An idea for Lesson #26
by Jacqueline Jennings / ga07162007
 

I just did this lesson last Sunday and thought I would let you know what I did as the girls really seemed to get something out of it.  I "tweaked" the suggestion on the young women connection site and had a table set up like the last supper - some candles, some pita bread on a wooden bread board, some red grape juice in a cravat, an old style pottery jug, a wooden bowl with oranges and grapes in it - you get the idea - I just used calico as a tablecloth. I didn't have the girls sitting on the floor (mainly because I didn't fancy getting up and down from the floor in a skirt) and I didn't do the "breaking the bread" thing (just didn't sit right with me). Anyway, I made up a little booklet for each girl that more or less had the lesson in it with lines to write on if there was a question or a scripture. When I got to the "Remember the Covenants She Made" section I played the section of the John Bytheway talk that related to the sacrament (well, it was my intention to play it but the CD player played up - luckily I had listened to the talk about 3-4 times that week and was able to relate it to the girls. I had made a page up in the booklet for the girls to write down any examples of symbolism from his talk or anything that touched them). On the last page of the booklet I typed the value experience that related to the lesson.

It is funny though, as I thought the girls got a bit bored but they all commented on how it made them think of the sacrament differently and that they enjoyed the lesson.

All of my girls have been raised in the church so I pointed out to them how the sacrament can be just a habitual thing to them and something that they always just do but really how important it is.  Believe it not the sacrament hymn we sung on that day was 181 (the one referred to in John Bytheway talk) and two of the speakers mentioned how important the sacrament is to them (one was a member who had moved way up north and he and his wife had their own sacrament meeting each week together - they have the sacrament and then listened to talks on the internet- I pointed out to the girls that they just didn't listen to the talks but always had the sacrament - we also have a really sick man in our ward who is unable to make it to church but the sacrament is taken to him at his home).  I mentioned to the girls how I was going to sit through the sacrament that day and really concentrate on the Lord but my boys were playing up so I couldn't. I urged them to take advantage of the fact that they only have to look after themselves during the sacrament and to use this time to build a strong relationship with the Lord as in the future they may not have the opportunity to do so.

I didn't include all the questions from the lesson or the last story - I felt the talk covered the point that the last story was trying to make.

For the handout I made a little postcard size thing which I laminated which could fit into their scriptures so that they could pull it out during the sacrament (it had a picture of Christ on one side and the sacrament symbolism on the other - which I got from the young women connection site). I also burnt a copy of the John Bytheway talk (as I felt the whole talk was really good and they would probably enjoy it), so luckily, if they listen to it they will get to hear the bit that didn't work during the lesson!!