The next two weeks of Come, Follow Me cover the book of Ephesians. While a prisoner in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote an epistle to the Ephesians with the purpose of helping the converts grow in their spiritual knowledge of God and the Church. Today, rather than by epistles, we hear the words of the prophets during general conference. This week’s family home evening lesson features a fun activity to help your family prepare to find answers to questions through general conference.
Thought
“If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland “An Ensign to the Nations” Ensign or Liahona, May 2011)
Scripture
“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (1 Ephesians 1:18).
Lesson
As part of his closing remarks last conference, President Nelson said of the talks given, “As you study them, seek to learn what the Lord is trying to teach you through His servants.” To strengthen your family’s ability to pull details and messages out of conference talks, have them complete this scavenger hunt. Be sure that everyone has either a physical copy of the Ensign’s May issue or an electronic device that has access to the talks if they’d prefer that. You may want to institute a rule that those using technology do not use any sort of search feature to help them. You can decide if the scavenger hunt should be completed in teams or as individuals.
The list of scavenger hunt questions is below. Give each individual a copy of the questions and see who can fill out the answers the fastest, or call out each question separately and have family members compete to find the right answers first. Check your answers on the next page. (Hint: The answer key includes the talk each question and answer is found in. You can give the talk as a hint if family members are struggling to find the answer.)
When you are finished going through the scavenger hunt, ask family members what interesting details they learned or had forgotten. Read Elder Holland’s quote from above, and discuss with family members what personal epistles they hope to receive this conference.
- Which scriptures from the Book of Mormon prompted Elder Held and his wife to join the Church after 10 months of investigation?
- What surprising item did Sister Becky Craven see advertised for $15 in a store window?
- What two animals did Elder Oaks say once held the attention of students on a college campus?
- Which speaker expanded the old saying “The family that prays together stays together” into “The family that prays together is together, even when they are far apart.”
- What troubled Sister Sharon Eubank as she looked out her office window one evening?
- Fill in the blank: Elder Kyle Mckay spoke on the ________ goodness of God.
- Who included unique artwork of the human eye in their talk to teach about looking at life with a spiritual perspective?
- Who told a story about their brother whose heart returned to the gospel following a cancer diagnosis?
- Fill in the blank: Repentance begins with our Savior, and it is a______, not a burden.
- What did youth have ready to show President Nelson at the Rome Italy Temple dedication?
- What happened when a young Elder Juan Pablo Villar, who was expecting a day of sunbathing, visited his missionary brother?
- What did President Hinckley say to Otto Haleck that lead to Otto meeting with the missionaries?
- What did Elder Gong say is the reason that counting sheep doesn’t make him sleepy?
- Who said, “But remember, our homes are only as powerful as the spiritual strength of each one of us within the walls”?
- What is a spiritual death zone?
- Describe the experience Elder Takashi Wada’s mother had at a Latter-day Saint church building that inspired her to be baptized.
- How many new temples were announced?
- What question did President Nelson say we would be brought face-to-face with when we enter the spirit world?
- What gospel truth was Brother Callister teaching when he told the story of a man jumping out of a plane?
- What does the Greek word metanoeo mean?
Lead image from Getty Images
- "Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit": Mosiah 18:8-10
- "Careful versus Casual": Happiness
- "Where Will This Lead?": Squirrel and an Irish setter
- "A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells": President Henry B. Erying
- "Christ: The Light that Shines in Darkness": The Salt Lake City Temple exterior lights had not turned on.
- "The Immediate Goodness of God": Immediate
- "The Eye of Faith": Elder Neil L. Anderson
- "Just as He Did": Bishop W. Christopher Waddell
- "Cleansed by Repentance": Joy
- "Preparing for the Lord's Return": Cards they had prepared with names of their ancestors.
- "Exercising Our Spiritual Muscles": Elder Villar's missionary brother had him come and work with him and his companion for the day. They did not do any sunbathing.
- "Great Love for Our Father's Children": "Otto, that's not good enough; you ought to be a member of the Church. This is the Lord's Church."
- "Good Shepherd, Lamb of God": Elder Gong says he worries about missing or losing a sheep.
- "Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection": Elder Ronald A. Rasband
- "Hearing His Voice": A spiritual death zone is a faithless place that deprives us of the spiritual strength we need. Elder David P. Homer adapted the term from what mountain climbers refer to as the "death zone"—altitudes above 8,000 meters where there is not enough oxygen to sustain life.
- "Feasting upon the Words of Christ": "One Sunday, she felt she should go to church. She followed the prompting. While she sat on the front row and waited for the sacrament service to begin, a 4-year-old boy stood in front of her and looked at her. She greeted him with a smile. The little boy left her presence abruptly and walked back to his own seat, which was on the other side of the row where my mother was seated. This little boy picked up something from his seat and came back and handed my mother a hymnbook and walked back to his seat. My mother noticed a hymnbook was placed on every other chair in the chapel. She could have easily picked one up from the chair next to her. However, she was very impressed with the boy’s innocent act of kindness, which he had learned in his home and at church. It was a tender moment for her. She had a strong impression that God was inviting her to come and follow the Savior. She felt she should be baptized."
- "Closing Remarks": 8
- "Come, Follow Me": "Where is my family?"
- "The Atonement of Jesus Christ": The law of gravity is like the law of justice, which is exacting and unforgiving. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is like a spiritual parachute that is unleashed by our faith and can enable us to land spiritually unharmed.
- "We Can Do Better and Be Better": Repentance. "The prefix meta- means "change." the suffix-noeo is related to a Greek word that means "mind," "knowledge," "spirit," and "breath
Lead image from Getty Images
