20 Too Short 50 Too Long

             My favorite way of teaching is not so much to teach but to conduct.  Ask questions and see where the class members take it.  I learn so much more if we feed off of each other.  So I was excited to learn yesterday that we are expected to teach that way.  In just 20 minutes?  We were told to keep our answers brief.  My examples are NOT always brief.

            We are supposed to study at home.  We were always supposed to study at home.  But not everybody has or does.  It’s crucial.  So I’ve started.  In addition to reading and trying to understand, I study better watching “Come Follow Me” videos – and there are quite a lot of them on my plate and I don’t always get to all of them.

            This week I started with “Teaching With Power” by Ben Wilcox.  He gave three suggestions on what one might teach if prompted to do so.  His first lesson idea is called “Trust, Don’t Lean”.  He starts out with an analogy of a guide for repelling.  My thoughts started flooding in – so much that I could easily fill the 20 minutes by myself. 

            First thought I had was the one and only time I had gone repelling with my two brothers.  I think Steven was only nine at the time.  Frank was the name of the guide who was at one end of the rope as we made our way to the bottom.  As he prepared each participant with gear and instructions would ask, “Do you trust me?” 

            Steven would yell, “I trust Frank” .

            With each participant Steven would raise his voice in hopes that Frank would hear him.  When it finally came Steven’s turn to be dropped over the side (and I do mean drop) Frank asked, “Do you trust me?”

            Instead of his enthusiastic yell, Steven quietly said “Well, sort of.”

            How many times do we seek the advice of the Lord but are hesitant to follow his council?  Where is our faith?

            I thought about two talks given in conference of April this year. One is this week’s assigned reading for Relief Society is “Jesus Christ Is the Way” by Elder Brian J. Holmes of the Seventy.  The other one is “Choose Jesus Christ as Your Guide” by Edward B. Rowe.  Both such powerful talks.

            I thought about the TV program called “Wagon Train” where experienced guides lead pioneers from Missouri to California.  

During their three or four month travel sometimes there are those who don’t understand why they would lead the wagons one way as opposed to another or don’t have the patience to wait when the wagons come to a halt and they are asked to set up camp until the weather changes or the danger passes or what have you. Some choose to leave the wagon train while others allow their prejudices to take over and con others into following them rather than the experienced guides. 

            There are so many movies made about those making bad decisions based on their own understandings rather than putting their faith in the guide.  I thought of two – One called "The Mountain Between Us" which I describe here 

I don’t remember the title of the other but I think it was based off of one of Jack London’s books, A guide in Alaska take a spoiled couple to unfamiliar territory or attempts to.  They never make it to their destination as the weather becomes unbearable and the guide turns the team around.  They offer more money but there are certain things that can’t be bought – such as wisdom. 

So many examples!  I don’t know how short I can keep my comments so I don’t know how much I may contribute to either lesson.  It will be interesting.

Two More Added

                This will be my tenth post on promoting my growth due to The Come Follow Me program which was started in 2019. That was the same year that the church cut back to just two meetings though we were encouraged to take the opportunity to keep the third hour with us in our homes. We started out 2019 studying the New Testament.  Unbeknownst to any of us it was a prerequisite for being able to study on our own during the pandemic as we spent more hours at home than at church that year. Book of Mormon was the topic that year. 2021 Doctrine and Covenants and finally 2022 with Old Testament.  The cycle started again last year with the New Testament.  This year’s topic is The Book of Mormon.  Manuals were passed out for those who wanted physical books.  Seemingly more detailed than in years’ past.

         You can find the online manual at this site.  At the end of each lesson you will find a beautiful picture illustrating that lesson’s theme.  I couldn’t/can’t just leave them in the book.  I have torn out three thus far and will continue to display them for the week and change them on Sunday when it starts a new week and theme. 

         I have mentioned learning from videos shared on YouTube. There are many.  Some resonate with me more than others.  I’m a visual learner and so enjoy the slides and drawings that some have incorporated.  I have spent time watching Don’t Miss This (2019 version featuring Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler and this year David Butler and Grace Freeman) and Teaching With Power with Brad Wilcox.  This year I have also added to my watch list John Hilton’s Book of Mormon Masterclass and Ponderfun.  Learning lots. Growing.

Object Comparisons

 In his “Teaching With Power” John 2-4 video, Brother Wilcox shares this slide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ7QShWWP7U

with the challenge to find a way to use an object as part of a lesson on teaching the scriptures or more importantly, Christ.  I then turned to “Don’t Miss This” where Emily Freeman compared a discarded titanium bicycle that one might see as worthless.  She talked about the value in restoration and compared this to the “worth of souls” as viewed by the others and how the Savior sees us before we are restored. 

Even in our "discarded" state, the Savior knows
us and what (or who) we can become

 I have accepted Ben Wilcox’s challenge and am excited about this quest.  I may create some posts about how I would use each of this (though the rubber duck seems to be stumping me the most of these)  It may take a while.  I hope to be guided by the Spirit as I embark this journey.

Easter in Isolation

              Yesterday we hid twenty plastic eggs for Jenna to find.  The Easter egg hunt has always been a tradition for her.  She has participated in at least one hunt every year - and it is usually with someone other than us.  But as we are stuck inside this year and I won't allow her to go further than the mailbox, I decided to create a hunt for her.  We had purchased Easter candy a while ago and also included scriptures and other Easter thoughts so we could include the true meaning of Easter as well.

Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to. – Jeffrey R. Holland

 His Atonement makes available all of the power, peace, light, and strength that we need to deal with life’s challenges – Sheri L. Dew

For the Atonement of the Lord and His gift of resurrection—for this sublime message of  Easter  – Russell M. Nelson

To understand the meaning of death, we must appreciate the purpose of life. (…) Our Father knew that because of the nature of mortality, we would be tempted, would sin, and would fall short. So that we might have every chance of success, He provided a Savior, who would suffer and die for us. – Thomas S. Monson

 The Atonement is the greatest evidence we have of the Father’s love for His             children. – Linda K. Burton

decorated Saturday morning

hid only half of the eggs we had

The white Easter lily symbolizes purity and honesty. Some say Easter lilies proliferated in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus wept in the last hours before Judas’ betrayal.

You won’t see any mention of the long-eared, cotton-tailed Easter Bunny in the Bible, but he has become one of Easter’s most prominent (and commercial) symbols.  Seeing rabbits emerge from their burrows in spring, early Christians may have adopted the gentle, meek mammal as a symbol of Christ emerging from his tomb.

Eggs and chicks symbolize new life.  An egg can also be a                      symbol of the Tomb.

He is not here: for he is risen – Matthew 28:6

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.    Luke 24:36

He is risen! He is risen!  He hath opened heaven’s gate.

                I wanted today to be a beautiful and spiritual Easter.  I wanted to include my family in what I felt.  It did not work out to my expectations however.  By 5:00 I was watching YouTube videos by myself expecting that Jenna would join me eventually.  I figured Roland would stay in the room and watch Sunday morning.  But it’s Easter.  Come on!  We haven’t been to church for a month yet.  Nor have we met as a family to hold Sunday meetings.  I think this is the first Sunday Jenna has not watched the “Come Follow Me” program with me.

                The first video I watched was Finding Joy in Sharing the Gospel (here) as it was the lesson we would have had in Relief Society had we met at the church.  Afterward I watched the video “Don’t Miss This” with David Butler and Emily Freeman (here). How awesome it was that they compared the first Easter to our Easter experience today.  The world in isolation.  Afterward I rewatched  the “Come Follow Me” program (Teaching with Power) with Brad Wilcox (here).

  

               When Jenna came into the room she suggested that we watch “The Littlest Angel”.  She had received a copy of the 1997 original animation of an angel sent back to earth to help two children during Easter. 

I don’t fully remember.  I wasn’t as impressed with it as she.  I liked the version I had read as a child.

Only the trailer of the 1997 was available and so we watched the full Hallmark movie made in 1969. 

That was our Easter together.  I tried getting her to watch “Saturday Night Seder” (here) with me, but she lost interest.  I didn't realize it was a fundraiser for the CDC foundation.  Good cause.  Excellent video.  Such profound words from each of the Rabbis and celebrities.  I enjoyed Judith Lights narration during Ben Platt's  performance of  "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".  I also enjoyed the narrations by Richard Kind and Debra Messing.  I also enjoyed Harvey Fierstein's  monologue on "Next Year in Jerusalem" which gave a whole knew meaning to a phrase I had heard before but never knew what it meant.

I think I’d taken Jenna to a Passover before.  Of course she does not remember it.  It wasn’t even a Jewish Passover, but a Passover that would pay homage to our Jewish ancestors but emulate Mormonism as well. It was nice that I had a little understanding of Passover as I watched the performances that were so well edited and had been written up and posted in such a short amount of time.  It was mind-blowing really.  I highly recommend watching it.

                I missed having the opportunity to attend it for a while.  Our friend Beth was going to invite us to her Passover one year, but we have failed to get together and it didn’t seem possible this year.  But I know of other families who engaged in the traditions.

                After Roland got up, he started cleaning the kitchen and strongly suggested that Jenna watch “The Ten Commandments”.  The problem is it’s just so darn long.  She cannot sit still long enough to watch it.  So thus far we have watched only half of it.  She is now in her room watching online lectures and Roland is watching a recorded episode of “The Profit” – some great ways to spend your Easter, right?

                So I am now recording my thoughts on Easter meaning for me this year.  I like the parallels of the things I have watched and heard.  And I wonder if the amount of time that passed between the initial Passover (before the 10 commandments) and the Atonement and Resurrection was the same amount of time that passed between the Resurrection and Covid 19.