Okay, I am learning what's work and what doesn't. Today was a "doesn't." We worked in groups of five or six and tried to decide what was more important for our well-being because we were lost/stranded. We didn't know where we were. We needed to list in order one being the most important and 15 being the least. We needed to make a personal decision and a group decision. The items were box of matches, food concentrate, length of nylon rope, parachute silk, portable heating unit, two 45-caliber pistols, case of dehydrated milk, two 50 kg tanks of oxygen, map, life raft, magnetic compass, five jugs of water, signal flares, first-aid kit with hypodermic needles and a solar-powered radio transmitter-receiver. Interesting to watch the different groups (ask Bryan how well he worked with his group). In the end there was no right or wrong answers. The questions were: (1) when you were ranking the items as a group, did someone take charge? Who? (2) Did some participate in the process more than others? In what ways? (3) What motivated the group to succeed? (4) What attitudes helped the group succeed? (5) How did the group discussion help you understand any errors in your own thinking? (6) What attitudes led to disorganization?
So, the final outcome -- this was a bust! I was trying to point out what Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, Sam and others may have had to face. Who takes charge? Why? Why is it always Nephi? How can we possibly build a boat? Oh yeah, we have seen an angel....what does that have to do with building a boat? etc. Oh, well....moving on (luckily not on a boat -- I might be facing mutiny).
This week we will be finished with 1 Nephi.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
THE LIAHONA
We compared a compass to the liahona. A compass is man-made -- liahona was prepared for Lehi by the hand of the Lord (2 Nephi 5:12). A compass works by allowing a magnetized needle to align itself with the earth's magnetic field -- liahona worked according to their faith in God. Alma teaches us that the word of Christ is our liahona. The words of Christ can come from several sources, including the scriptures, living prophets, patriarchal blessings and the Holy Ghost speaking to our conscience.
Nephi and his family faced difficult situations. One time Nephi's bow broke, his brothers bows lost their spring and there was no way to obtain their food. Nephi's family murmured (including Lehi). Instead of complaining Nephi made a new bow out of wood and an arrow out of a straight stick. We decided he was optimistic. Then Nephi went to his father, who was the prophet and asked where he should go to obtain food. Nephi was also honoring his father by asking him where he should go for food. Food was found and all were humbled. The moral is sometimes we just need to figure out plan B or C or D and just DO IT. It doesn't help to murmur.
Interesting tidbit of information: 1 Nephi 16:34 tells us....Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom. In verse 13 Nephi tells us that "we did call the name of the place Shazer." This indicates that they did not name Nahom -- it already had that name and probably others lived and visited Nahom. Soooooo, why is that so cool? Maybe Nephi was giving us a clue as to where they actually had traveled to from Jerusalem. A few years ago archaeologists discovered ancient alters in Yemen that bear the name Nahom. The alters dated back to the 7th or 6th century BC. Why do I think this is so cool? Joseph Smith could not have known 20th century archaeologists would find alters bearing the name Nahom. Pretty cool!
Nephi and his family faced difficult situations. One time Nephi's bow broke, his brothers bows lost their spring and there was no way to obtain their food. Nephi's family murmured (including Lehi). Instead of complaining Nephi made a new bow out of wood and an arrow out of a straight stick. We decided he was optimistic. Then Nephi went to his father, who was the prophet and asked where he should go to obtain food. Nephi was also honoring his father by asking him where he should go for food. Food was found and all were humbled. The moral is sometimes we just need to figure out plan B or C or D and just DO IT. It doesn't help to murmur.
Interesting tidbit of information: 1 Nephi 16:34 tells us....Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom. In verse 13 Nephi tells us that "we did call the name of the place Shazer." This indicates that they did not name Nahom -- it already had that name and probably others lived and visited Nahom. Soooooo, why is that so cool? Maybe Nephi was giving us a clue as to where they actually had traveled to from Jerusalem. A few years ago archaeologists discovered ancient alters in Yemen that bear the name Nahom. The alters dated back to the 7th or 6th century BC. Why do I think this is so cool? Joseph Smith could not have known 20th century archaeologists would find alters bearing the name Nahom. Pretty cool!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
NEPHI'S VISION
1 Nephi 11-14 We talked about some of the things Nephi was able to see in his vision. He saw the birth of Christ, John the Baptist, Christ's trial and crucifixion, battle between Nephites and Lamanites, destruction of Nephites, Columbus discovering America, plain and precious truths are removed from the Bible, wars and rumors of wars and tells us "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and THEY WERE ARMED WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WITH THE POWER OF GOD IN GREAT GLORY." (1 Nephi 14:14) If Nephi could see the birth of Christ, John the Baptist, Christopher Columbus and all the other things he saw that we know have happened, why wouldn't he be able to see what will happen in our times? He saw the righteous being armed with righteousness and power -- what side do we want to be on?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
FALLEN IN A PIT
Imagine that you have dropped into a deep, dark pit with steep, slippery walls. You can't climb out and nothing in the pit can help you escape. How will you get out? First answer from class: pray! Always best to start here. Second answer: dig your way out -- this will be impossible because either the ground is impossible to dig through or you may not have hands to dig with. Third answer: try to jump out -- too tall, it's impossible. So how do we get out? Someone outside of the pit will have to help us. They can lower us a ladder to help us climb out.
President Joseph F. Smith: "This was precisely the condition that Adam placed himself and his posterity in, when he partook of the forbidden fruit. All being together in the pit, none could gain the surface and relieve the others. The pit was banishment from the presence of the Lord and temporal death, the dissolution of the body. And all being subject to death, none could provide the means of escape. Therefore, in His infinite Mercy, the Father heard the cries of His children and sent His Only Begotten Son, who was not subject to death nor to sin, to provide the means of escape. This He did through His infinite atonement and the everlasting gospel."
No matter how smart we are, how talented we are, how handsome we are or how pretty we are, we cannot get out of the pit alone. We need to rely on Jesus Christ to hand us a ladder.
President Joseph F. Smith: "This was precisely the condition that Adam placed himself and his posterity in, when he partook of the forbidden fruit. All being together in the pit, none could gain the surface and relieve the others. The pit was banishment from the presence of the Lord and temporal death, the dissolution of the body. And all being subject to death, none could provide the means of escape. Therefore, in His infinite Mercy, the Father heard the cries of His children and sent His Only Begotten Son, who was not subject to death nor to sin, to provide the means of escape. This He did through His infinite atonement and the everlasting gospel."
No matter how smart we are, how talented we are, how handsome we are or how pretty we are, we cannot get out of the pit alone. We need to rely on Jesus Christ to hand us a ladder.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
OUR CLASS IN ACTION
Harrison receiving a letter of appreciation.
Jake filming the LN/LC football game that was used on channel 6.
Macey using her arms for cross country.
Maddy in the final stretch.
Ross breaking out of the pack.PRAYER CHALLENGE
I issued a challenge to all students. Challenge may not be the right word -- suggestion, maybe? Starting September 1 we need to focus on making prayers a habit. When we awake in the morning, we need to hit the floor with our knees before anything else. This means we need to wake up a few minutes earlier (I said a few hours earlier and I got every one's attention). Then at night we need to pray before going to bed. These times are merely a suggestion. We need to remember that we can pray whenever. The challenge is for the entire month of September. If the challenge is accepted, I hope that the people accepting the challenge will notice a difference in their lives. Prayer makes a difference for me. "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." Alma 32:27 We are experimenting upon the word, the word of prayer. Will it work -- we have to experiment to find out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)