during our weekly meeting with missionaries, they gave us two great lessons on the Holy Ghost.
the first was the dirty sock!
they pulled out a wet, sandy, stinky sock . . (they are young males so i doubt they had to look far. . . still love you guys).
your foot represents the Holy Ghost.
the sock, represents you.
do you want to put on a dirty stinky sock? yeah, neither does the Holy Ghost. when you sin, you become dirty. the Holy Ghost will not stay in dirty places so you have to try to not sin. when you do sin, you need to repent as soon as possibly. if that sock had been washed after the first day, after it got into mud, after it was dropped, whatever happened to it - it wouldn't be so bad. even in this nasty stinky state, the sock can again be clean. add some soap (the Atonement) and some water (baptism or renewal of covenants) and some work (repentance, Christ will even do most of it for you if you put it in the washing machine . . you do have to do your part) and you have a nice clean sock again ready for the Holy Ghost to put you back on.
moral : you have to keep yourself clean for the Holy Ghost to stay with you.
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Sunday, September 9, 2012
the broken egg
today in sunday school, we had a great object lesson, actually two about sin and atonement.
the first was the broken egg. our teacher showed us a figurine that had a broken arm. she just pulled the arm off, i would guess it had been broken before. she asked how would you fix it? of course, with glue. i think she had a glue dot on it or something sticking in it to hold it on. she then just stuck it back on and talked about how when we repent, we have to not just change our ways but do what we can to repair the damage. then she showed us and egg. she laid a towel out on the table and broke it into a bowl. now, she said, "how do we fix the egg?". uh. . . we don't. there are some things that we can't repair. she used a pregnancy as result of sin as an example. many things that violate not only God's laws but also laws of the land also have some non-repairable results. basically, there are things that have not just spiritual results but temporal as well. that means that you can't put the egg back together because you have now changed the container. the broken egg made me think, though, that it doesn't mean all is lost. i would use the egg to make cookies, for instance. a pregnancy may not be the desired result but it will be a blessing to someone. even if the baby is put up for adoption, it is a blessing to someone. some sin may lead to legal repercussions. obviously, jail time or legal fines etc were not in the game plan, but part of the repentance process and still able to take advantage of the atonement. there are a good many sins that have temporal as well as spiritual results. things are not as easy had you not sinned in the first place but it is workable. i think that is always the most important lesson. it is always workable. God can always heal the soul and you can return to His presents. nothing in the world you do can make Him love you less. nothing makes you unworthy of His love. you are God's child and He always loves you and wants you to come back to Him. ALWAYS! no matter how many eggs you've broken God provides us the other ingredients for the cookies.
this kind of brings us to the second object lesson. she held up a 20€ bill. (i'm in germany, so we have euros) she asked who wanted it. then she ripped it into 2 pieces. who wants it now? well, some people still wanted it because they know the value of it. they know that it can be turned in at the bank for a new one as long as you have both halves. (this is true in america as well.) when we sin, we tear ourselves. God knows that not only can we be repaired, but we can be made new. we can just tape ourselves together and try to carry on or we can do the work, the process of repentance. we can gather the pieces, go to the bank and have ourselves made new through the Atonement of Christ.
as an end note, i would like to stress to you how important it is focus on the Atonement. talking about avoiding sin is great and talking about the proper use of the Atonement is good as well. i just want to stress that when talking about sin, the sin part is not the point, the Atonement, being made whole through Christ, that is the important part. the Atonement is what should be stressed, God's love for us and willingness to make us whole should be stressed. never, ever, ever think that God's love is lessened, or that Christ's Atonement is too little to bring you back, or that you have lost worth in any way. God always loves you! always, forever, no matter what.
the first was the broken egg. our teacher showed us a figurine that had a broken arm. she just pulled the arm off, i would guess it had been broken before. she asked how would you fix it? of course, with glue. i think she had a glue dot on it or something sticking in it to hold it on. she then just stuck it back on and talked about how when we repent, we have to not just change our ways but do what we can to repair the damage. then she showed us and egg. she laid a towel out on the table and broke it into a bowl. now, she said, "how do we fix the egg?". uh. . . we don't. there are some things that we can't repair. she used a pregnancy as result of sin as an example. many things that violate not only God's laws but also laws of the land also have some non-repairable results. basically, there are things that have not just spiritual results but temporal as well. that means that you can't put the egg back together because you have now changed the container. the broken egg made me think, though, that it doesn't mean all is lost. i would use the egg to make cookies, for instance. a pregnancy may not be the desired result but it will be a blessing to someone. even if the baby is put up for adoption, it is a blessing to someone. some sin may lead to legal repercussions. obviously, jail time or legal fines etc were not in the game plan, but part of the repentance process and still able to take advantage of the atonement. there are a good many sins that have temporal as well as spiritual results. things are not as easy had you not sinned in the first place but it is workable. i think that is always the most important lesson. it is always workable. God can always heal the soul and you can return to His presents. nothing in the world you do can make Him love you less. nothing makes you unworthy of His love. you are God's child and He always loves you and wants you to come back to Him. ALWAYS! no matter how many eggs you've broken God provides us the other ingredients for the cookies.
this kind of brings us to the second object lesson. she held up a 20€ bill. (i'm in germany, so we have euros) she asked who wanted it. then she ripped it into 2 pieces. who wants it now? well, some people still wanted it because they know the value of it. they know that it can be turned in at the bank for a new one as long as you have both halves. (this is true in america as well.) when we sin, we tear ourselves. God knows that not only can we be repaired, but we can be made new. we can just tape ourselves together and try to carry on or we can do the work, the process of repentance. we can gather the pieces, go to the bank and have ourselves made new through the Atonement of Christ.
as an end note, i would like to stress to you how important it is focus on the Atonement. talking about avoiding sin is great and talking about the proper use of the Atonement is good as well. i just want to stress that when talking about sin, the sin part is not the point, the Atonement, being made whole through Christ, that is the important part. the Atonement is what should be stressed, God's love for us and willingness to make us whole should be stressed. never, ever, ever think that God's love is lessened, or that Christ's Atonement is too little to bring you back, or that you have lost worth in any way. God always loves you! always, forever, no matter what.
Monday, June 4, 2012
missionary games
We have the missionaries over most every week. last
week, the kids decided they needed to come over for a game night for
family home evening. hmmm . . . games to play with the
missionaries.
here's what we came up with -
SCRIPTURE SCAVENGER HUNT
I came up with a couple versions of this game. You can make this fit any scriptures you are studying or subject you are talking about.
you could always use scriptures you're working with or the
Articles of Faith,
The Family: A Proclamation to the World,
The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,
http://seminary.lds.org/mastery/?lang=eng
you can use 4 teams with each using the scripture mastery set from the 4 sets of works, old test., new test., book of mormon, doc. & cov. everyone can use the same set, mix it up however suits your purposes. use time limit or til each team is done or just go all together. we aren't competitive, so we don't keep score anyway. it would be a fun thing to take on a nature walk or on a car ride as well. basic scavenger hunt except you get to be creative with it.
take this scripture for example : john 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
you could find a sheep or something sheep related. - we got toy sheep taped together into one fold and we got a toy sheep with a farmer (shepard).
you could find something to represent fold, like folded clothing.
something for hearing or voice.
a shepherd or shepherds staff or a stick.
possibly a fence to keep the sheep together
the number 1.
you could get less symbolic and go with america or nephites/lamanites which is what this refers to. . . .
you get it.
it's fun to see what people come up with. if someone gets too far off, take a vote.
one of the other options is to use the scriptures as clues to where to find things/more clues.
genesis 8: 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. That would lead to the window where another clue would be found.
Leviticus 25:22 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store which would lead to your food storage etc.
if you've read book of mormon sleuth, it does this all the way through and has some really obscure references.
I found a quick list for a scavenger hunt if you are too lazy to look some up, (like i am) http://katscratchme2.blogspot.de/2009/04/scripture-scavenger-hunt.html
I used all but the last one and added john 10:6 from above. We got some really creative answers. It was fun to see what they came up with.
BALLOON BOUNCE
*spiritual thought - surround yourself with those who are uplifting and be uplifting to others*
we always have balloons, they are better for you than candy. everyone enjoyed batting them back and forth. there are rules, but no one really plays by them for more than a few minutes. and when you're playing with a rambunctious 2 year old, just keeping the balloon it the air is great
WHO'S THE ANIMAL?
*spiritual thought - listen closely to recognize who you're following*
To start the game, you need a person that is it. Everyone stands in the circle, except the person who is it, they stand in the middle. Put a blindfold on the person who is it. Have them say "Go" everyone runs around, not making any clue of where they are. When the person who is it says "Stop" all the people stop in the circle again. The person who is it points in a direction, saying an animal. Whoever he/she points to has to make the animal noise that they were told. Trying not to sound like themselves. The person tries to guess the person who made the noise. If he/she guesses right, the person who did the animal is it, if not you just pick someone else to be it. - Maren Jacobs from http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm
this was really fun. we got a bit off topic and started naming pokemon and other sci-fi creatures which was just more hilarious. one of the missionaries wasn't familiar with pokemon so he was totally lost but a good sport anyway.
FLOUR TOWER
*this is a great example of how satan and the world slowly cuts away at your will, truth, righteous choices etc. until your most valuable possession your eternal progression falls. through the Atonement, you can repent and rebuild your tower and again claim eternal glory*or show how the church was cut away until it fell and was taken from the earth by God. he used the same things (priesthood prophets etc = flour) to rebuild the church (tower)*
use a cup and form your flour like a sand castle. you'll have to pack it to get it to stay. . then put your plate on top of the cup and turn them over so the flour can come out on the plate. i used an old ice cream cup and put a hole in the bottom so it would release easier. clear is best so you can see if it is coming out, tapp it a bit with knife. place a penny on the top and take turns cutting chunks off of the tower with a butter or plastic knife. you have to cut from top to bottom, no chicken little chunks. the one who makes the penny fall loses. we played this a lot. the new rule we had to make is that the little blonde 2 year old curls gets to finish the tower after the penny falls and if you're holding the knife when he bumps the table making the penny fall, you lose.
SCREAMING TOES-
spiritual thought for this game – when faced with temptation, scream and run away
so much fun! Everyone gets in a circle. Look down, close your eyes, someone says, “1.2.3” and everyone opens their eyes to look at someone's toes. You look at the face of the owner of those toes and if that person is looking at you, you scream and get out of the circle. Sometimes we get an elder that is shy and doesn't really scream. We tell him he is going to outer darkness because he won't scream in the face of evil and then show him how to scream. They usually will get into it after they hear everyone else screaming like madmen. It's tons of fun! One of our elders made crazy noises while screaming. He unleashed his t-rex scream on my daughter. She laughed so hard that she just sat down to keep from falling over, (so did everyone else).
SIGNS A.K.A. NEPHITE IN THE MIDDLE
*spiritual thought - you could talk about gadianton robbers or recognizing evil, the murders around the judgment seat during pahoran's time is a great story for this game.
(one of the missionaries taught us this game and we have now passed it on to the next set of missionaries.) everyone has a sign. like a finger mustache, bunny ears, pulling your hair, scratching your chin, something with your hands. It should be something you can do quickly. one person in the middle closes their eyes and turns three times. the people around the outside start the game while "it" turns. That just gives everyone a chance to get going without “it” seeing. the first person makes their own sign and then another person's sign. that person makes their own sign to accept the turn. Then they make the sign of another person. the person in the center tries to catch the person who has the sign. so if the person has not accepted the sign yet, the person who sent it is still has it. another version is if you send "it"out of the room and everyone makes up their sign and the person in the middle tries to guess someones sign. the person whose sign they guess correctly is it. This gets crazy. You can sit or stand. It's better to stand, I think, so you can all move a little easier and see the other people.
STICK PULL
this is just a favorite game of joseph smith.
usually, two people sit opposite of each other, they grab a stick and try to pull the other person over. we didn't have stick so they just held hands. my younger two ganged up on the missionaries but it was lots of fun.
NINJA.
I failed to get spiritual thought for this one. I told the kids they could play it if they come up with something spiritual for it, didn’t but played it anyway because they all like it so much.
i don't get it cuz i'm old. but the missionaries had played before and all of my kids thought it was great. the little blonde curls didn't play by the rules, surprise surprise. bow to each other. pose like a ninja. step or attack each move. so the first steps or makes a new ninja pose that tries to hit the other person's hand. you can move your hand/arm or step back to avoid the attack. it's looks like robot ninjas and i love watching them. its hilarious!
we'll have to do this again when it's warmer and can play outside. one of the neighbors showed up and played with us. the missionaries gave a short lesson and we had treats, (of course). any other fun games? ldssplash had a lot of other fun games as well. they tried gospel says but it didn't go very far. i think the curly toddler had something to do with that.
Update-
We have now done another round of missionary monday. They did get to play the scavenger hunt outside. I gave them a positive propulsion book and a puzzle object lesson that we worked on and talked about during dinner. All worked out wonderfully again and was extremely fun! This last time we had four missionaries over instead of two. The increase in people was great.
update jan 2014
this time, we used the articles of faith for our scavenger hunt. i have to keep reminding them that they have a time limit and it is not a race. the scavenger hunt gives me time to get food started. i always have to remind them to really think out of the box and get more than one thing for each scripture. whatever is the same from the other team, doesn't count.
we learned a new game this time.
WASH THE DISHES
to play this game, you need a piece of paper and pencil. decide on an order, we just used how people were sitting around the table. the first person writes down a number and everyone in turn tries to guess it. they are told higher or lower as they go. the first person to guess the number is the washer. the next person in line writes down a number. the guessing continues until you find a new washer and the old washer becomes the drier. this rotation in and out continues with the drier going out or putting away until all the dishes are done. this was lots of fun but we had to keep everyone guessing. some of them decided they wouldn't guess very fast to keep their turn from coming up or they would just guess up and down one number at t time. stinkers. i had to implement some rules. the number had to be a whole number between 1 and 100. no fractions or decimals, no numbers like 827,340,827,350,928,309,470,374 and no negative numbers. if you have math geeks in the group, you may need to specify more rules.
http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm
here's what we came up with -
SCRIPTURE SCAVENGER HUNT
I came up with a couple versions of this game. You can make this fit any scriptures you are studying or subject you are talking about.
you could always use scriptures you're working with or the
Articles of Faith,
The Family: A Proclamation to the World,
The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,
http://seminary.lds.org/mastery/?lang=eng
you can use 4 teams with each using the scripture mastery set from the 4 sets of works, old test., new test., book of mormon, doc. & cov. everyone can use the same set, mix it up however suits your purposes. use time limit or til each team is done or just go all together. we aren't competitive, so we don't keep score anyway. it would be a fun thing to take on a nature walk or on a car ride as well. basic scavenger hunt except you get to be creative with it.
take this scripture for example : john 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
you could find a sheep or something sheep related. - we got toy sheep taped together into one fold and we got a toy sheep with a farmer (shepard).
you could find something to represent fold, like folded clothing.
something for hearing or voice.
a shepherd or shepherds staff or a stick.
possibly a fence to keep the sheep together
the number 1.
you could get less symbolic and go with america or nephites/lamanites which is what this refers to. . . .
you get it.
it's fun to see what people come up with. if someone gets too far off, take a vote.
one of the other options is to use the scriptures as clues to where to find things/more clues.
genesis 8: 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. That would lead to the window where another clue would be found.
Leviticus 25:22 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store which would lead to your food storage etc.
if you've read book of mormon sleuth, it does this all the way through and has some really obscure references.
I found a quick list for a scavenger hunt if you are too lazy to look some up, (like i am) http://katscratchme2.blogspot.de/2009/04/scripture-scavenger-hunt.html
I used all but the last one and added john 10:6 from above. We got some really creative answers. It was fun to see what they came up with.
BALLOON BOUNCE
*spiritual thought - surround yourself with those who are uplifting and be uplifting to others*
we always have balloons, they are better for you than candy. everyone enjoyed batting them back and forth. there are rules, but no one really plays by them for more than a few minutes. and when you're playing with a rambunctious 2 year old, just keeping the balloon it the air is great
WHO'S THE ANIMAL?
*spiritual thought - listen closely to recognize who you're following*
To start the game, you need a person that is it. Everyone stands in the circle, except the person who is it, they stand in the middle. Put a blindfold on the person who is it. Have them say "Go" everyone runs around, not making any clue of where they are. When the person who is it says "Stop" all the people stop in the circle again. The person who is it points in a direction, saying an animal. Whoever he/she points to has to make the animal noise that they were told. Trying not to sound like themselves. The person tries to guess the person who made the noise. If he/she guesses right, the person who did the animal is it, if not you just pick someone else to be it. - Maren Jacobs from http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm
this was really fun. we got a bit off topic and started naming pokemon and other sci-fi creatures which was just more hilarious. one of the missionaries wasn't familiar with pokemon so he was totally lost but a good sport anyway.
FLOUR TOWER
*this is a great example of how satan and the world slowly cuts away at your will, truth, righteous choices etc. until your most valuable possession your eternal progression falls. through the Atonement, you can repent and rebuild your tower and again claim eternal glory*or show how the church was cut away until it fell and was taken from the earth by God. he used the same things (priesthood prophets etc = flour) to rebuild the church (tower)*
use a cup and form your flour like a sand castle. you'll have to pack it to get it to stay. . then put your plate on top of the cup and turn them over so the flour can come out on the plate. i used an old ice cream cup and put a hole in the bottom so it would release easier. clear is best so you can see if it is coming out, tapp it a bit with knife. place a penny on the top and take turns cutting chunks off of the tower with a butter or plastic knife. you have to cut from top to bottom, no chicken little chunks. the one who makes the penny fall loses. we played this a lot. the new rule we had to make is that the little blonde 2 year old curls gets to finish the tower after the penny falls and if you're holding the knife when he bumps the table making the penny fall, you lose.
SCREAMING TOES-
spiritual thought for this game – when faced with temptation, scream and run away
so much fun! Everyone gets in a circle. Look down, close your eyes, someone says, “1.2.3” and everyone opens their eyes to look at someone's toes. You look at the face of the owner of those toes and if that person is looking at you, you scream and get out of the circle. Sometimes we get an elder that is shy and doesn't really scream. We tell him he is going to outer darkness because he won't scream in the face of evil and then show him how to scream. They usually will get into it after they hear everyone else screaming like madmen. It's tons of fun! One of our elders made crazy noises while screaming. He unleashed his t-rex scream on my daughter. She laughed so hard that she just sat down to keep from falling over, (so did everyone else).
SIGNS A.K.A. NEPHITE IN THE MIDDLE
*spiritual thought - you could talk about gadianton robbers or recognizing evil, the murders around the judgment seat during pahoran's time is a great story for this game.
(one of the missionaries taught us this game and we have now passed it on to the next set of missionaries.) everyone has a sign. like a finger mustache, bunny ears, pulling your hair, scratching your chin, something with your hands. It should be something you can do quickly. one person in the middle closes their eyes and turns three times. the people around the outside start the game while "it" turns. That just gives everyone a chance to get going without “it” seeing. the first person makes their own sign and then another person's sign. that person makes their own sign to accept the turn. Then they make the sign of another person. the person in the center tries to catch the person who has the sign. so if the person has not accepted the sign yet, the person who sent it is still has it. another version is if you send "it"out of the room and everyone makes up their sign and the person in the middle tries to guess someones sign. the person whose sign they guess correctly is it. This gets crazy. You can sit or stand. It's better to stand, I think, so you can all move a little easier and see the other people.
STICK PULL
this is just a favorite game of joseph smith.
usually, two people sit opposite of each other, they grab a stick and try to pull the other person over. we didn't have stick so they just held hands. my younger two ganged up on the missionaries but it was lots of fun.
NINJA.
I failed to get spiritual thought for this one. I told the kids they could play it if they come up with something spiritual for it, didn’t but played it anyway because they all like it so much.
i don't get it cuz i'm old. but the missionaries had played before and all of my kids thought it was great. the little blonde curls didn't play by the rules, surprise surprise. bow to each other. pose like a ninja. step or attack each move. so the first steps or makes a new ninja pose that tries to hit the other person's hand. you can move your hand/arm or step back to avoid the attack. it's looks like robot ninjas and i love watching them. its hilarious!
we'll have to do this again when it's warmer and can play outside. one of the neighbors showed up and played with us. the missionaries gave a short lesson and we had treats, (of course). any other fun games? ldssplash had a lot of other fun games as well. they tried gospel says but it didn't go very far. i think the curly toddler had something to do with that.
Update-
We have now done another round of missionary monday. They did get to play the scavenger hunt outside. I gave them a positive propulsion book and a puzzle object lesson that we worked on and talked about during dinner. All worked out wonderfully again and was extremely fun! This last time we had four missionaries over instead of two. The increase in people was great.
update jan 2014
this time, we used the articles of faith for our scavenger hunt. i have to keep reminding them that they have a time limit and it is not a race. the scavenger hunt gives me time to get food started. i always have to remind them to really think out of the box and get more than one thing for each scripture. whatever is the same from the other team, doesn't count.
we learned a new game this time.
WASH THE DISHES
to play this game, you need a piece of paper and pencil. decide on an order, we just used how people were sitting around the table. the first person writes down a number and everyone in turn tries to guess it. they are told higher or lower as they go. the first person to guess the number is the washer. the next person in line writes down a number. the guessing continues until you find a new washer and the old washer becomes the drier. this rotation in and out continues with the drier going out or putting away until all the dishes are done. this was lots of fun but we had to keep everyone guessing. some of them decided they wouldn't guess very fast to keep their turn from coming up or they would just guess up and down one number at t time. stinkers. i had to implement some rules. the number had to be a whole number between 1 and 100. no fractions or decimals, no numbers like 827,340,827,350,928,309,470,374 and no negative numbers. if you have math geeks in the group, you may need to specify more rules.
http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm
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