Lead Student Lesson Plan L13: Giving Back Main Purposes To consider how to increase in charity. To recognize the hand of the Lord in your life. Student Preparation Students were asked to prepare for gathering by completing specific activities and/or pondering certain questions. Please refer to the gathering instructions in this week s unit or lesson in the course. Lesson Outline As the Lead Student this week you will facilitate the Thursday Gathering. The times given for each activity are suggested times. The Gathering should not last more than 90 minutes. Try to make sure that the main purposes of the gathering are met each week. OPENING Announcements, Hymn, and Prayer (10 minutes) CLASS ACTIVITIES Opening Devotional (5 minutes) Lesson Opener LED BY MISSIONARIES Announcements Opening Hymn: #223, Have I Done Any Good? Verse 1 Opening Prayer: By Invitation LED BY LEAD STUDENT Lead Student to Class Choose one verse of scripture that has meaning to you or choose a verse you liked from the Scripture Study assignment in this week s lesson. Read it out loud to your classmates. Then, tell them why you chose that verse of scripture.
(10 minutes) Ask your classmates to consider how they would describe/explain salty, as in a salty food, to someone else who is learning English, but they are just beginning to learn the language. This person doesn't know the meaning of the word salty in English and they are depending upon you to explain it to them in English. What would you say? In Partners Everyone will find a partner. One person will describe/explain what salty means in English. Then, the other person will describe/explain what sky means to the partner. Charity (20 minutes) Explaining charity to someone is easier than explaining a salty taste. Ask your classmates how they would explain charity to someone who didn't understand its meaning. Next, read the following explanation of charity to your classmates. It is from the Gospel Topics section of the LDS.org website: Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the love that Christ has for the children of men and that the children of men should have for one another. It is the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love and the most joyous to the soul (see 1 Nephi 11:23). Charity is the pure love of Christ, or everlasting love (Moroni 7:47; 8:17). The prophet Mormon taught: Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things (Moroni 7:45; see also 1 Corinthians 13:4 7). Jesus Christ is the perfect example of charity. In His mortal ministry, He always went about doing good, teaching the gospel and showing tender compassion for the poor, afflicted, and distressed (see Matthew 4:23; Mark 6:6; Acts 10:38). His crowning expression of charity was His infinite Atonement. He said, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). This was the greatest act of long-suffering, kindness, and selflessness that we will ever know. The Savior wants all people to receive His love and to share it with others. He declared to His disciples: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34 35). In relationships with
family members and others, followers of Christ look to the Savior as their example and strive to love as He loves, with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy. In Partners With a partner, each student will share an example from their own life of a circumstance in which they were the personal recipient of charity. Then, they will share an experience of a time when they were charitable. Finally, each student will share with their partner how they would like to be more charitable. Vocabulary from Context (20 minutes) Small Groups Divide into groups of three or four students. Within the groups, students will discuss the following vocabulary words or phrases from the sentence listed after each one and guess the meaning of the words or phrases from context. Some words have been in vocabulary lists throughout the semester. These words will be read by the lead student afterward. to miss (v): I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. to touch (v): Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today? keep at it (phrase): As I kept at it, something began to happen. to happen (v): As I kept at it, something began to happen. to cast your mind (phrase): As I would cast my mind over the day evidence (n): I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. to soften (v): I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. to refine (v): I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. confident (adj): And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance. pay attention (phrase): even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.
to urge (v): My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness. to keep (v): You may not keep a journal. Recognizing The Hand of The Lord in Your Life (20 minutes) Advanced Preparation: Arrange to have some hymns playing in the background during this activity. You can ask one of your Pathway missionaries to play the piano, use the Music section of LDS.org on someone's laptop, borrow a music player and a CD/tape recording from your church library, or record music on your phone and play it back during the gathering. If these options do not work for you, discuss it with your missionaries and brainstorm a way to arrange the music. As part of the Gathering Preparation, students watched a video clip of President Eyring's October 2007 general conference addressed titled, O Remember, Remember. As the lead student, read the following excerpts from that talk: When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today? As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done. Ask your classmates to take out a sheet of paper (or open a new document on their laptop), while you begin the music. While the music plays, ask the students to ponder how the hand of God has reached out and touched them or their family members today and to write it down on their paper or to type it. After reflecting on evidence of the hand of the Lord in your life today, consider yesterday, and then consider the beginning of the week. Just as President Eyring promised, as you ponder what the Lord has done for you, you allow God to show you what he has done. (Allow
several minutes at least five for quiet contemplation while the music plays.) Allow a few moments for anyone to share their reflections on this activity. Ask students if anyone was surprised as they became aware of how the Lord has blessed them. Also, ask what they learned from this activity. President Eyring also learned and gained additional insights as he made the daily effort to record evidence of the Lord's hand in his life. (Read the following excerpts to the class.) More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that comes because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness. It will build our testimonies. You may not keep a journal. You may not share whatever record you keep with those you love and serve. But you and they will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done. You remember that song we sometimes sing: Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Challenge the class to keep a record to recognize and remember God's personal kindnesses. The record could be a written journal, a video journal, daily voice recordings, daily drawings or illustrations, etc. Challenge the class to review it periodically this will increase your gratitude to the Lord even more, build your testimony, and allow the Lord to teach you through further insights and personal revelation. Wrap-up and connections (5 minutes) Discuss the following questions as a group: As you increase in charity and gratitude, how or why does this lead to a natural desire to serve others? Conclusion Lead Student to Class Bear your personal testimony of at least one of the concepts discussed at tonight's gathering.
CLOSING Prayer LED BY MISSIONARIES Closing Prayer: By Invitation Remember: You need to be able to contact each other and stay organized. Use the method that works best for your gathering group (texts, email, Facebook, etc.). Note Please download and print a copy of these instructions to use as a reference during Thursday's Pathway Gathering.