If you've enjoyed the post about the Branson Merry Miss Primary Class and the giant Teddy Bears that represented their future children, Eleven Year Old Girls Anticipate their Children this is at least ANOTHER PART of that story.
Far from home with a daughter about the same age --teaching that Primary Class was an inspiration!
A lesson about Heavenly Father's survival kit began to form in my head. I ended up at the Branson Walmart and bought several little flowered zippered make up cases--the kind that eleven year old girls carry all sorts of things in. Using my toy trade at the local outlet toy store, I gathered several inexpensive walkie talkies and put one in each case with fresh batteries. I also included a clear plastic cannister with several apple seeds, a piece of bread in another cannister, a clear plastic sacrament cup and a little plastic ruler. Four components of His Survival Kit. (Part of the fun of this discussion was to find out who had your OTHER walkie talkie. Primary was at the end of the block....so there was no danger of interrupting Sacrament Meeting!)
To prompt their thought and our discussion in class, I started the class with a description of the basic principles of the gospel--then I passed each zipper case to members of the class, explaining that each case was identical in design and contents....and held symbols of his heavnely Survial kit.
APPLE SEED: "I'm fresh out of mustard seeds, but what do you suppose the seeds represent?" We talked about what it takes to plant and nourish the seed, grow the tree and harvest the fruit....after a few more hints our class guessed FAITH correctly--as a principle that provides the energy to power FAITH and good works.
SMALL PLASTIC RULER: Its a challenge to represent repentance--but a ruler represents standards. As we repent we measure ourselves against His standard and commandments.
BREAD and WATER represents the Sacrament ---and we talked about how taking the sacrament is a way of renewing the covenants we make at the waters of baptism to always have his spirit to be with us.
WALKIE TALKIE is our half of the conversation with the Holy Ghost. I put my Salt Lake address in a little recessed area, inviting each girl to keep in touch and years later a letter arrived from my dear friend Diana Hinnin. She was the girl I sent post cards to in the Teddy Bear Post. She had found the address cleaning out a jumble drawer and wrote to tell me she had qualified as a National Merit Scholar.
This was in 1997. By now all those girls are 15 years older--26 and old enough to be wives and mothers of their own sons and daughters. I hope they remember our discussions--the Teddy Bears and Survival Kits. That's what these Teaching Moment Boosters are all about, after all!
This was in 1997. By now all those girls are 15 years older--26 and old enough to be wives and mothers of their own sons and daughters. I hope they remember our discussions--the Teddy Bears and Survival Kits. That's what these Teaching Moment Boosters are all about, after all!
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