Church at Home (Week 6)

We have go into a routine now.

The morning is relaxed, unlike Sundays where we need to be at church for 10am.

We wake when the kids reach the point of helplessness. We don't rush breakfast or getting dressed. We might do our hair.

We don't allow regular TV but we are putting on Latter Day Kids you tube videos before church to distract then and invite the spirit.

We wait for our youngest to be put down for a nap. That then gives us 1-2 hours.

This week we mustn't forget hymnbooks.

Opening Hymn: Love One Another

Prayer:

Announcements: We are still doing church at home!

Sacrament Hymn:

The Sacrament:

Lesson

Who was king Benjamin? He was a good king. What are kings? What do kings do? If you were a king, what would you do? If you could make up on rule, what would it be? Maybe we can consider applying it.

King Benjamin didn't some of the things 'normal' kings do. He worked. He didn't want the people to work hard to pay for a fancy lifestyle for him. He worked hard so that he could give the best possible lifestyle for his people. He was a good king who knew Jesus and taught His teachings.

King Benjamin Children's Video

Compare King Benjamin's gathering to general conference.

Consider the following 6min video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojYK5c5zUIw

Story of President Monson & baseball & Maze activity.
Mosiah 2:17 when ye are in the service of your fellow beings (other people) ye are only in the service of your God. Also, to serve God, we need to serve our fellow beings (other people).
Why do people do nice things?
What nice thing can you do to serve God?

Give the kids something to colour.

Song: Book Of Mormon Stories

April 13 - 19 : Mosiah 1-3

King Benjamins address is one of my favourite talks/sermons in the Book of Mormon.

The thing I love the most about King Benjamin is that he is a king who worked among the people. He did so, so that he was not supported by them, but to show that he was supporting them. He wanted their life to be burdensome as little as possible.

I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne (Mosiah 2:14)

Another item I noticed was in chapter 1 of Mosiah. The initial verses of the book again teach about the importance of the plates. The importance of having the word. For this message to be repeated again, and yet we are still early in the Book of Mormon. It shows how much value the ancients placed in these.

Church at Home (Week 5) - Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

In the run up to easter, we asked our eldest, 4yo, what easter was about. You could guess his answer. "Chocolate". As parents we looked at each other, hardly surprised at the reply but hopeful that we might have got a more meaningful reply. We knew we had a bit of work to do.

Sunday Service

April 12th - Easter Sunday

Hymn: He is risen. https://youtu.be/kCJtfBR7T9E

Prayer:

Announcements: It’s Easter Sunday

Sacrament Hymn:

The Sacrament:

Ask the kids about Easter

What has Easter got to do with Jesus?

What symbols do we often see at Easter?

Eggs/bunnies - new life

Lamb - the Saviour

Hot Cross Buns - The cross Jesus was crucified on

Egg or stone rolling - rolling away of the stone of the tomb

What do you know about Jesus? What sort of things did he do?

Video

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2011-03-007-his-sacred-name-an-easter-declaration

Jesus did good things but many people were afraid of what he did and what he taught. He taught something different to the custom and so others didn’t like being told they were wrong.

2  children’s videos from app

Pictures to colour & maze for Troy.

Sing Along Video: Hosanna

Close

A few days later, I asked our eldest again about easter. While he still mentioned chocolate, he did give us jumbles up reply about Jesus being alive. We could ask for too much more than that. Something went in to the point where he was able to repeat it back to us.

Church at Home (Week 4) - General Conference

General Conference

General conference at hame has become quite normal now. So in terms of logistics, it was much like any other general conference weekend. The only difference for up, practically, was that our kids were 6 months older since the last one, so hopefully, a little more reverent.

We didn't expect them to sit through all of the sessions with us, nor all of any sessions. But we did expect then this year, to sit through some of any session and if they wanted to sit with us and listen we had some activities for them. But they were also free to play in other rooms if they wanted. But we made it clear to them, that mummy & daddy wanted to watch this.

This year, we were still heavily distracted, however we did manage to watch every session.

Normally I would start listening in the car too and from work. But now that I am working from home. This option is not really available to me. So I have yet to re-listed to it.

There has been some chatter about the second coming. The situation we find ourselves in with the pandemic is making people think it is the end of the world and talk more about the second coming. So there is a heightened sense of awareness about this subject. For me, I heard pretty much every speaker refer to it. That in itself must be a sign.