Sharing Time: I can prepare to be worthy to go to the temple.

July Week 4 Sharing Time.

I've been debating how to teach the lesson tomorrow.  I actually taught the lesson about My Gospel Standards last year. It's an interesting topic because aside from this once a year, we don't talk about the fact that there's an official standards sheet, which is found on the back of the Gospel in Action booklet that each child receives when they turn eight.

Tomorrow is also a very special day because Pioneer Day actually falls on Sunday so I thought about how to tie this lesson in with Pioneer Day, to honor those who came before us, who heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knew it was good and true, and promised to follow and obey the commandments of God, often at great personal sacrifice.

I also want to give the children more opportunities to teach each other. On top of that, we've started our Teacher Council program, which means that every fourth Sunday, the teachers all go to council with each other and learn from each other. That means the teachers that will be in there will be substitutes that will be wonderful but haven't formed as close of a connection with the children, nor do they have the blessings of having been set apart to teach those children.

Anyway ... I think I settled on three main things:

1. Intro by talking about the Gospel Standards and reminding them of where they can find them. Actually, I think I'll ask and see if anyone can tell me first :)

2. Share a story about a pioneer and talk about how it reflects on Gospel Standards.

3. Have the children and teachers help give examples of how they live each of the Gospel Standards. I think I'll do this by passing strips out to classes, with one standard on each slip, and have the children discuss them in their classes, then depending on time, present them to the Primary. I feel they will be more willing to share their idea in smaller groups first, and I want them to feel encouraged and brave enough to speak. I cut out the strips by printing them out the list, but here's another fun way you can cut them out and display them.

I also thought about (and still might) simply match pioneer stories to Gospel Standards, or choose a few leaders in Primary, and have the children rotate between the groups to talk about the stories and then about how those experiences are in keeping with the Gospel Standards. We can learn so much from our Pioneer heritage! They were truly prepared to go to the temple. In fact, I would say that would be very appropriate considering last week's lesson was about how the pioneers built our first modern-day temples.

For stories about pioneers, I like these ones:

1. Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond - Pioneer Teacher
Mary, at age sixteen, opened the first school in Utah at Brigham Young's request, after he saw her teaching children while traveling west. I think this supports the gospel standard to "strengthen my family" and "read and watch things that are pleasing to Heavenly Father."

2. Modern-day Pioneer
Pioneer "a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area."
My parents are both converts to the church and are my modern-day pioneers. They both learned about the gospel and were baptized as teenagers, and they both did this as the only member of their families to hear and recognize the truth of the gospel. I'd love talk a little about that, and some of the ways they follow Gospel Standards, including the one to "honor my parents and do my part to strengthen my family." We don't have to all believe in the same things for us to strengthen each other as a family! In addition, my parents have spent many years now serving in the temple, and I can share a bit about them and how they prepared to be worthy to go to the temple and how that has blessed their lives and the lives of others today. My parents served missions in a foreign country in the temple, and now my dad is serving as a sealer in the temple. He recently had the pleasure of sealing together a couple in their early 80s. He has had so many special experiences, as has my mom.

3. There's also a bunch of pioneer stories that the LDS church put together specifically for Trek.
There are so many pioneer stories that it's difficult to choose, but I think if you can share one that is personal, this is a good place to do it. My husband is a descendant of Charles Shumway (there were believed to be about 7000 direct descendants at the time a dedicated genealogist, Margaret Shumway Sevey, put together a record in 1979, called "The Charles Shumway Family 1806-1979), who learned about the gospel and was baptized in 1841 in Massachusetts. In 1847, he was called by Brigham Young to be a member the pioneer company, leaving Winter Quarters with a group of 143 men and 3 women and 3 children. I'd love to share a little about his story. (I'm still reading about it specifically so I can talk about it tomorrow!)

This might also be fun to pass out: My Gospel Standards Matching Game.

This is also a great story about a modern day hero and about a historical hero that followed the Gospel Standards.