut in half.  They're geared for ages 8-14, but littler kids love the coloring pages and older kids/kids at heart often enjoy the activities.  They're perfect to use as attention getters or as reviews in your classes or families.  Our ward hands them out along with the sacrament program each week.



TRIALS CAN STRENGTHEN US OBJECT LESSON: 

To demonstrate how trials can actually make us stronger, hold up a flat piece of paper and try to make if "fly" through the air.  Point out how poorly the paper flies.  Now begin folding and creasing the paper into an airplane.  Explain as you fold the paper that each crease represents a trial (mention possible {or current} trials as you fold).  With each fold (trial) the paper becomes strong until eventually it can fly through the air gracefully.  Our lives are very similar.  Just like the folds make the paper stronger, trials make us stronger.  Some of our trials may seem at the time, but Heavenly Father is always mindful of us.  Each trial that we endure brings greater strength and experience into our lives. 

ACTIVITY:  Pass out paper to everyone and have fun making paper airplanes.  Have a contest to see whose plane flies the farthest, fastest, highest, etc. 

QUOTES:   

The attributes of the Savior, as we perceive them, are not a script to be followed or list to be checked off. They are interwoven characteristics, added one to another, which develop in us in interactive ways. In other words, we cannot obtain one Christlike characteristic without also obtaining and influencing others. As one characteristic becomes strong, so do many more."   "Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ," Robert D. Hales, April 2017

"We comprehend more fully the exceeding great and precious promises and begin to partake of the divine nature by responding affirmatively to the call from the Lord to glory and virtue. As described by Peter, this call is fulfilled by striving to escape the corruption that is in the world.

As we press forward submissively with faith in the Savior, then because of His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, “a mighty change [takes place] in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.”5 We are “born again; yea, born of God, changed from [our] carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God.”  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 

Such a comprehensive change in our nature typically does not occur quickly or all at once. Like the Savior, we also receive “not of the fulness at the first, but [receive] grace for grace.”  “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom.""  "Exceeding Great and Precious Promises," David A. Bednar, October 2017

"This experience helped me realize that although our lives may at times be relatively smooth, the time will come for each of us when we will face unexpected challenges and storms that will push the limits of our ability to endure. Physical, mental, family, and employment challenges; natural disasters; and other matters of life or death are but some of the examples of the storms that we will face in this life.

When faced with these storms, we often experience feelings of despair or fear. President Russell M. Nelson said, “Faith is the antidote for fear”—faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (“Let Your Faith Show,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 29). As I have seen the storms that affect people’s lives, I have concluded that no matter what kind of storm is battering us—regardless of whether there is a solution to it or whether there is an end in sight—there is only one refuge, and it is the same for all types of storms. This single refuge provided by our Heavenly Father is our Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement."  "Finding Refuge from the Storms of Life," Ricardo Gimenez, April 2020

VIDEO: 

Latter-Day Kids:  A Story about Trials and Adversity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6C-UJVkICM

ENJOY LEARNING THE GOSPEL TOGETHER!!!