LDS Sharing Time May 2014 Week #3: My family will be blessed as we follow the prophet.

May 2014 Sharing Time Topic: Families Are Blessed When They Follow the Prophet

May 2014 Scripture: “Be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets” (2 Peter 3:2). 

May 2014 Week 3 Topic:   My family will be blessed as we follow the prophet. 

Preparation:
Prayerfully study and think about what the specific needs of your primary are and how you can teach them this doctrine.

Identify the doctrine:  Prepare the treasure chest and print out the week's theme poster. (see printable below)  Prepare to share the video, "We Need Living Prophets". 

Help the Children Understand the Doctrine: Print out and prepare the printables of how to have "Happiness in Family Life" (Treasure chest printables with direction from apostles and prophets on them)

Help them apply the doctrine in their lives: Prepare to discuss how the direction given by the prophets can bless their individual families. Plan on inviting them to focus on following the direction throughout the week.

Free Printables: (Printing Tip: Click on image to open and then save image to your computer.  You can then print the image from your computer.

Here is an idea for the treasure chest.  I made this a few years back as a pinata for a pirate birthday party. This is a picture after it was hit a few times, thus the hole in the top.  It is just made out of cardboard, masking tape and paint.  You could do a similar thing with a shoe box. 

Sharing Time Instruction:

Before primary place this weeks theme poster into a treasure chest (This could be a shoe box decorated like a treasure chest), then hide it somewhere in the primary room. Begin sharing time by asking one of the primary children to listen to your directions to find a special treasure. Tell the rest of the primary children that they also have a job to sit very quietly and also listen to the directions given. Give the child simple directions to the hidden treasure. Thank the children for their participation.  Open the treasure chest and read the poster. Have everyone repeat with you, "My family will be blessed as we follow the prophet." Explain families can follow directions of prophets just as the primary child did to find the treasure. Show the following movie, "We Need Living Prophets".  

Explain to the children that our family can be blessed with happiness when we listen to the prophets and follow their direction.  Happiness in our families is one of the treasures we receive as we follow the counsel and direction given to us by our prophets and apostles. 

Tell the children that we are going to talk about some of the counsel given by the prophets and apostles to help their be, "Happiness in Family Life".  You can use the free treasure printables above to do this. After each one discuss how following the direction given by the prophet or apostle can help bless our families.

Read: "Happiness in Family Life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

~ The Family: A Proclamation to the World ~

(You can use the printable above to discuss these principles. A great idea would be to have them in the treasure chest with the theme poster. Invite a child to come up and pick one of the principles out of the treasure chest.)

Faith - "As children of God, knowing of His great love and His ultimate knowledge of what is best for our eternal welfare, we trust in Him. The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith means trust.” -by Dallin H. Oaks, Healing the Sick.

Prayer - "Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.” - by President Thomas S. Monson, Three Goals to Guide You

Repentance -  "The truth is that we all need repentance. If we are capable of reason and past the age of eight, we all need the cleansing that comes through applying the full effects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” - by Henry B. Eyring, Do Not Delay

Forgiveness - "Is there someone in your life who perhaps needs forgiveness? Is there someone in your home, someone in your family … who has done an unjust or an unkind or an unchristian thing? All of us are guilty of such transgressions, so there surely must be someone who yet needs your forgiveness.” -by Jeffrey R. Holland, Amazed at the Love Jesus Offers Me

Respect - "I hope that the noise of our homes will drop a few decibels, that we will subdue our voices and speak to one another with greater appreciation and respect.” -by President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Till We Meet Again”

Love - "The greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow.” -by Henry B. Eyring, Our Perfect Example

Compassion - "Some of the best lessons learned in life come from our parents. Mine taught me valuable lessons as I was growing up. Frequently those lessons had to do with serving others. I have many memories of my boyhood days. Anticipating Sunday dinner was one of them. Just as we children hovered at our so-called starvation level and sat anxiously at the table with the aroma of roast beef filling the room, Mother would say to me, ‘Tommy, before we eat, take this plate I’ve prepared down the street to Old Bob, and hurry back.’” -by President Thomas S. Monson, Examples of Great Teachers

Work - "From the very beginning, the Lord commanded Adam to till the earth and have dominion over the beasts of the field, to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. I have always been interested in how often the scriptures have admonished us to cease to be idle and to be productive in all of our labors. … Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them.” -by L. Tom Perry,
The Joy of Honest Labor

Activities - "Create meaningful family bonds that give your children an identity stronger than what they can find with their peer group or at school or anyplace else. This can be done through family traditions for birthdays, for holidays, for dinnertime, and for Sundays.“ -by M. Russell Ballard, What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest

Invite the children to think about these directions given by the prophets and apostles. Ask them to follow the directions throughout the week and see how much happier their family life will be and how blessed their family will be by following the prophet.

Close by sharing your testimony on the weeks topic.

Click this link for past Sharing Time post: LDS Primary Sharing Time Ideas 

***Basic ideas for this sharing time came from the 2014 Sharing Time Outline, you can find a link here: 2014 Sharing Time Outline.