[Teachldsseminary] Teach: D&C 3,10

[Bev Tracy]

I had a great lesson today.  Sometimes I hesitate to share thinking that most of you are probably past my lessons and I am not very creative, but in light of our conversation today and because I am still feeling the spirit from this mornings Seminary, I am going to post.

I took my ideas from the lesson manual, the video manual and from our August in-service meeting--and the Spirit, of course.

I started by talking about principles and doctrine.  We defined each and I gave them an example from the SM we are learning this week--D&C 8:2-3.  I told them that principles are often preceded by attention words such as "Therefore" "Behold" "And thus we see."  Then I asked them to work on their own and read D&C 3:1-8 and underline all the principles they could find and pick one to share with the class along with why they picked that principle.  They did a marvelous job.  Everyone of them was successful in finding principles.  I think the key was telling them about the attention words.  It ensured success.  Even if two students selected the same principle, they might have different reasons for that selection.  One boy talked about receiving answers to prayers and I felt inspired to ask him if he had received answers to his prayers in that same manner and he said he had.  Then, I thanked him for sharing his testimony on the power of prayer.  Next I asked them to read the rest of the section with a friend and look for more principles and doctrines.  I told them that I wanted to hear talking.  Because they had been successful on their own, they were not hesitant to share their ideas with a neighbor.  Again, I asked them to share what they found and why they selected that principle.  We talked a bit about the 116 pages and about Martin Harris and Joseph Smith.  I asked them if they ever thought of Joseph Smith as someone who made mistakes.  They hadn't.  We talked about making mistakes and receiving forgiveness.  We talked about the firm and tender voice of the Lord, as mentioned in the Explanatory Introduction.  We talked about what might have been in the book of Lehi.  Near the end of class, one of the girls asked why Joseph Smith didn't just retranslate the 116 pages so it could be in the Book of Mormon.  I told her that was an excellent question and we would talk about it tomorrow.  

I am going to show the Martin Harris video at the beginning of class tomorrow and then follow the outline for D&C 10 in the video lesson guide.  

Bev
EMS, Fair Oaks, CA