FHE Lesson: The Restoration of the Gospel

May 2007 Issue

By Alison Palmer

Scripture: Isaiah 29:14

Song: “An Angel Came to Joseph Smith,” Children’s Songbook p. 86

Preparation: Write down a series of simple actions for your family to perform.

Find a 100 piece puzzle (with all the pieces) and divide it into small groups: one for each member of your family, plus one more. If your family is older, you can increase this to a 500 piece puzzle. Gather the materials for your activity and treat as well.

Lesson: Have your family stand and try to follow the instructions you wrote down. Read the whole list to them before letting them begin. See how they do acting out your instructions – in order and accurately. How easy was it? What did they do to try and help themselves do better?

Next give each person a handful of puzzle pieces and instruct them to complete their individual puzzles while you talk about the apostasy.

When Christ was on the earth he gave his disciples specific instructions about what His gospel should be like. Satan didn’t want us to follow these instructions. Since most people could not read at that time, they had to count on their own memory to help them continue to do what was right. When questions came up, Christ was not there with instant answers, people struggled to do what they thought He would want. Other people just wanted to confuse and hurt those who followed Christ. They tried to create different rules and questions to lead people away from Christ. Eventually the gospel of Jesus Christ wasn’t what it was supposed to be any more, the teachings and the priesthood became lost. There were still pieces left and people were trying the best they could; but, no one had the complete puzzle, or knew what it was supposed to look like any more.

Joseph Smith became the instrument for restoring Christ’s church. To restore something means to make it like new again. Recount the story of the first vision, paying special attention to the spirit that is present. Discuss gratitude for the blessing of knowing exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to do. We can know that the Church is true by following its teachings and paying attention to the feelings we get when we learn about the gospel.

Hand out the rest of the puzzle pieces and ask everyone to combine their efforts to make one complete puzzle while you continue talking about the restoration. Have your family help you recount the events of the restoration after the first vision. What types of things were restored? What types of events had to happen to restore the fullness of the gospel?
Let your children’s ages and understanding dictate the depth of this discussion.

When the puzzle is compete, stress the importance of having blessings such as: modern prophets, scriptures, temples, local church leaders and personal revelation, to help us avoid the same problems that caused the apostasy. Heavenly Father has blessed us with many ways to know what His plan and church (or puzzle) should look like and helps us put it together so that we will always know what we need to do to return to Him.

Activity

For older children: Discuss the meanings of restoration and preservation more in depth. Invite a friend or neighbor who has experience in restoration (cars, furniture, photographs, homes, clothing, toys etc) to participate in your family home evening and then share their talent with your family.

For younger children: Give each person a copy of the Book of Mormon and a colored pencil. Discuss the different names that are used for Jesus Christ in the scriptures. Write them down so that the children can recognize how the words look and are spelled. Point out the title page of the Book of Mormon and discuss why this book of scripture is identified as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ,” then have each person open randomly to a page in the book. They are to find and color every time they see a reference to Christ on their chosen page. Each reference they find also earns an M&M ® or other “piece” treat. End with your testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Refreshments: “Golden Plates”

1. Cover graham crackers with lemon icing

2. Write favorite scripture references in the icing with toothpicks.