Student #1: How many siblings do you have? Student #1: What are their names and ages? Student #2: Emma (4), and Charlie (7)

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1 Getting to Know You Activity Set up chairs or desks facing each other in a line. Have the students sit in a chair and explain to them that they will each move clockwise every 3 minutes. They each have 3 minutes (so 1 ½ minutes each) to get to know the person across from them (you can give them more or less time depending on the size of your class). Have them turn to page 2 in their journals and record as they go. They need to get to know the person s name (including proper spelling), birthday, and something interesting about them. Their ultimate goal is to question each other and continue to follow a line of questions until they find out something that they think no one else in class will find out. For example: Student #1: How many siblings do you have? Student #2: Two Student #1: What are their names and ages? Student #2: Emma (4), and Charlie (7) Student #1: What did you give Emma for Christmas last year? Student #2: I gave her a coloring book with crayons. So they will interview each other for 1 ½ minutes each and write down their favorite thing they learned in their journal under interesting fact. After everyone has interviewed each other, go through each student and have people share what they learned about them, if another person also found that out have them raise their hand. Try to find the student who found out the most original information for the most people in the class. The fun thing about this is that you will be able to observe and see personalities emerge as well as tons of facts about them. Some kids will ask the same questions to everyone so when you share about them it will be funny because you will find out everyone s favorite pizza topping, or what they did yesterday at 2:04 pm. Journal Crossword Use the crossword puzzle in this PDF package to help them to search the journal and also learn important facts.

2 Scripture Mastery Devotional Use the page in this PDF with all of the boxes with the scripture mastery verses. Cut them up and put them in a bowl. Have the students pull out a paper. This is the scripture that they will give a devotional for. I If you have less than 25 students you can do a couple of different things. You can give extra credit for those who want to do 2 devotionals, or you can split them up into groups. Like if you have 12 students you can have the first half and then the second half of the scripture mastery verses. I would definitely introduce doing these devotionals by giving a sample devotional with the first scripture mastery. In the journals there is a page for each scripture mastery. As they study and fill out that page, a devotional will come easily. I would also tell the students that their goal is to 1- Invite the Spirit, 2- teach about that scripture mastery, and 3- Have the rest of the class fill out their scripture mastery page for that scripture mastery. So, during each devotional, the students should expect to pull out their journals and be taught something meaningful by their peers. Basic Doctrines Activity Put the students into pairs or small groups. Give each group a printout from the official seminary website of the basic doctrines with their descriptions. Give each group 30 minutes to read through them and fill in their journals with important facts about each doctrine. Then after 30 minutes gather up the printouts and hand each group a quiz template (there is one in this PDF package). Give each group 10 minutes to make a quiz (that another group will take) about the doctrines. They can use the notes in their journals to make the quiz. Have the groups switch quizzes and have them all take the ones they have received. Allow them to use the notes in their journals (this will help set the bar high for keeping good journal notes) This is a good activity because they will review much of the doctrine 3 separate times as they write it down, make a quiz, and take a quiz. Don t tell the students ahead of time that they will be making group quizzes. You want them focused on writing down important doctrines and not just totally random things to stump their friends. You could also give them a quiz you made (which would be a 4 th time with each doctrine). You could also divide this activity up and have them focus on a few basic doctrines rather than all of them at once. Book of Mormon Quotes Put the desks in a circle. Print out the quotes on this PDF and lay them out on each desk. Have the kids sit in a desk with a marking pencil and have them read each quote, mark their favorite parts and write their thoughts in around the quote. Give them 1 minute at each desk. After they have read each one, have them choose their favorites and go to that desk and copy them on page 9 in their journal. This is fun because you will have a bunch of kids crowded around a desk copying the same quote down.

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5 1 Nephi 3:7 2 Nephi 2:25 2 Nephi 2:27 2 Nephi 9: Nephi 25:23, 25 2 Nephi 28:7-9 2 Nephi 31: Nephi 32:3 2 Nephi 32:8-9 Mosiah 2:17 Mosiah 3:19 Mosiah 4:30 Alma 7:11-13 Alma 32:21 Alma 37:35 Alma 39:9 Alma 41:10 Helaman 5:12 3 Nephi 12:48 3 Nephi 18:15, Ether 12:6 Ether 12:27 Moroni 7:41 Moroni 7:45, Moroni 10:4-5

6 Quiz Makers: Quiz Takers: Multiple Choice 1. A. B. C. 2. A. B. C A. B. C. A. B. C. True / False Fill in the Blank

7 In order for us to be strong and to withstand all the forces pulling us in the wrong direction or all the voices encouraging us to take the wrong path, we must have our own testimony. Whether you are 12 or 112 or anywhere in between you can know for yourself that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Read the Book of Mormon. Ponder its teachings. Ask Heavenly Father if it is true. We have the promise that if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost [Moroni 10:4]. Thomas S. Monson, Dare to Stand Alone, Ensign, October 2011

8 In seminary, I set a goal to pay attention to what I was being taught and to spend more time studying the scriptures. During my last year in seminary, we read the Book of Mormon. I started to pray more, to read more, and to pay closer attention. I took careful notes in my seminary notebook. Eventually, there came into my heart the simple but profound witness of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. I felt in my heart that this knowledge was something precious. Bethzaida Vélez Rivera, My Own Testimony of the Book of Mormon, Liahona, February 2000

9 One day when I was about 11 years old, I finished some of my chores early and had some time before I had to start my next task. It was hot, so I sat under a tree to rest. I don t know why, but I had the Book of Mormon with me. I picked up the book and started to read. To my amazement, I couldn t put it down. For the next three or four days I continued to have extra time during my workday. In those few days, I read the whole Book of Mormon. Every time I opened the book, I was filled with a warm, calm feeling. The presence of the Spirit was strong and bore witness to me that the book was true, and because it was true, everything else I knew about the gospel had to be true too. Kevin R. Duncan, The Book Was True, Friend, March 2013

10 One of the ultimate messages of the Book of Mormon, and indeed of the Old Testament and all human history, is that mankind cannot reach perfection on our own. There is another message that comes through loud and clear from its pages. It is the often unpopular and seemingly harsh injunction Repent or perish. When the Book of Mormon people listened to this prophetic message, they flourished. When they forgot the message, they perished. James E. Faust, The Keystone of Our Religion, Liahona, January 2004

11 Love for the Book of Mormon expands one s love for the Bible and vice versa. Scriptures of the Restoration do not compete with the Bible; they complement the Bible. We are indebted to martyrs who gave their lives so that we could have the Bible. It establishes the everlasting nature of the gospel and of the plan of happiness. The Book of Mormon restores and underscores biblical doctrines such as tithing, the temple, the Sabbath day, and the priesthood. Russell M. Nelson, Scriptural Witnesses, Liahona, November 2007

12 Counting the ways the Book of Mormon brings peace to the soul is like counting the sand on the seashore. Neil L. Andersen, The Book of Mormon: The Great Purveyor of the Savior s Peace, Liahona, January 2008

13 I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my last days, but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days. Jeffrey R. Holland, Safety for the Soul, Ensign November 2009

14 Among the lessons we learn from the Book of Mormon are the cause and effect of war and under what conditions it is justified. It tells of evils and dangers of secret combinations, which are built up to get power and gain over the people. It tells of the reality of Satan and gives an indication of some of the methods he uses. It advises us on the proper use of wealth. It tells us of the plain and precious truths of the gospel and the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for all mankind. It informs us of the gathering of the house of Israel in the last days. It tells us of the purpose and principles of missionary work. It warns us against pride, indifference, procrastination, the dangers of false traditions, hypocrisy, and unchastity. Now it is up to us to study the Book of Mormon and learn of its principles and apply them in our lives. L. Tom Perry, Blessings Resulting from Reading the Book of Mormon, Ensign, November 2005

15 The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for our blessing today. Those people never had the book it was meant for us. Mormon, the ancient prophet after whom the book is named, abridged centuries of records. God, who knows the end from the beginning, told him what to include in his abridgment that we would need for our day. Ezra Taft Benson, The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God, Ensign, May 1975, pg 63

16 For 179 years this book [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so. Jeffrey R. Holland, Safety for the Soul, Ensign November 2009

17 The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of electronic media and mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way. President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, Nov. 1988, pg 2 9

18 There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called the words of life (see D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance. These promises increased love and harmony in the home, greater respect between parent and child, increased spirituality and righteousness these are not idle promises, but exactly what the Prophet Joseph Smith meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us draw nearer to God. President Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg. 54

19 I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:461; quoted in the Introduction to The Book of Mormon

20 [T]he Book of Mormon is a testament of Jesus Christ. The title page tells us that. It says that the purpose of the book is to show what great things the Lord has done for His people, to help them know that the covenants the Lord has made with His people are still in force, and to convince all people that Jesus is the Christ. There are thousands of references to the Savior in the Book of Mormon. The testimony of Jesus permeates every page. So, whoever reads it is reading words which testify of the Savior. President Henry B. Eyring, Why the Book of Mormon? New Era May 2008