Prep: Buy a King sized candy bar and a fun sized candy bar. The fun sizes don't come individually, but Halloween is coming up so just snag a piece from your stash of Halloween candy. Also, probably an activity best done before Halloween, when candy is still a novelty and not sitting in PILES around the house...
Lesson: Read this short story from The Friend (Feb 2010). I C&P for you, so it's right below here. If you want the link though, click HERE.
When I was nine years old, there was a family reunion at my house in Coimbra, Portugal. My parents were busy entertaining our relatives. Everybody was talking and laughing. While the grown-ups were busy, I decided I wanted to have some fun too.
My house was close to the Mondego River, and I thought it would be fun to go fishing. I didn’t want to go alone, so I took my four-year-old sister with me. I had a feeling that I should tell my mom and dad where we were going. But they were busy talking, so I decided to go without telling them.
We walked along the riverbank until we found a nice spot. I gave my sister some small rocks to throw into the water while I enjoyed fishing.
Soon my parents noticed that my sister and I weren’t at home. They drove all around town looking for us. Many hours later my father noticed that my fishing equipment was missing. So he and my mom searched the riverbank until they found us.
My parents were relieved to find us, but they were also unhappy with me. It was very dangerous to play by the river without my parents, especially for my little sister.
From this experience I learned that we always need to talk to our parents—and listen to them. They have our best interests at heart. I also learned that it is important to listen to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost tried to tell me that I shouldn’t go fishing without telling my parents. But I didn’t listen. Even though we were having fun, my sister and I were in danger. If we listen carefully to our parents and to the Holy Ghost, we will be safe.Ask your family if they have any experiences they'd like to share about a time when the Holy Ghost prompted them to do something. You may also want to talk briefly about what promptings are and how we receive them. Explain that sometimes they may be a voice we can hear and some times it's just a feeling or thought we have.
Activity: Choose three participants and then choose one to be the "listener". Send them out of the room. When the "listener" can not hear or see, choose one of your remaining volunteers to be the "good voice" (like the Holy Ghost) and one to be the "bad" voice (temptation we have in the world). Let the "good" voice hide the king size candy bar and the "bad" voice hide the fun size one. Tell the two voices that they will try to lead whomever you sent out of the room to the candy bar that they just hid. When all candy is sufficiently hidden, invite your "listener" back into the room. Explain that there are some rewards hidden in the room. The listener is going to try to find them. Both 'voices' will give directions to the rewards. Neither may talk louder than a whisper. Go! When we did this lesson with my parents and sisters, we put the stipulation that if the fun size candy was found the "bad" voice got to eat it. If the king size was found the "good" voice and the listener got to share it.
Treat: Butterscotch Marshmallow Brownies. CLICK HERE for the recipe.
By the way, I debated about saving this lesson until October when I could post with my Halloween theme... but decided not to. Don't forget to leave any topic requests you may have! Enjoy!
