All Things Bright and Beautiful: Temple

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LDS Activity Idea - Temple Passports

We are very fortunate to live in an area of Utah where are close to a number of different temples!

Something I love to do with my toddler is visit a temple once a month.

Although he cannot go inside, we have so much fun walking around the temples grounds,

talking about the temple, and enjoying the sweet spirit that is there.

I truly hope that my little boy will always cherish our visits to the temple together.

I want him to always remember the feelings that he has when he is there

and strive to prepare himself to go inside one day.

As I have been thinking about this more and more, I decided I wanted to come up with a fun way

for him to remember our visits to the temple... so I created some fun Temple Passports

for our FHE activity this upcoming week!

Not only would this be a great activity for family night,

but it would also make a GREAT young women/mutual activity as well!

So how does it all work? Great question!!!

1) Have each family member/youth member create their very own Temple Passport.

Grab your FREE PRINTABLES HERE.

2) Each time you go to a different temple (whether it be as a youth trip, family vacation, etc.),

fill out one of the blank Temple Passport Pages. Don't forget to write down the

feelings you felt while at the temple! (If your child is too young to write, ask them about

their feelings and write it down for them !).

3) Over the years, and as you visit different temples, you will have created a

meaningful passport (journal) filled with your memories and

experiences while visiting the temple!

ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR FHE LESSON :

Sing "I Love To See The Temple" as a family
Show a picture about the first time you went to the temple or the day you were sealed. Talk about the feelings you felt inside the temple and share your testimony.
"Build a Temple" - Talk about ways you can build a forever family.
Have your kids write a letter to themselves to be opened before their wedding day, stating the importance of a temple marriage and their current desires to attain that righteous goal.

ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR YOUNG WOMEN ACTIVITY :

Show a picture about the first time you went to the temple or the day you were sealed. Talk about the feelings you felt inside the temple and share your testimony.
Discuss ways the youth can prepare for temple ordinances! I LOVE this reference!
Play a fun Temple Trivia game.
Have the young women try on white wedding dresses and take pictures.
Have the youth write a letter to themselves to be opened before their wedding day, stating the importance of a temple marriage and their current desires to attain that righteous goal.
Have a temple presidency member or a temple ordinance worker come speak to the youth.

Come Follow Me: The importance of temple marriage

YOUNG WOMEN CORNER: COME FOLLOW ME

This week I decided to create some handouts for the Young Women "Come Follow Me" Curriculum for the month.

The principles the youth are focusing on this month is "Marriage and Family".

The handouts below directly coordinate to the lesson outline...

"WHY IS TEMPLE MARRIAGE IMPORTANT?"

Feel free to print off and use for your lessons!

(you can download them by right clicking on the picture and selecting "save image as"...you can copy and paste

the images in a word document or download a single image PDF by clicking on the links below)

Above is a simple bookmark that was inspired by the talk "Celestial Marriage" from Elder Nelson (found here)

For a PDF download of the bookmark (two on one sheet) CLICK HERE

Above is a card you could hand out to the young women as a small reminder of their goal to have a temple marriage.

For a PDF download of the card CLICK HERE

Come Follow Me: Temple Ordinances

I am getting really excited about next month's YW "Come Follow Me" curriculum

because it is all about ordinances and covenants.

I decided to get a head start on creating some various handouts for the month.

The lesson outline for these particular handouts is...

"Why are temple ordinances important?"

Feel free to print off and use for your lessons!

(you can download them by right clicking on the picture and selecting "save image as"...

you can copy and paste the images in a word document and manipulate the size as desired)

This quote came from the talk from President Monson titled,

"The Holy Temple - A Beacon to the World".

I loved reading this talk because it was such a great reminder of why the temple is so important.

You can print this handout in any size (small to fit in the girls scriptures, or large to post on their wall).

I was also very inspired by the talk given by Elder Scott titled,

"Temple Worship - The Source of Strength and Power in Times of Need"

The talk was awesome and gave a lot of great examples of why the temple is important in our day.

I was especially touched by the challenge given by Elder Scott at the end of his talk.

He encourages us to set goals based on our temple attendance.

I decided to create that in two different handout ideas.

The first is the handout above which is simply the quote from Elder Scott

that can be printed out for each girl and placed in their room, scriptures, etc.

as a reminder of the importance of their temple attendance.

The second one below has a front and back that you could combine.

The front is the quote again from Elder Scott,

and the back provides each YW a place to actually write down their thoughts and goals.

Stand Ye in Holy Places Lesson

Serving the young women has been such a blessing.

I just love my girls.

It is the most rewarding thing in the world.

One of my favorite things is when it is my turn to teach on fast Sundays.

It’s pretty selfish, but I just I love indulging in the youth curriculum.

It is so inspiring, and always seems to be something I need a reminder on.

I always go into the lessons thinking I am going to teach the girls something new,

but walk away feeling like I have learned the most.

As a presidency, we decided to kick of the first week of the year

by introducing the new mutual theme,

“Stand ye in Holy Places”.

I taught the lesson this past Sunday, and it turned out really well.

The girls were really receptive and happily participated.

Here was the outline from my lesson and a few ideas!

I encouraged the girls to think throughout the lesson how they could “stand in holy places” this year.

I made three suggestions of how they could personally strengthen their testimonies and live the mutual theme.

Stay close to the spirit

We talked about the power of the Holy Ghost in our lives and how it helps us to

“Stand in Holy Places”.

We also discussed how the Holy Ghost is very sensitive and can be easily offended.

Together we brainstormed and talked about ways we can stay close to the spirit.

Have a good attitude.

Steer your thoughts away from yourself & direct them in gratitude and love.

Choose to accept challenges.

Pause to think about the Savior.

Flee from the appearance of evil.

Selflessly sacrifice.

. After our discussion one of our Laurels (who I had assigned earlier in the week)

stood up and shard her testimony on the how the Holy Ghost had blessed her life.

It was great hearing her perspective and we were all very touched to hear her testimony.

Seek to be Obedient

We talked about the importance of PRO-ACTIVELY living the gospel.

I remember once growing up, I had an encounter with my Stake President.

I had a picture of the temple and one Sunday he asked me a little about it

(it was a picture of the Cardston temple where my parents were married).

During our conversation I mentioned how I would “try” to go to the temple one day.

He abruptly stopped the conversation and asked me, “You will try, or you are?”

That moment has had such a great impact on me

and the way I look at my life and how I live the gospel.

Do I try to read my scriptures, or do I read my scriptures.

Do I try to stand in holy places, or do I stand in holy places.

Am I trying to be obedient, or am I obedient.

Granted it’s not a matter of being “ perfect, but rather, a matter of eliminating excuses,

and simply doing our best.

Living the gospel.

I then had the girls close their eyes and think to themselves how much their Heavenly Father loved them.

I had them think about all the good qualities and potential He sees in them.

I then bore testimony on how much their Heavenly Father loved them and had in store for them.

I had the girls open their eyes and I was holding a picture of the temple.

Never settle for less than your

Heavenly Father has in store for You

The point we wanted to get across was this -

remind the girls about their potential and never settling for less than they were worth.

As I taught, I reminded them of their ultimate goal of going to the temple someday,

and how that journey starts NOW.

At the end of the lesson, I invited the girls to go home

and think about what they wanted to do this year to “stand in holy places”

(whether it be get closer to the spirit, seek to be more obedient,

strengthen their relationship with their Heavenly Father, etc).

I gave them each a silk hanger that read,

“Hang on to your values, hang on to the spirit, hang on to your testimony,

so one day you can hang your temple dress on me”.

I told the girls that once they had set their goal, they could hang their hanger up in their closet as a daily reminder of that goal and their ultimate of going to the temple.

All in all, the lesson turned out really well.

For some of the downloads, you can click here!

Feel free to use any ideas and leave your comments!