Book of Mormon [2 NEPHI 3-5] Creative Object Lessons with Maria Eckersley

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All right, you guys, it's time to get into the creative side of week seven.

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This time I've decided to create an object lesson for each of the three chapters.

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So we've got one from three, one from four and one from five, but I think

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there's goodness in all of them.

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My hope here, as always, is not to give you like some rote list.

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You don't have to follow these exactly.

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I just hope it inspires you to do creative things to help your kids

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come closer to these doctrines.

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There's some beautiful, really relatable principles in this week's

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study, so I'm hoping these object lessons will help you teach it simply.

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All right, let me walk you through your supplies first, and

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then I'll take you to each one specifically to give you the details.

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The first one I'm calling a directed light activity.

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I've taken something that we did way back in 2020 and I've revamped

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it to make it easier and better, but my kids still remembered it

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from 2020, so I know this is one.

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that lasts.

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This is basically all you need.

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You're going to take the printable that I give you.

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It will have four components.

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The printable has a holy bible picture, it has one of a book of mormon, and then

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it has these key doctrines on the end.

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So to create this you don't need anything other than cardstock and a little bit

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of glue or tape, and then you also need a flashlight and I'll tell you why.

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We're going to talk about how these incredible gifts of scripture work

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together to teach truth and you do it with a simple flashlight.

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You can use the one on your phone or ideally have one that your kids can hold

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and that's all you need for the first one.

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Okay, second one.

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So this one involves a little bit of mess.

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You might want to do this in your kitchen or in the kitchen at the church

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if you're teaching maybe a seminary class but It packs a punch, you guys.

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This is when I'm trying to help our kids understand Nephi's psalm.

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His worries about his own flaws and sins and weaknesses and what he does

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to lift what he, where he turns when he's feeling those low feelings.

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Because I think, frankly, our teenagers And us, we feel this all the time where

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we feel disconnected and low and we need to teach our kids how to find lift.

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And it's really simple and really wet.

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So for this object lesson, you just need a clear base, kind of like this.

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It doesn't matter if it's straight or if it's fluted or if it's wide at

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the bottom, it doesn't really matter.

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You just want one that's clear so you can see through it.

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You don't want it.

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too big, I would say ideally find one that's about the size or smaller.

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You could also maybe use a large mason jar.

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You just want to find one that has a wide mouth if you can, because

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then it'll work a little bit better.

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And then you need a few supplies.

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So on your kitchen counter, you're going to need a big bowl, like a mixing bowl.

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You're also going to need a Cookie sheet rack.

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You know the ones that you like put hot cookies onto a cooling rack?

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You need one of those and then you're gonna set your vase on top.

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Then you also need a pitcher full of hot water and a lot of ice.

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For us I just pulled the whole ice maker out of the freezer and

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it gave us plenty to work with.

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That's your second one.

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Third one.

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This is Rome chapter 5.

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This is where you see the laminites being cut off and you see very fast

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the ramifications of that choice.

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When they choose to rebel against God, and they break their covenants, and they

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reject the prophet, they are cut off.

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And I think what's powerful about Five is you see the contrast.

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You see what happens to the Lamanites, and you see what

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happens to those who follow Nephi.

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And the way you can teach this principle is really simple.

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This is a sticky one that can get hard.

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The verses themselves can be hard to understand.

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So I wanted some way to really get into these verses in a way that

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was Softer and more understandable and do that you just need a plant.

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So I went because it's Valentine's I was like, oh you could probably just go grab

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a pack of cut flowers, you know They should all be on clearance by Saturday

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you guys So if you're if you want to go grab a pack of like a bouquet of flowers

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You could or you could just take a house plant like this You just want something

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that's got life in it and something you don't mind cutting a little bit So for

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me, I went to Walmart and bought one for seven dollars, but you could take

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one of your houseplants like this one behind me would work just fine as well.

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You just want something that's living in a pot if you can and if you can't

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find that and then just get some cut flowers and I'll walk you through how

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that can help you see and understand the distinction between being cut

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off and being close to the lord.

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Okay, get those supplies on hand you guys and then come on back and

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I'll teach you how to pull them off.

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The very fact that we've spent the last two years doing deep dives into the

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Old Testament and the New Testament should be a testimony to your kids

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about how much we revere the Bible.

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It is the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly, and we treasure

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it, we study it, and we learn from it.

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Thankfully, we also have other scripture.

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We have the Book of Mormon and revealed doctrines from the Doctrine

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and Covenants and other places that we can look to, like the Pearl of

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Great Price, to help us get more understanding and to fill in some gaps.

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And I think what Lehi points out, or I guess more specifically what Joseph

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and Egypt points out, this book that comes forth will do five big things.

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So if you go in the notes or in the verses, you can see these five things.

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It says, as these two books work together, they will confound false doctrines.

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They will lay down contentions.

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They'll establish peace, bring a knowledge of the fathers and bring

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a knowledge of the covenants.

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These are huge blessings that the Lord is hoping to offer all of his children, and

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when they have these books of scripture in their hands, they can access those

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blessings if they live according to them.

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So I think it's really critical that we help our kids see this clearly.

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There's a beautiful talk from Tad Callister, it might even be linked in

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the Come Follow Me manual this week, I can't remember where I saw it, but it's

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in the margins of my digital scriptures.

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And he talks about points.

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And if you draw through a dot, remember that object lesson he had, where

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it's like, if you draw through a dot, you can make it go in any direction.

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And if you have two points, then it only can go straight.

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We're kind of creating that same object lesson, but in a more visual way.

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So basically you're going to take the printable.

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It looks like this.

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You're going to create a holy Bible, a book of Mormon and a

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doctrine card on the doctrine card.

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You're going to see.

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several possible doctrines about baptism that could be

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understood through scripture.

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You know, about whether infants need baptism, whether you need

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priesthood to perform a baptism.

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Those, baptism, those kind of things are laid out here in

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these little circles on the end.

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What your kids are trying to do is figure out Truth.

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How do you figure out what is true?

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Of all these doctrines, they often conflict with each other.

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So which one is true?

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And the way we do that is through the scriptures.

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So when you first begin, you're actually only going to glue on

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the Holy Bible at the beginning.

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And you're going to dim the lights in the room, and you're going to let your

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kids shine a light through that hole.

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It's not hard, you're just going to punch a hole through that.

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There's a little spot on the printable where you punch a hole, and then I

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give you this base piece so that you can get these all perfectly aligned.

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So once that Holy Bible and those doctrines cards are glued in place, let

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your kids shine a light through the Bible.

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And what they'll see is how the Bible illuminates truth.

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It, it opens up so that we can see and read truth.

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What's hard about using just that one checkpoint is that you can actually

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see a lot of different truths as.

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That's true.

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You know, if I just use the Bible, I can tilt that light.

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So this is when you're going to take the flashlight in your hands and

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encourage your kids to like change the angle because if they change the

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angle different directions, they can actually make any of those circles

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about the doctrines of baptism light up.

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They can adjust it and see that the one that you don't need

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priesthood or that you don't need.

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immersion.

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Those things can light up if we only have this one gateway to go through.

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So that's when you give them the second gateway.

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This is when you take your Book of Mormon piece and you glue it into the center.

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It has a hole in the exact same spot and now you're going to

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shine your light through both.

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And as you shine your light through both, you'll see that you can't get

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anything else to illuminate except for the doctrine that is true.

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That doctrine that's right in the center on the top that says

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baptism needs to be by immersion.

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illuminates and nothing else can.

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Even if your kids tilt their flashlights around, they can't see anything

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else because the light is traveling through both of those checkpoints.

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And when it goes through both, we have an understanding of what is true.

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And that's what I wanted my kids to grasp.

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That we revere the Bible.

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We study it intensely.

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We search it.

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Our prophets quote from it.

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We love the Bible.

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We also love the Book of Mormon and what it offers as another

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testament of Jesus Christ.

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That it offers clarifying doctrine, not just on baptism, but on the

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atonement of Jesus Christ, on grace, on how the Lord feels about

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us, and covenant relationships.

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That comes from our connection with the Book of Mormon.

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So we need both, and hopefully this object lesson will help you teach that.

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I would tell you that if you wanted to make this ahead of time in class, you

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also can glue on the Book of Mormon piece and then just sort of fold it

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down as you're doing the object lesson.

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You can't fold it fully or it'll push the Bible forward, but it can

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kind of get tucked out of your way so that you can demonstrate it.

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Over and over again if you want.

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The other addition to the printable that I give you is a second

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page that has empty circles.

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So if you were in a seminary class or a class where you have a little

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more time on your hands, you could encourage your kids to make their

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own conflicting doctrine cards.

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Like what are some things that other people believe by only having the Bible

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and what does the Book of Mormon add to our understanding about those things?

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Hopefully it gives you a chance to kind of troubleshoot that and let them

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practice this effort of looking through both scripture to find out what is true.

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You just want to make sure that the true one is always right here

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in the center on the top because that's where the light will hit.

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All right, that's it for that one you guys.

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The second object lesson was inspired by Will in our family at Compalme.

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They, they don't do my object lessons.

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They have to come up with their own and this is one of Will's.

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So I thought it deserved a place right here.

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It really does apply beautifully to Nephi.

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He was teaching it for a different purpose, but I

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liked using it for this one.

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Basically, we see with in chapter four is Nephi struggling

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under the burdens of what?

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is on his shoulders.

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And he, he calls out to the Lord.

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You know, he, he's studying the scriptures and he says, Oh, wretched man that I am.

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You know that song that he sings or teaches us?

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And he struggles with his own weaknesses, his own sins that easily beset him.

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We don't know what those sins are, but He's mortal just like the rest of us,

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and he has mistakes that are frustrating him, especially when he reads the

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scriptures and sees what he wants to be.

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I think he's, he's struggling with that divine discontent.

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For me, the way you can demonstrate how to resolve that, you can

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use Nephi's verses and use this object lesson at the same time.

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So basically, first you're going to talk about some of the weights that

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would have been on Nephi's shoulders.

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So if you think about things, I lay out a bunch of these in the

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notes, but his dad recently died.

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His dad was his ally and his mentor and the leader of the people.

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So now all of that weight is falling on Nephi's shoulders.

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He has an abusive history with his brothers who are now, he doesn't have his

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dad to get in the middle of that anymore.

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And that must be incredibly hard.

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He's got a history of when his dad's not around, his brothers come after him.

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And that's hard.

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I think he knows that his brothers now.

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Don't just want to get rid of him, but want to kill him and potentially harm

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his family because Nephi ends up making swords of his own patterned after Laban's

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swords so that he can defend his family.

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So there's big threats happening here.

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I also think he's probably wrestling with insecurities about his own

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Connection to God like all of us do when we have a big new calling on our

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shoulders He knows how much he needs God and so he has these worries as

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you're talking about all these worries And there's probably several others.

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I want you to fill up your vase with ice those ice the ice cubes

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represent the weights that we feel as the world fills us with doubts

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and fears and Legitimate insecurities about what we have to accomplish.

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So as you talk about Nephi's issues, fill up this vase with ice.

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You want it as full as you can.

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And then you're going to talk about how Nephi remedied this situation.

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He doesn't stay in this state where he's full of ice and

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cold and feeling disconnected.

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He chooses to do two big things.

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First, he looks back.

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I love the way, I break this down in the verses in the notes if you

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want to read them one by one, but I love the way he approaches things.

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So if you go from like 19 to 25, you're going to hear how he looks back on how the

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Lord has taken care of him all this time.

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You know, he talks about the promises and the blessings and the

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ways the Lord has visited him and reached out to him in hard moments.

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There's something powerful about passing your mind back.

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For me, this is when you take that hot pitcher of water and you

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start to pour it over the ice.

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You're just going to fill it up to the rim, and you'll see that

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that hot water reacts to the ice, and the ice starts to melt.

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It doesn't fully go away yet, but it's starting to loosen and break

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up, and you can see hope, right?

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You can start to see this clear glass form again.

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But it's not enough just to cast our mind back.

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Nephi takes it one more step forward, and this is when he makes proactive

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choices to believe that with the Lord's help, he can do all things.

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So this is like from 26 or so on.

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This is when you see Nephi ask his soul to awake.

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The verses are so good you just have to read them as you do this.

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But he doesn't just remember, he also looks forward and he

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starts to make steps forward.

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He doesn't wait for the Lord to fix all his problems first.

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He trusts that the Lord will fill him.

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In fact, the verse that I love in this one is when he talks about how he is

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filled with The Lord's love that the fact that the Lord's love fills him

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allows him to shed all of this ice.

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So this is when you're going to take your warm pitcher one more

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time and you're going to dump it.

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Just dump it.

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You guys, the reason it's sitting on a bowl with a, you know, cookie sheet thing

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underneath it is so that the water can get collected in the bowl below it, but

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it's going to overflow and spill out.

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It's the only way to get rid of the ice.

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What I found is, in my life, this is how it works for me.

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If I am struggling under insecurities or I feel like the world is beating me

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up, one of the best ways I've found is first to cast my mind back on how the

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Lord never abandons me and then to move forward in faith and let His love fill me.

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For me, that means I turn to the scriptures, I listen to the words

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of prophets that promise me things, I go to the temple, I pray, and I

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ask for God's love to fill me up.

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Because the promise is, you guys The more warm water you pour in

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here, eventually the ice can't stay.

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It either melts or it topples out because the water is heavier

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and denser and it, it can last.

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And so I'm hoping that as your kids see this over and over again,

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maybe you do it a second time, talking about their own struggles.

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You know, we use Nephi as a template.

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Maybe do the exact same object lesson again and let them put their own ice

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in the jar and talk about what's hard.

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Talk about how looking back fills that jar up to the brim and starts

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to melt the ice, and how getting a heaping dose of God's love poured into

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you can take care of everything else.

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And then you can have a Nephi like confidence in Christ that will give you

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the strength to move forward in faith.

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I'm

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not gonna lie, there's some really sticky verses at the end of these

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chapters where you see the curse that befalls the Lamanites because they've

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made choices to rebel against God.

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And that curse is a separation from God.

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The sign of the curse is the skin of blackness or darkness that comes on

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them and This is one of those verses that gets people all riled up, right?

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It's one of the verses I think you have to take in the context of the

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rest of the Book of Mormon, where the Lord says over and over again that

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all men can come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female.

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We get all tripped up on it, but I actually think there's a lot more depth to

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this than sometimes we give it credit for.

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What I like is you have a contrast.

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You don't just hear about this curse of separation, being

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separated from God that hits the Lamanites because of their choices.

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You also hear about the blessings that come to those who stay connected to God.

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And that's what chapter five is all about.

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Chapter five is all about the blessings that come to Nephi's people, and the

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happiness they find by staying rooted in truth, staying close to the Lord.

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In fact, Nephi even says that the Lord was among them, that there's something

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about his presence that is close.

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And I want to make kids to understand the difference.

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I was listening to a podcast this week.

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It's called talking scripture.

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And I liked his take on, on this, this cursing that happens, the sign of the

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curse that he said, we were on the risk of seeing this, like Nicodemus

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does, where he takes the words of the savior so literally that he thinks he's

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supposed to go back in his mother's womb.

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And I think sometimes we can do that with these verses.

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Like we talked about in the past, this can't be about race, right?

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This is.

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Laman and Lemuel and Nephi all come from the same parents.

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They are literally brothers.

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In fact, we know that when people choose to come back to God later in

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the Book of Mormon, that curse, the sign of that curse, falls from them.

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As they come close to God, that curse goes away.

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I read lots of theories out there.

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There were some theories about it being a skin disease of some kind all kinds

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of them But I think what's probably most Valuable and applicable for us is

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to see it as a spiritual darkness that sets in and the way you can demonstrate

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that is With this simple object lesson.

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So basically you just want to hold up a plant you guys it's nothing fancy

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Take a plant that has ideally if it has some blooms on it It's a little easier

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to walk through the object lesson and you want to ask them what would happen

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if I Cut off one of these blooms.

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So with Violet, I brought this home from Walmart and she loved it, right?

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Because she's 10 and she's in charge of a valentine's party and she loved the

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roses and I was like, right We got to cut one of those off and she's like no Her

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first reaction was like no, in fact, she didn't want me to cut any of the pretty

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ones off She wanted them to bloom and thrive on the on the little mini bush here

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And I was like, no, we've got to cut one off for this object lesson So I made her

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take scissors and cut it off and I was like, okay, what's gonna happen to this?

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plant, especially if we don't put it in a little vase of its own.

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If we just let this rosebud As it is stay, what happens?

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And she's like, well, it'll get dried out.

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It'll get kind of brittle and this, the leaves will lose all their color

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and the petals will lose their color.

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They'll get darker.

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And then it kind of crumbles in your hands.

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And then I could teach her.

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About being connected to the true vine because basically that's what happens

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with us It happens over and over again Old Testament New Testament Book of

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Mormon Even in the Doctrine and Covenants whenever we choose to cut ourselves off

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from the true vine We wither because there is no way to survive just like this There

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is no way to pull the nutrients and the strength and the help we need on our own.

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What I love is I, particularly myself, as I, if I was teaching, especially

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younger kids, I wouldn't focus so much on the curse or the sign of the curse

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of separation from God, as much as I would focus on what creates happiness.

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So this is when you bring the same plant back again and you talk

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about what makes these buds thrive.

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Where this one will shrivel and die, what allows these ones to stay strong?

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And so you can talk about the soil and you can talk about the sun

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and the water that they'll get.

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And then you can take those same principles and apply it to what

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you find from Nephi's people.

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I break all this down in the notes for you, but you can see industry being

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something that keeps them thriving.

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You can see being connected to family and keeping covenants as

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a way to pull strength from those roots and get nutrients back in.

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You can see that they built temples and that they Took care of their family and

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they prepared like I break this all down.

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There's a great um article I think it was originally a byu devotional, but

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you can find it in the enzyme from 2002 I think it's in the notes But he breaks

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down a whole bunch of the things that they did to live after the manner of

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happiness And then applies it to us How we can choose those same key concepts

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that Nephi demonstrates to find happiness and, and sustainability in our world.

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How we can stay deeply rooted in this gospel of Jesus Christ and what it

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offers us long term as we stay connected.

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So, hopefully this object lesson will help you teach it.

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That's it for week seven, you guys.

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I hope you enjoy these scriptures.

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Their chapters aren't long, it's understandable, and it's rich,

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especially if you're feeling any kind of struggle in your life right now.

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I think seeing the examples of Lehi and Nephi and even the hard examples of Laman

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and Lemuel help you know where to turn.

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If you struggle, please open up the notes.

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There are dozens of pages to help you.

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connect these verses with the words of modern prophets and apostles,

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women leaders of the church.

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They are rich with guidance.

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So I hope you'll open those up.

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You can find those in the printables if you're members

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of the course over at gather.

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macmom.

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com.

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But if you can't get into the course or you don't want to be a

Maria: 00:20:00

subscriber, you can also often find the printables on my Etsy shop.

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So for example, this one this week, since I know it's one that a lot

Maria: 00:20:06

of you will want to use, I'll throw this on the Etsy shop as well.

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Just search MacMom on Etsy and you can find it.

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But otherwise I hope you enjoyed this week of study.

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If you need extra help, come join me on the live gather.

Maria: 00:20:16

macmom.

Maria: 00:20:16

com.

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We have a live every Monday morning, 10 o'clock mountain time where we chat

Maria: 00:20:21

through some of the doctrines I couldn't quite fit in here and answer any questions

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you might have about the object lessons.

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So it's a good place to.

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Connect.

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It's built sort of like a Zoom call.

Maria: 00:20:29

So it's not, it's not a live like on Instagram.

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It's more of like an institute class.

Maria: 00:20:33

It's a way to, to gather and share your thoughts.

Maria: 00:20:35

So I hope you join us.

Maria: 00:20:37

If you want to find it, go over, become a free member and then just

Maria: 00:20:40

click RSVP for the live and you'll get a little notification to pop

Maria: 00:20:43

up as soon as it's available.

Maria: 00:20:45

Otherwise enjoy your week you guys, and I'll see you next

Maria: 00:20:47

week as we head into week eight.