Virtual Lead Student Lesson Plan L13: Giving Back Main Purposes Consider how to increase in charity. 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. A PowerPoint presentation is also available for your use if you choose. OPENING MAIN GATHERING ROOM ALL PARTICIPANTS LED BY MISSIONARIES Announcements, Hymn, and Prayer (10 minutes) CLASS ACTIVITIES Opening Devotional (5 minutes) 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 you may choose a verse from the Scripture Study assignment in this week s lesson that you liked. Read it out loud to the group. Then, tell them why you chose that verse of scripture. Lesson Opener (5 minutes) Whole Class Ask the group 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? Charity (20 minutes) Whole Class Ask a few participants to share how they would describe/explain what salty means in English. Explaining charity to someone is easier than explaining a salty taste. Ask the group how they would explain charity to someone who didn t understand its meaning. Next, read the following explanation of charity to the group. 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. Ask participants to think about an example, from their own life, of a circumstance in which they were the personal recipient of charity. Then, they should think of a time when they were charitable. Finally, each participant should think about how they could become more
charitable. Encourage participants to write these ideas down, because they will be asked to share them with their group during the small group portion of the gathering. SMALL GROUP GATHERING ROOM 3-6 PARTICIPANTS Charity Discussion (10 minutes) Small Groups Divide the students into groups of 3-6, (there should be no more than three total groups), and instruct them to go into their specific group chat rooms. Before separating participants into their small groups, quickly give directions for the small group activities. Each participant will share their own examples of charity by discussing the following: When they were a recipient of charity. When they were charitable. How they could become more charitable. Vocabulary Practice (15 minutes) Small Groups Participants 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." MAIN GATHERING ROOM ALL PARTICIPANTS Recognizing the Hand of the Lord in Your Life (25 minutes) Whole Class Everyone should come back to the main gathering room. As part of the Gathering preparation, participants watched a video clip of President Eyring s October 2007 General Conference address entitled, 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 the group members to take out a sheet of paper (or open a new document on their computer). Ask participants 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 5 for quiet contemplation.) Allow a few moments for anyone to share their reflections on this activity. Ask group members 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 group.) 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 come 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 group 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 group 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. Conclusion Lead Student to Class Bear your testimony regarding the concepts and truths presented 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.