November 2015 Question #2
One of the activities in the Come Follow Me curriculum suggest the girls put together a list of questions or a self-inventory to see where they are on the path to conversion. I decided to come up with my own self-inventory and have them take it. We will then go through and talk about how each thing contributes to conversion. Here are the questions I used. Some questions are obviously more weighted than others. This is done intentionally so that the girls can see that although they may not answer positively to every question they are still well on the path to conversion. I will stress that conversion is a process and testimony is where conversion begins.
Conversion
Self-Evaluation
Y N Do I pray daily?
Y N Do I keep the commandments?
Y N Do I study the scriptures?
Y N Do I strive to keep the holy ghost with me?
Y N I
have faith in Jesus Christ.
Y N Do I gossip?
Y N Do I share the gospel with others?
Y N Do I willingly pay my tithes and offerings?
Y N Do I want to have joy?
Y N Do I repent each week?
Y N Do I have a testimony of the gospel?
Y N Do I desire to do good all the time?
Y N Do I happily serve others?
Y N Do I seek opportunities to serve?
Y N Do I believe and follow the teachings of modern and
scriptural prophets?
Y N Do I do all the Lord asks and not rebel
against
Him?
Y N Do I press forward in Christ even when
tempted
or
discouraged?
Y N Do I strive to live gospel principles I may not understand?
Y N Is my behavior consistent at church,
home and school?
List what I do well on my path to becoming converted.
List one thing I can do to deepen my conversion.
Here is a handout with quotes from the talks in the lesson and some fill in the blanks.
The wonderful thing about the new Come Follow Me curriculum is that it is geared towards
having meaningful discussions about gospel principles. The bad thing is that it is geared towards
having meaningful discussions. I have sat through many lessons where the teacher ends up
sharing her own stories, doesn't give the kids enough time to answer and share, asks only one
or two questions the entire class, or the worst being, standing up and giving a lesson with
no feedback. Sometimes it is hard to come up with thought provoking questions to lead
discussion. One of our teacher trainers said that we should think about what we want to teach
and then craft meaningful questions for the students to answer and think about. With that in
mind, my lesson plan is full of questions because I never know exactly where class
participation will take the discussion.
The layout of my lesson it will go something like this:
- I will begin by asking the girls what things transform over time (tadpoles, seeds, caterpillars).
- How do these things relate to conversion?
- Is there a difference between testimony and conversion? If so, what?
- What kinds of decisions in our lives will lead us to conversion?
- How does practicing the values in the Personal Progress Program lead to conversion?
- What changes have you noticed in your life as you diligently work to live the gospel?
- Share an experience of a time you lived a gospel principle before knowing of its truthfulness.
- What experiences have deepened your conversion?
I will talk about the characteristics of a converted people found in True to the Faith and in Elder
Bednar's "Converted unto the Lord" talk we will discuss the things that result in conversion.
I made a butterfly treat that I will tie into the lesson by talking about how a caterpillar transforms
into a butterfly and how we go through a similar process.
I bought mini pretzels laid them together on parchment paper. Melt the melting chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments. Fill a ziplock bag with the melted chocolate then barely snip the edge to fill the holes in the pretzels and put extra in the middle to keep the pretzels together. Quickly add mini M&M's, sprinkles and confetti. Put them in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden. A cute see- through bag and a ribbon finishes it off.
