LDS Come Follow Me Lesson and Mutual Ideas November: Spiritual and Temporal Self-Reliance

For November the topic for "Come Follow Me" is,

Spiritual and Temporal Self-Reliance

 Here are the links to each organizations page for the month: Young Women, Aaronic Priesthood, Sunday School

Since, each organization has their own outlines and each lesson will need to be specified to the individual class members and there are already amazing outlines that can be used for guidance, I am only going to share some general ideas that can just be used as supplements.  The great thing about this program is to allow the spirit to guide you to the needs of the youth in your class. Prepare before hand, Pray for guidance, Listen to the Promptings of the Spirit and invite the youth to do the same. 

Here is the Scripture for the month:

“The power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves” (D&C 58:28).

Lesson Ideas: There are so many topics to choose from this month. I am just giving supplemental ideas to a few of them. Please refer to the church's website for the wonderful outlines they have for all of the topics, see links below. A great idea to begin each lesson is to invite each class member to come with a scripture or spiritual thought to share with the rest of the class.  (When I was a youth we did this in one of my classes, it is a class I loved to attend and had the most participation in it.)

Young Women: 

• What does it mean to be self-reliant? Give each class member a mind puzzle. Here is a link to  (Mind Puzzles). Invite them to figure it by themselves. Write the word self-reliant on the board. Ask the class members if they know what the phrase self-reliant means. Write their answers on the board. Explain just as they were asked to solve the puzzle by themselves, we are asked to also find solutions to our problems to care for ourselves and our families. Read and discuss: D&C 58:26–28.  Read and discuss Work and Self-Reliance from the For the Strength of Youth (2011), 40–41.
• How do I know if I am becoming converted?  This sharing time outline could be adapted to a youth class setting: Repentance is a change of mind and heart. 
• Why is it important for me to gain an education and develop skills? The week prior to this lesson invite the some class members to come prepared to teach or share a skill with their classmates.  Begin class by inviting the class members to read the following quotes from apostles: (see Quotes On Education printable below) Discuss what each of these quotes have in common. Discuss with the youth that this life is a life of gaining an acquiring knowledge. That is how we progress and become more like our Father in Heaven. Discuss ways we can gain an education and develop skills and how the knowledge we acquire can bless our lives and the lives of our families.
• Why is work an important gospel principle?  I love this talk by Bishop H. David Burton, "The Blessing of Work". This would be an amazing article to discuss with the youth. Below is a printable that could go with this lesson, "Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success." (President David O. McKay)
• Why does the Lord want me to be healthy? Show a picture of a car. Ask the class what the car needs to be in good working order and to run correctly? Write the things they say on the board. Ideas might include: The right kind of gasoline, Oil, Inflated Tires to the correct psi, Clean air filter, regular maintenance etc.  Explain that our bodies are like this car, they need to be taken care of.  Read this quote: "The way we treat our bodies affects our spiritual health and our ability to receive guidance from the Holy Ghost."  Play this video:  “A Brand New Year 2010: Physical Health”. Discuss ways we can keep our bodies healthy.
• What is the Lord’s way for providing for the poor and needy? Here is a great article: "Opportunities to Do Good"  This is a very inspiring video:  Time to Give. Here are some ideas and printables that could be used for this lesson: FHE on Serving Others With Love
• How can I find solutions to my challenges and problems? Review the story of Nephi and his broken bow with the class. (Nephi 16:18-31)  Discuss what Nephi's problem was and how he found a solution to his challenge. Discuss that we are not alone we have our Heavenly Father who is waiting for us to ask for his help. This talk has some great things that could be discussed: "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority"

Aaronic Priesthood: (See ideas above under Young Women)

• Why is it important to gain an education and develop skills?
• What does it mean to be self-reliant?
• How do I know if I am becoming converted?
• Why is work an important gospel principle?
• Why does the Lord want me to be healthy?
• What is the Lord’s way for providing for the poor and needy?
• How can I find solutions to my challenges and problems?

Sunday School: 

• How can I become spiritually self-reliant?  Invite the class members to take two-five minutes to think about a topic they would like to learn more about. Have them look in the topical guide of the scriptures for something related to that topic. Have them find a scripture related to the topic, read it to themselves and then invite those who would like to, share their scripture and what it means to them.  Play the video "They That Are Wise". Have the class members discuss why it is important that we become spiritually self-reliant. Have each class member list somethings they can do each day to become spiritually self-reliant, to set their foundation firmly in the gospel and to strengthen and build their testimonies.
• How can I find answers to my own gospel questions? Give each class member a common question. Invite them to use their scriptures to fin the answer to the question. Discuss the answer they found. Share this video: Search for Truth-Noelle
• How can I learn to make my own decisions?  Write the words Good, Better, and Best on the board. Invite each class member to come up and write something under one of these categories. Read the following quote:  "Heavenly Father is willing to guide us, but He does not always tell us exactly what to do. He has given us agency and expects us to use our knowledge, experience, and faith to guide our own decisions. We can then ask Him to confirm to us whether our decision is correct." Emphasize that we first figure things out ourselves and then ask Heavenly Father if our decision is correct.
• How can setting goals help me become self-reliant? Have the class write down some goals they have for the next year. Play the video:  “A Work in Progress”  
• How can I prepare to be financially self-reliant? I loved this idea from the website: "Ask the youth to explain how certain tools can be both helpful and harmful, depending on how they are used (such as a mousetrap, hammer, or book of matches; you may want to bring one of these items as a visual aid). Show the youth some money and ask them to explain the positive and negative uses of money. How can it be used to bless others and further the Lord’s work?"
• How can I stand as a witness of God?  I like the magnet object lesson idea under this topic.  After the object lesson. Read this phrase: "When we are baptized, we covenant to “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9). Because the standards of the world are diverging from the commandments of God, we are often required to defend our faith. In doing so, we should follow the example of the Savior, who was both courageous and loving in His defense of truth. If we are built on the “rock of our Redeemer,” the “mighty storm” of the last days will have “no power over [us] to drag [us] down … because of the rock upon which [we] are built” (Helaman 5:12)." Draw a rock on the board (Write Redeemer)  Invite the class to give you examples of how they can build their house or their life upon the teachings and example of the Savior. Draw the house on top of the rock. On the house write the examples the youth have given.  Draw a whirlwind invite the class to share some examples of the whirlwinds of the world.  Discuss how when our lives are built upon a firm foundation of the gospel, the whirlwinds will not be able to destroy us. Our foundation is set and we can stand as a witness of God and be unmovable. 

Idea's for Mutual:Here is a link to the Youth Activities Planning Site. *** This site is amazing! We recently had a short little training on this site at one of our Round Tables. It is a great resource for planning activities. It will only continue to grow as wards submit more ideas. One really need thing about it is it can link the activities right into your stake or ward calendars. ***

Printing tip: Click on the image and save to your computer. You will then be able to print the image from your computer.