The Lesson - How does keeping the commandments affect my ability to learn the gospel? - What I did.

Introduction

Aight.  To introduce this topic, I gave one card to each kid that had instructions on how to locate a letter of the alphabet:

I told them that they had to obey the instructions on the card so that they could know where to find the letter of the alphabet.  Once each of them found his letter, I put a small poster up on the board and told them that the letters had to be arranged to form a word that could fit in the blank.  This is how it should look when they're finished:

Daniel and His Friends

The online manual suggested that we go over the story of Daniel and his friends, found in Daniel chapter 1.  I decided to use my flannel board and do a flannel board story.  And yes, I teach teenagers.  They love this kind of stuff.  For reals.  It's different.  It shakes things up.  So they like it.  I can't find the original web address where I found these figures, so I'm going to just put my pdf that I saved here for you:

And then I'll type the summarizing story that goes with it here:

When King Neuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered the land of Judah, he brought back to his kingdom some of the well-favored children of Israel.  Chosen were those who were without blemish, who were wise and well-educated.  Among them were four young men - Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

The king told his servant to feed them rich foods and wines for three years, the same food he would eat himself, and then bring them before him.

Daniel and his friends had been taught to eat a more healthy diet, and he made a request of the king's servant.  "Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse [seeds, grains, vegetables] to eat, and water to drink.

"Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants."  (Dan. 1:12-13.)

The servant agreed.  The Lord blessed the four young men for their faithfulness, and after ten days had passed, Daniel and his friends were fairer and healthier than those who ate the king's meat.

You can be like Daniel in the scriptures.  You, too, know what the Lord would have you eat and drink.  You know what is not good for you (see D&C 89).  If a king, or a friend, or anyone else tempts you to try something that is harmful to your body, say no with the same courage shown by Daniel.

Kay, this is Kar again.  I always knew that one of the main ideas of the story is that eating healthy foods will bless us with good health.  However, there are two verses in the chapter that also talk about another blessing that the Lord gave to Daniel and his friends - wisdom.  Gospel knowledge.  I had them look up Dan. 1: 17, 20.  We read them, highlighted them, and wrote in the margin, "If we keep the commandments, we are blessed with gospel knowledge."

Quotes

The online manual refers to two talks by general authorities to read in preparation for this lesson, and I picked my two favorite quotes from the talks, quotes that I felt really went with the main idea of this lesson.  Here they are:

1.  Like a growing plant, [your testimony] must be nurtured or it will wither. Frequent and heartfelt prayers of faith are crucial and needed nutrients. Obedience to the truth you have received will keep the testimony alive and strengthen it. Obedience to the commandments is part of the nourishment you must provide for your testimony.  -  Elder Henry B. Eyering, quoted from this talk.

2.  One must be ever mentally and physically clean and have purity of intent so that the Lord can inspire. One who is obedient to His commandments is trusted of the Lord. That individual has access to His inspiration to know what to do and, as needed, the divine power to do it.  - Elder Richard G. Scott, quoted from this talk.

Line Upon Line

One of the suggested scriptures for the lesson is 2 Ne. 28:30.  I had the kids look it up, underline it and discuss it, and then I whipped out this bad boy:

Aw yeah.  Saturday's Warrior.  Circa 1989.  VHS.  I showed the song that Pam sings called "Line Upon Line."  The kids got a better idea of what that scripture is about, plus they had the added bonus of making fun of peoples' hair and clothes. :)

Scripture Activity 

This was one of the suggested activities from the online manual.  I gave each kid a slip of paper with a scripture on it:

On each slip, I said, "Read this and ponder what it teaches you about obedience and gospel learning.  Then, find someone in the class who selected a different scripture than you did and share with each other what you learned."

There are only four scriptures, so of course more than one kid had the same scripture.  So having them find someone who read a different scripture than them and discussing their different scriptures is a stroke of genius on the church curriculum peoples' part.  Here are the four scriptures:

John 7:17
D&C 76:  5-10
D&C 42:61
D&C 50:24

After they shared with each other, I had one person per scripture share with the whole class what they learned about obedience and gospel learning.  It was fab.

We got finished about five minutes before class got out, so the kids begged me to keep watching Saturday's Warrior.  Right after "Line Upon Line" is "Just a Friend" - oh, were they ever laughing. :)