It's time for the creative side of week four, you guys. And I love that where we left off in the insights is right where we begin, because basically what you see with Nephi is as he chooses to take the time to serve and to teach his brothers, he gets his own comfort and his own confirmation. And I think that's what object lessons can do for you as well. This is not just to entertain your kids or make them love the scriptures more. It's just to have you. give you an opportunity to feel that, like, confirming witness as you teach somebody in your sphere this week. So let me give you some tools that can help you pull that off. Your first object lesson, we're talking about condescension, what it means. It's one of those words that's hard for kids to grasp. So I'm giving you some tools in the notes to teach it well, and then some tools to show condescension. So this is in the printables this week. There are these adorable little finger puppets, and I'll explain what you're gonna use those for in just a second. The second one, this is to talk about. Plain and precious truths. So I think one of the most powerful things about Nephi's vision is he teaches about how when the Bible came forth, when the record of the Jews came forth, it came forth in purity. And then over the course of time, it's been altered. I don't think it's necessarily altered because of The evil purposes of men. I think there may be a few of those, but I think mostly it's because of misunderstanding and misjudgment and then people trying to change the doctrine to fit what they think is right. And it gets murky fast. What's beautiful is that Nephi has this vision of the Book of Mormon coming forth and restoring what has been lost. And I think you gotta help your kids see that. It's why we want them to love the Book of Mormon, because it's something that adds to their understanding and testimony of the Bible. Since we've spent the last two years. Studying the Bible and coming to love its stories and its principles, to add the Book of Mormon as a second witness gives you this solid footing to come to know God. And there's a really cool way to teach this. Basically, you're going to create a navigation of a sorts. I'm giving you on the printable this, it looks kind of like a phone, like a GPS search. And you're going to send your kids on a hunt to find these adorable little tags, basically. You're just going to do it with Some odd tools. So you're going to send them on a hunt and give them directions that have been altered and then show them how to Change those directions to see what they originally said and it's just awesome. Your kids will love it They'll get the point across and I promise they'll understand the meaning of the word restoration in a whole new way Third one. I don't have anything to hold up for this one. This has no printable, no effort really. This is just a challenge to your kids to understand what Nephi teaches his brothers. At the very end in 15, his brothers are a little worried. You can hear the nervousness in their voices about the consequences of their choices. Nephi tries to help them understand that their choices matter, that what they're doing here in this probationary state matters, that because the things that are filthy here will be filthy still. And there's a really cool way to just use your body to demonstrate that. So, For this one, you don't need any supplies. You just need a little bit of daring and guts and then put that guts to the test and you'll have all that you need. Okay. That's your supplies. Let's get into the details. Condescension is one of those big words that has a lot of importance. So we want to take some time with our kids and help them understand what it means and how it applies to the atonement of Jesus Christ. It's just hard. I think Nephi even knew it was hard, right? When the angel asked him, Knowest thou the condescension of God? Nephi's answer is No, you know, I don't know all things. I know God loves his children, but I don't know all things. And that's where your kids probably are this week as well. So this is our chance to study condescension. So you can go in the notes, on the creative side of the notes, and you can learn more about what that word even means. One of my favorite simple definitions is from the Ensign of 2011. It says, The condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ generally refers to his leaving his high and holy station in heaven. and coming to live as a man on earth to accomplish the Atonement and the Resurrection. Jesus came to live where mankind lives, and as mankind lives, so he could raise mankind to live where the Father lives, and as the Father lives. Because he descended to earth to lift us up to heaven, each one of us can have the perfect brightness of hope of progressing to the kingdom and the presence of God. That's not a great example of condescension. That's the motive behind it. It's the reason he offered it, and it's what it is all in one. So if you go further in the notes, I give you some talking points to help your kids understand condescension. The same way Nephi saw it kind of play out for him. So at first, when the angel was trying to help him understand that word, he showed him how the Savior was born to a mortal woman from a small town in the middle of nowhere. You know, like he was born in these humble circumstances. And then the vision expands a little more and he sees the Savior be baptized, he sees the Savior serve, especially serving those on the margins, those who are We're at a lesser station than him, especially coming from his God state before he got here. And not just any God, he's the God of the Old Testament. He's the great Jehovah that we studied all throughout the Old Testament, and the one that we read about in the New Testament, I think that's who we're talking about here, and that's why there's such power in that word. It's, it's his gift of going below. And then the object lesson piece of this is more a challenge, I would say. My hope is that we can emulate the Savior's condescension in our sphere. We can find ways to help those who are on the margins or help those who feel small. Since we've done a lot of service things in the past, I thought this time it would be fun to focus our service on those who are younger than us. Whether you're teaching teenagers or, you know, ten year olds, I hope that you can challenge them to find a way to make someone younger than them feel lifted. That's condescension. When you voluntarily go to a place you would not go normally and you go below so that you can lift, it's a gift. So there's lots of different ways you could do this. You could encourage your kids. If you're teaching a class, you could say, Hey, let's make something cool for all the sunbeams and take it into their class. Or maybe let's take a minute and go in the nursery and play with the kids and do what we can to lift. I even made you these ridiculous little finger puppets. This is just so that you have something handy that you could use if you wanted to just challenge your kids to entertain a little kid in sacrament. Like deliberately try to sit behind a little kid in sacrament meeting and let your kids I should tell you, Violet and I have a tradition that when we go to church, I never leave for church without toys in my bag, because I just think it's fun to deliberately sit by little kids and try to make them happy. As much as I would like to tell you that this is a service, really what it does is it makes us feel good. Violet and I have this Habit, where we seek out kids, we give them little tiny toys, like a little slinky or something, and we leave church fuller. That's, I think, the promise of choosing to emulate the Savior in this way. We can't do what He did for us, but when we choose to follow His lead and condescend and help and lift someone else, we feel the joy that comes from it. There's a great quote in the notes that will help you. It comes from just this last conference from Elder Arden, and he says this, Thank you, President Russell M. Nelson, for reminding us that when we love God with all our hearts, He turns our hearts to the well being of others. I testify that each of us will have an increase of joy, peace, humility, and love as we respond to President Nelson's call to turn our hearts to the well being of others, and to Joseph Smith's plea to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide for the widow, dry up the tear of the orphan, and comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or any church, or in no church at all, wherever we find them. So that's your challenge. Find a way to lift those who are younger, and feel lifted in the process. Thankfully, we've all had two years together in the Bible to understand all the goodness that it provides and also understand what Nephi means when he says there are plain and precious truths that were removed, that were taken out of the Bible. What is beautiful is what you learn in this week's study is that the Book of Mormon helps restore a lot of those truths. Those divots that were caused as people were changing doctrines get filled in and smoothed over by what you learn. in the Book of Mormon. So if you go in the notes, you can see some of those truths laid out. I give you some links into some great tools that you can use to study what those plain and precious truths were, like understandings about the atonement, understanding about baptism, understandings about the Godhead. There's some really pivotal truths that were, that are restored thanks to what we have in the Book of Mormon. I just wanted some fun way to help my kids. See that process how it could happen and how the restoration works. So like I mentioned in the printable you're gonna see this phone. It's gonna have no writing on it Just kind of looks like a GPS with seven steps. The challenge you're gonna create is a bit of a hunt So you're trying to get your kids to find this pink dot So you have two on the printable the beginning here dot is green and they're trying to get to the pink dot They just won't know where it is So basically you're going to set up a hunt. If you, I would take this pink one, if you're in a church building, maybe hide it in a place that nobody would see, like under the water fountain or inside a handbook on a certain page on a certain shelf, somewhere kind of tricky. If you're in a house, you might want to put this behind a picture frame or maybe in a basket somewhere, somewhere where once they see it, they'll be amazed that they didn't see it before, but that they wouldn't happen upon just in their general day to day. Once you've got it placed, then you want to create seven steps to get there. So if your green dot is like on the front door, then you're gonna create seven steps to get from that green dot to wherever that pink dot is. Simple, clear steps. It does help if you create some numbers in there. So if you say things like, go up eight steps and then turn left, or take ten steps down the hall and then turn right, that will give you more options to choose from as you Confound the document. So, once you have those steps all written out, you're just going to write those in a very simple ballpoint ink pen. You just want to find a pen that matches in color to the friction pen you're going to use next. So, those of you who were in the course with me for a long time, you know my love of friction pens. Basically, these are erasable pens. They're made by Pilot. You can find them at any office supply store, sometimes even at Walgreens or Walmart. They're not very expensive. They're a couple dollars a piece, but basically what they do is they're erasable based on the heat. So they offer you a really cool tool. So when you write your instructions, you're going to write it in regular ballpoint pen, and then you're going to take your friction pen and you're going to make. edits. You're going to change things a little bit. Like if it says, go up the stairs 10 steps, you might scribble that out and put down the stairs. You might change numbers from 8 to 5. You might add in a little carrot and then add a word here or there. That's sort of what happens to the Bible over the course of time. It was written in plainness and in truth when it came forth from the apostles. The work was intended to teach and to lead people to Jesus Christ. It just got. altered over time. Not always with malicious intent, but changes occurred. That's why the gift of the Book of Mormon is such a powerful tool, because it helps us. Correct. So what I would do is send your kids with the edited version of the instructions and say, Hey, start at the green dot, follow the directions. If you struggle, come back and see me and I'll help you find your way. And honestly, you guys, within two steps, they'll struggle because they, it doesn't match up, right? What I see in The first line doesn't match up with what I see in the second line because I'm already off course. So when your kids struggle you bring them back and this is when the magic happens. So you're going to invite them to restore what was taken. Your kids will look at that paper and know that it's been altered and edited and they'll want to know what the original directions were and so then you're going to show them. This is when you take a heat source. You can hold that paper over a flame if you want, you could use a blow dryer even, but honestly the fastest one we've found is if you just take a straightening iron or a curling iron and put it on the nice high heat and swipe across. What your kids will see quickly is that that, the directions are changed. All those edits, all those tweaks are removed instantly and what is left behind is what was originally there. The truth about how to get from point A to point B is abundantly clear. And so then you send them on the hunt again with the correct instructions. And when they find the pink dot, they bring it back and they get a prize. That's kind of the idea. What will help, what it will help your kids do is see the value of what the Book of Mormon offers. And I hope, help get them to share that Book of Mormon message with everybody else. Because as much as we love and revere the Bible, we want both. We need the Book of Mormon, it's another testament of Jesus Christ, and it restores a lot of what was lost. And this Simple Object Lesson can help you teach that. I think one of the plain and precious truths that we don't talk about very often in the Book of Mormon is that there is no deathbed confession. There's no, like, a lot of us have this hope, right, that once we cross over into the next life, we'll be able to set down all the baggage, all the sins that we didn't repent of, all the weaknesses that we have. All of those things will somehow be shed from us and we'll be like our normal good selves. And what Nephi tries to help his brothers understand and, in fact, what we're going to read. throughout the Book of Mormon is that this life is the time to prepare to meet God. Who you are in this life and the type of character you have and the way you evidence your love for God in this life is what will prepare you for the next one and, frankly, determine where you belong and where you're comfortable. And I think that's really important to teach teenagers because It's easy to think it can go the other way, that I can just hold on to those weaknesses until I cross over and then someday I'll be better. So one of the easiest ways I found to teach this is just to give your kids a challenge. So you may have seen these before. They tend to be about center of mass. So if you're in a science class and you're talking about center of gravity or center of mass, this is a really easy way to test it. I gave you a couple different options. There's many more online if you want to search for more. But the easiest ones I found are, first, you want to have your kids sit in a chair. So put a chair with a back up against a wall and then have your kids sit in it. They need to put their back all the way against the back of the chair. And then you have somebody else just press their finger, maybe even their pinky finger, against their forehead. The only reason they're doing that is because you want to prevent the person from leaning forward when you give them the challenge. They're only allowed to sit where they are and then perform the challenge. And the challenge is a really simple one. You're just asking them to stand up. So if their feet are on the floor and their back is against the back of the chair, When they try to stand up, they can't because your weight is all the way back in the chair. Your weight isn't at the front and the only way to move that is for you to lean forward. The reason I like this for this object lesson is I think it illustrates really quickly for kids like, Oh, I have to be in the right posture in order to change in order for me to make a big shift. I have to be prepared wherever I am now that as my weight is in the back of the chair and I'm sitting back in it. It gets impossible for me to immediately shift and jump straight up. You simply can't, because your weight is back. Another quick body challenge, if that one doesn't work for you. You can have your kids put the side of their foot, so if you're using their left foot, put the long side of their foot against the baseboard of a wall, and then put their left shoulder against that same wall. And then just ask them to stand on one foot. They can. You would think that would be so easy, but because of the way your weight is distributed, You simply can't. You can't accomplish what you want to accomplish. And the same thing happens with us. If we don't choose to make this life our time to prepare to meet God, if we don't choose to take on the attributes of Christ and repent daily and do our best to like set down the natural man's version of us and pick up something holier, When we get to that next life, we're kind of like that person leaning against the wall. We're hoping we can somehow defy gravity and stand and we simply can't. Because the person you are today helps determine what your future looks like in the next life. And so these two little center of mass challenges can help you pull that off. See you guys. I told you it was going to be a good week. Okay, I hope you enjoy it. There's beautiful things to study and fun to be had through the object lesson. So I think you're going to love it. If you need extra help, you are more than welcome to join me on the live. That's Monday morning at 10 a. m. Mountain Time. That's, it happens on my site now. So if you go to gather. macmom. com, you can join us on the live. You'll just need to sign up to be a member. You don't have to be a paid member to be a part of the live. You can just sign up to be a member and then you'll be. have a chance to RSVP in and you can come join us. That's where I do a more of a chapter by chapter approach and we have kind of a like a zoom call so we can chat about what we see and look forward to the week of study together. That's also a good place if you're curious about membership, if you want access to the printables and the notes, you want to go to that site and you want to subscribe. Basically, if you're a monthly member, meaning you pay the monthly amount, that gives you access to all the printables and all the notes and all the videos from not just this year, but all the years previous. So you'll have access to all those things as a monthly subscriber. If you want to be an annual subscriber, meaning you pay once a month and you get a little better deal, then you have access, not just to all those things, but also every MechMom printable I've ever made. All the organization printables, all the things you've seen me make for Studio 5. The valentines, all those things are available to the annual subscribers. So if any of those options work for you, you can go to the website and get more information. I hope you enjoy it. We're trying to create an organized, simple way for you to access everything you need to be a powerful teacher. And hopefully we pulled it off. All right, you guys enjoy this week of study and I'll see you on Monday.