Life's Journey To Perfection: 2018 Primary Sharing Time Ideas for January Week 2: Heavenly Father’s plan is a plan of happiness

Ideas for January Week 2 LDS Primary Sharing Time,

2018 Sharing Time Outline Theme: I am a Child of God

January 2018 Sharing Time Topic: I Am a Child of God, and He Has a Plan for Me

January 2018 Song: “I Am a Child of God” (CS, 2–3)

January Week 2 Topic: Heavenly Father’s plan is a plan of happiness.

Preparation:

Prayerfully study and think about what the specific needs of your primary are and how you can teach them this doctrine. The most important thing is to love those you teach and to teach them by the Spirit!! Focus on building their testimonies and helping them come unto Christ! (All printables for this sharing time can be found and printed by clicking the "Free Printable Download" button. They are free and can be printed and used for personal and church purposes)

Sharing Time Instruction:

The Sharing Time topic, "Heavenly Father's Plan is a plan of happiness", is the topic for both week 2 and week 3. I am dividing it up, by week 2 describing Heavenly Father's plan and week 3, why it is the plan of happiness. If you think you will run out of time, you could focus on the pre-motal and mortal life for week 2 and then the rest & why it is the plan of happiness for week 3. Here is the link to Week 3.

Week 2 ideas:

Begin sharing time by showing the primary children a picture of the pre-existance. Explain that last week we talked about how we lived with Heavenly Father before we came to this earth, that He is the Father of our Spirits.

Show the primary children the week's theme poster and invite them to repeat, "Heavenly Father's plan is a plan of happiness".

Ask the primary children if they were going on a journey would they want to have a map? A map that showed them where they were at, where they were going and how to get there?

Our Heavenly Father has given us a map, so to speak, it is his plan of happiness.

Read the following quote,

"Our life didn’t begin at birth and won’t end at death. Because God cares about us, we don’t need to wander through life, wondering where we came from, who we are, and what we should be working toward.

Our lives have direction because Heavenly Father created a plan we can follow to return to live with Him. It’s called the plan of salvation or the plan of happiness, and it’s like a map charting our course.

If we follow God’s direction, we’ll make it to our destination. Those who follow this plan are promised “immortality and eternal life,” or unending happiness with God and our families in heaven. This is what God wants for all of us.

God’s plan for us is simple to understand, but it takes a lifetime to follow. Following the plan of happiness is easier when we do the simple things, like reading the scriptures, going to church, praying, and serving others. Jesus Christ was the perfect example in following God's plan. It takes faith and works for us to be like Jesus, but it is worth it now and will be in eternity." (lds.org Plan of Salvation)

For the rest of Sharing Time have the primary children help you put the "map" or plan of happiness/salvation together on the board.

Begin with the Pre-mortal world and explain that we lived their with our Heavenly Father and all of His children. This is where he presented His plan to us and we chose to follow His plan. Ask the primary children how they know that they chose to follow His plan? Because we are here.

Next, place the Birth and Mortal life printables on the board and explain to the primary children that part of Heavenly Father's plan of happiness is that we would come to earth and experience mortality. We wanted to become just like our Heavenly Father.

In our mortal life there were things we would do to become like Heavenly Father. These things are all part of His plan. (have a primary child place the printables on the board as you discuss them)

1- Body: Part of God's plan was that we would come to earth to gain bodies so we could become like our Father in Heaven. He sent us to families which can help us follow His plan.

2- Make Choices: as part of mortal life we would need to make choices for ourselves. These choices can help us learn and grow.

3- Baptism: As part of Heavenly Father's plan we would need to make covenants with Heavenly Father through baptism.

4- Confirmation: We would become able to receive the Holy Ghost (the third member of the Godhead) as our constant companion. To help us make the right choices, that will lead us back to our Heavenly Father.

5- Savior: Because of the fall of Adam and Eve we would need a Savior. In Heaven our Brother Jesus said that he would be our Savior. He would come to earth and suffer for our sins, he would be an example for us and he would die for us and be resurrect so we can return to our Heavenly Father.

6- Temple Covenants: in God's holy temples we are able to make further essential covenants with our Heavenly Father.

7- He gave us scriptures and prophets to help guide us and teach us about His plan and how to return to Him.

Next, place the Death word strip, Because we are mortal we will all experience death. Our body will stay on this earth while our spirit will go to the spirit world to either spirit paradise or spirit prison until the resurrection.

Place the Resurrection printable on the board: Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we will be resurrected too, our body and our spirit will reunite. Never to be separated ever again. Everyone who chose to come to this earth will be resurrected.

Place the Judgement printable on the board: We will come before the Lord and be judged. Our deeds, faithfulness and testimony will help in determining which degree of glory we will dwell in.

Placement in Degrees of Glory: The Celestial with our Heavenly Father and Savior, or the Terrestrial or Telestial. Our Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him. That is part of His plan. It is where we will achieve happiness. Point out that where we are at is Mortal Life, where we want to go, is the Celestial Kingdom with our Heavenly Father. The plan shows us how to get there, point to all of those things that we can do on earth.

Conclude by sharing your testimony of the plan of happiness.

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Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that these ideas were helpful. Below are the other topics for the months as well as more ideas and resources. I'd love for you to check out my Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest pages and see if there's anything on there you like!

What else have the primary children learned this month? Here are links to this month's past sharing times:

ULTIMATE LIST OF SHARING TIME IDEAS