This month’s theme from the Outline is:

The temple is a blessing for me and my family. “And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people” (D&C 124:40).

This week’s lesson plan from the Outline says:

I will live now to be worthy to go to the temple and do my part to have an eternal family (D&C 97:15–17; “Temples,” TTF, 170–72; Primary 3, lesson 35). Invite the children to express their feelings about the temple. Sing “I Love to See the Temple” (CS, 95). Draw on the chalkboard a road map leading to a picture of a temple and a family. Draw other roads on the map that lead to “nowhere.” Write on paper strips actions that will lead to the temple (reading scriptures, showing love, etc.) and actions that will lead to nowhere (forgetting to pray, not sharing, etc.). Place the strips in a bag. Invite the children to pick a strip from the bag, decide which destination the action would lead to, and post the action on the corresponding road. Every time someone chooses an action that leads to the temple, sing the first two lines of “I Love to See the Temple.” At the end of the game, sing the entire song. Help the children memorize Alma 37:35. (See “Memorization,” TNGC, 171–72.)

That seems like a pretty good plan to me.  I might add pictures to the word strips for the Junior Primary kids so that they can easily identify what’s going on by themselves.  If the kids don’t know the song well yet, instead of singing only the first two lines of I Love to See the Temple, I might have them sing two lines each time, but sing the next two lines of the song each time so they sing all of the lines sometime. For the list of things that will lead to the temple, I think it would be easiest to use the My Gospel Standards list from the Faith in God program.  For older kids, because I like to have them open and read the actual scriptures as much as possible, I might make the word strips scripture references that they have to figure out, depending on how much time we have.  The “going nowhere” list will be easy to make, but I’ll be sure to make them things that the smallest kids might actually consider doing, not crazy grievous sins.  For the pictures for the end of the road to the temple, GAK 606 and GAK 609 would work well in combination.

I think this should be pretty easy to do, but if you’re looking for something else for your Primary, I found some good resources on preparing to go to the temple on the Family Home Evening resource page on the Church web page.  They’re mostly talks from the Ensign geared toward adults, but the one from Elder Nelson would probably be easily adapted for a Sharing Time lesson.  He talks about preparing physically, spiritually, and intellectually for the temple and it could be fun to break it down into those categories for the kids.

The June 2008 Friend isn’t out yet, but the February 2002 Friend has a great lesson with visual aids.  Oooohh…and I really like the January 2002 Friend ideas.  Check those out.  There’s a handout that the kids can fill out that’s neat.  Also ideas for teaching the song “I Love to See the Temple” there.  Primary Manual 3 also has some good ideas for a Temple lesson, including an idea for showing how we link families together in the temple.

Heavenly Father planned for me to come to a family. I can strengthen my family now. “The family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children” (“Proclamation,” paragraph 1).

…and I’m in charge of Sharing Time next week.  Next week’s lesson in the Outline goes like this:

1. Families in the scriptures teach me how I can strengthen my family (1 Nephi 8; 16; Mosiah 27; Primary 3,lesson 39).

Divide the children into three groups and give each group a picture, a Primary song, and scripture references.

• a. GAK 102; “Follow the Prophet,” third verse (CS, 110–11); Moses 8:18–20; Genesis 6:9–14, 22; 8:20.
• b. GAK 301; “Nephi’s Courage,” third verse (CS, 120–21); 1 Nephi 3:1–7.
• c. Picture 1-69 or 4-53; “Dare to Do Right” (CS, 158); Ether 1:38–43; 6:2–12.

Write the basic events of each story on the board as each group displays the picture, sings the song, and tells the story. (For example: surrounded by wickedness, gathered together, followed God’s plan, showed gratitude to the Lord.) Ask, “What did these families do to strengthen each other?” Ask the children to write or draw three ways they can strengthen their families.

The Friend for May hasn’t come out yet, but it will eventually be here.

We’re starting on a Jr/Sr Primary schedule next month, so I can do a lesson for little ones and another for older kids.

Junior Primary Sharing Time:

My three-year-old son loves to do treasure hunts, so I’m guessing that the kids in my Jr. Primary will enjoy one too.  I’d like to use pictures from different scripture stories as clues, then have a box with stickers in it for everyone at the end.

Tell the kids that we’re going to do a treasure hunt, and that we’re going to get clues about how to find the treasure from families in the scriptures.  I’ll have one class start with a clue (picture) that has a clue about where in the room the next clue is on a post-it on the back–I’ll find a way to relate the clue to the story somehow when I write it.  They can either tell the story on the picture or have their teacher tell the story while one of the kids in the class holds up the picture for everyone to see.  We’ll decide as a group how the families in the pictures show us how to strengthen our families.  Then they can read the clue to the group and go try to find the next one.  When they find it, they hand it to the next class and the system repeats until the treasure is found.  In order to retrieve their sticker, each child (some with the help of their teacher) says something they can do to strengthen their family, then we can sing “We are a happy family” (CS 198).

Senior Primary Sharing Time:

We’ll do what the Outline suggests, above.

Last night we didn’t do my Repentance lesson for FHE because I’d forgotten that we’d invited the missionaries over to teach the lesson!  They came over to teach us a lesson on the Preach My Gospel book that they use to help them learn to be better missionaries.  I’ve been trying to read through it a bit at a time for a couple of months, and discovered there’s a lot of helpful stuff in there for me, too, and not just as a “member missionary.”  There’s stuff on setting goals, time management, and basic gospel doctrine.  I’ve found that it’s really helpful when I’m preparing for a Primary sharing time–I like to check my facts about the basic doctrine in it sometimes just to make sure I don’t accidentally veer off into a “Bethany opinion” tangent with the kids.

Anyway, the kids really enjoyed having the missionaries over since they got to climb all over them and look at the pictures in their books.  We sang “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” as the opening and closing songs at Degen’s request, with a “The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock” and several “Popcorn Popping” songs sprinkled into the lesson.  The missionaries gave us a tour of the book and helped us practice with a role-play giving a pass-along card to a friend or stranger.  We had a great time and it was good to get to know our missionaries a little better.

So, if you’re out of Family Home Evening ideas or just need a change, call the missionaries in your ward and invite them to come give a lesson in your home.  They’re probably supposed to visit and teach members anyway and may not have gotten to you yet (or are too shy/busy to ask you).

I will follow the prophet. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

I’m actually not sure which weeks I’m doing this month because I don’t have my schedule in front of me.  Plus, it’s a mixed up month with General Conference last week and one of my counselors on a trip for the rest of the month.  I’m guessing that I’m doing week three, but I’ll put down some ideas that will work for any week.

First of all, there’s a great coloring page with a picture of President Monson in the April Friend magazine here:

I think that coloring page could be used in any of the April Sharing Times. The Sharing Time page in the Friend is here. There’s a great printable color portrait of President Monson with lines below for writing down what the child can do to follow the prophet.  This month there are six different sharing time outlines, even though we only have three weeks, so there’s plenty to choose from!

The Sharing Time idea in the Outline is as follows:

“The prophet teaches me to read and pray about the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3–4; Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Testimony Vibrant and True,” Ensign, Aug. 2005, 2–6; GP, chapters 8, 10)”.

I don’t remember right now whether Pres. Monson mentioned the Book of Mormon or prayer specifically in his talks this weekend, but I’m guessing he did.  You will be able to find archives of his (and everyone else who spoke) talks here.

So, for the third week, here is a lesson plan of my own:

Hold up a picture of President Hinckley, say he was our prophet, and remind everyone of when he challenged us to all read the Book of Mormon.  Quote his talk (linked to above) saying “I offer a challenge to members of the Church throughout the world and to our friends everywhere to read or reread the Book of Mormon….Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.”  Ask the children if they remember that challenge.  Ask if anyone would like to share their experience with the group.  Share my own participation in the challenge and the blessings that came to me because of it.

Hold up a picture of President Monson and tell the children that he wants us to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, too.  Quote his talk from Nov 2007 General Relief Society Meeting here saying that he asked them to “Study diligently.  Pray earnestly.”

Ask the children what they think “study diligently” means.  Let them answer, then ask what “pray earnestly” means.  Have them repeat the two phrases a couple of times.

Hold up GAK picture #320 and tell the children that there was a prophet named Moroni who wrote them a message about reading and praying about the Book of Mormon.  Then have a child read Moroni 10:3-5.  Repeat the part that says “ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and 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.”  Bear testimony that this promise is true, and that all the children can know for themselves through the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true and that we have a prophet today.

If there is time, have the children color the picture above of President Monson speaking and the little boy giving a talk in Primary.