Shownotes
Our Mothers Knew It with Maria Eckersley
A Creative Study of Come, Follow Me
Book of Mormon [1 NEPHI 1-5] Creative Object Lessons
“I Will Go and Do”
January 8 – January 15, 2024
WEEK 02: SUMMARY
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We head into familiar territory this week as we study the first 5 chapters of Nephi’s record. I see it as an epic coming-of-age story. Nephi begins by describing himself as “exceedingly young” and ends by describing himself as a “man of large stature”. In the middle, his faith, patience, and testimony are put to the test. He’ll teach us about following a prophet even when we don’t have a full understanding as well as the power that comes from seeking to know for ourselves. His experience with his brothers getting the plates helps us understand the goodness of God and His ability to make all things work together for our good.
On the creative side, we’ll use rubber bands and treat-filled targets to help us understand the structure of the Book of Mormon. Next, we’ll chat Nephi’s attempt to pump up his brothers and perform a Karaoke anthem challenge. Finally, we’ll talk about having light in our wilderness moments with a simple flashlight object lesson.
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Transcripts
Welcome back guys.
Speaker:It's time for the creative side of week two.
Speaker:So this week I have three simple object lessons to help you teach these key
Speaker:principles from these first five chapters.
Speaker:And I think you're going to have a blast.
Speaker:So first and foremost, I'm going to walk you through the supplies list and give
Speaker:you a basic idea of what we have in store.
Speaker:And then for all of you just keep watching and I'll take you
Speaker:through each one individually.
Speaker:Just remember that you won't have access to the notes or the
Speaker:printables unless you're a part of the full course over on gather.
Speaker:mecmom.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:But my hope is that by Sparking some ideas in your mind, you could take these
Speaker:in a bunch of different directions.
Speaker:Also, I should let you know that if you see a printable here that you particularly
Speaker:want and you're not a part of the course, you are welcome to search my Etsy.
Speaker:I'll give you a link in the video description so that you can find it there.
Speaker:A lot of the more popular printables I also post over on my Etsy page
Speaker:or we will starting this year.
Speaker:So hopefully that will give you some access if you can't be in
Speaker:the full course, but okay, let's get started with all the details.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:First and foremost, I wanted to talk about the structure of the plates.
Speaker:I think it's kind of tricky because In the Book of Mormon, you read
Speaker:about lots of different plates.
Speaker:This week, in particular, we talk about the brass plates, but you also
Speaker:know that Nephi's writing a record on plates, and that Lehi wrote a record
Speaker:on plates, and it gets a bit murky to try and understand all the plates.
Speaker:So this year, I wanted to give you a way to teach about the different kinds of
Speaker:plates, and how they come together to form the Book of Mormon that we currently
Speaker:have in our hands, and then also teach a spiritual lesson associated with it.
Speaker:So it's got kind of a double whammy built into it.
Speaker:And to do that, you're going to have a target shoot.
Speaker:So basically I've created a whole bunch of different plates.
Speaker:They look like this.
Speaker:They're little tiny boxes.
Speaker:You could stuff these with candy, a whole like mini box of nerds would
Speaker:fit in these just fine, but you could also just leave them just as they are.
Speaker:There's a black and white and a color version, but on the front
Speaker:they have the kind of plates.
Speaker:And then on the back, they have details about where you find them in the book
Speaker:of Mormon and maybe who wrote them, who abridged them, who translated them.
Speaker:Little details about each one and I'll walk you through how you use those.
Speaker:And just a second, trust me, the game is totally worth your time.
Speaker:That's your first one.
Speaker:Second one.
Speaker:I am calling anthems karaoke and I'll explain basically, I think when Nephi.
Speaker:It's trying to pump up his brothers.
Speaker:Remember, his brothers are hard.
Speaker:They murmur a lot.
Speaker:They don't want to go back to get the plates again.
Speaker:They think they're gonna fail and Nephi uses the story of Moses to pump them up.
Speaker:And for me, it's an anthem.
Speaker:It's him just trying to get them to like move and be motivated the
Speaker:same way Eye of the Tiger motivates us to run or do hard things.
Speaker:I think that's what Nephi is trying to do with the story of Moses.
Speaker:So we're gonna do a version of karaoke with that one and then
Speaker:talk about our scripture anthems.
Speaker:Trust me, there's a scriptural application for all of this.
Speaker:So this one, you don't need any supplies.
Speaker:You just need an iPhone and maybe a little bit of guts and
Speaker:you'll be good to go on that one.
Speaker:Okay, third object lesson.
Speaker:So for this one, I'm cheating a little bit in that I'm taking a verse from a
Speaker:little further into the wilderness story.
Speaker:I really love how the Lord teaches Lehi and Nephi over and over again, that
Speaker:even though they have to go into the wilderness, he will be their light.
Speaker:Whether that light comes through a prophet that goes along with them in
Speaker:the wilderness, or the brass plates, this incredible scripture that gets to
Speaker:go along with them in the wilderness, or later when they have the Liahona
Speaker:goes with them in the wilderness.
Speaker:I just think he's constantly trying to give them a light.
Speaker:And I think that's what the scriptures are for us.
Speaker:As we go through this year of study together, we will get
Speaker:a light in the wilderness.
Speaker:And so that's where the flashlight comes from.
Speaker:So this week in the printables, I wanted to give you some sort of reading tracker.
Speaker:A lot of you loved the discipleship dojo card that we made last
Speaker:year for the New Testament.
Speaker:I wanted something that had that same feel with a whole different spin.
Speaker:So we've made these flashlights.
Speaker:Basically, I'm giving you two different versions.
Speaker:There's a mini one that you could stick in your scriptures or put in your room.
Speaker:And it has all the different weeks that we will study inside.
Speaker:We're going to compare the power that we get from reading the scriptures to
Speaker:the power that fuels this flashlight.
Speaker:And so they'll mark one off every week.
Speaker:If you want something a little bigger so that you can hang it up maybe
Speaker:in a seminary class, or maybe put one in each of your kids rooms, I'm
Speaker:also giving you this jumbo size one.
Speaker:So it's kind of like, you know, those thermometers that are
Speaker:like fundraising thermometers?
Speaker:That same kind of idea.
Speaker:As you go through, you can mark off the verses that you've read together
Speaker:as a family, and you study together, and then see your scriptural power.
Speaker:Increase over the course of the year.
Speaker:So that one, there's just a printable.
Speaker:If you want it to be shiny, like mine, then you might want to print
Speaker:yours on photo paper, but otherwise cardstock or paper works just fine.
Speaker:So for that one, just the printable, some paper and a couple of
Speaker:Sharpies, and you'll be good to go.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:You ready for your object lesson?
Speaker:Double header.
Speaker:This is where you get two of them built into one.
Speaker:Basically, like I mentioned, my first goal is that you could talk to your
Speaker:kids about the different kinds of plates they're going to encounter in their
Speaker:reading of the Book of Mormon this year.
Speaker:Those plates get compiled and abridged or just totally inserted into what
Speaker:we know often as the gold plates, what Joseph Smith then translates
Speaker:and turns into the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:But there's a lot of different plates that go into that abridgment and that
Speaker:compilation, and I think it helps to know a little bit about them.
Speaker:I don't think you have to know everything about them or study
Speaker:them in incredible depth.
Speaker:But I do think appreciating the work of Mormon by seeing how many different plates
Speaker:he had to read and study and abridge.
Speaker:I mean, I've got a whole new appreciation for the effort of abridging.
Speaker:I really thought this coming up with seven sparks thing would
Speaker:get me through my study faster.
Speaker:It doesn't, you guys.
Speaker:It's so much harder to narrow what I like down to just seven things.
Speaker:So that's, that's Mormon, but times a bajillion.
Speaker:So I think it's tough.
Speaker:And I think we should honor what he created by Understanding the plates.
Speaker:It also helps you get your bearings in the Book of Mormon to know where
Speaker:you are in time and what's going on.
Speaker:So the printable is really simple.
Speaker:They're just these little boxes.
Speaker:They're, I printed mine on cardstock.
Speaker:It's nothing fancy.
Speaker:There's a black and white version if you're nervous about this much ink.
Speaker:But really you're just trying to help your kids understand the different plates.
Speaker:So for example, you can see this is the plates of Moroni.
Speaker:And on the back it says Moroni on the back.
Speaker:That means like this is the Book of Moroni in the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:You can also see who it was written by.
Speaker:This one was written by Moroni.
Speaker:You get another one when you look at, like, the words of Mormon.
Speaker:This is a much smaller section of plates than, like, the large plates
Speaker:of Nephi, but it still has a purpose.
Speaker:So, on this one, you can see that this equates to the words of Mormon
Speaker:book that's in our Book of Mormon, and that it's Mormon's explanation
Speaker:for including the small plates.
Speaker:Your kids can get to know all these, including things like, I
Speaker:have one for the sealed portion.
Speaker:It has a little band across it because it's sealed up.
Speaker:You could talk to your kids about that sealed portion of Those golden
Speaker:plates and why it's there can learn more about it on the back.
Speaker:But I think taking things to the next level, if you want to put your
Speaker:kids knowledge to the test, this is where you set up your target shoot.
Speaker:So I made these pretty indestructible, especially if you put a little
Speaker:box of nerds, or maybe like some Reese's peanut butter cups inside
Speaker:these, then you can create targets.
Speaker:So you want to.
Speaker:Get out on your kitchen counter, or if you're in a church, maybe do this on,
Speaker:you know, that table that's in every classroom and get some handbooks to
Speaker:make different heights and different arrangements, kind of Angry Birds style,
Speaker:and put your plates in different places.
Speaker:And then in the printable, I give you some different ways that you can play the game.
Speaker:Meaning like the first time you might just say, all right, you
Speaker:guys, I want you all to aim for, you know, the plates of Mormon.
Speaker:And then they're going to have to try and find it amidst all the other eight plates
Speaker:and, and target it and hit it first.
Speaker:You're going to hit it with just simple rubber bands, nothing fancy.
Speaker:If you have younger kids, I might give them something bigger, like
Speaker:marshmallows or something that's got a little more size to it, but they're
Speaker:just going to play that first game.
Speaker:Then as they get better at understanding all the different names
Speaker:of these eight plates that we have.
Speaker:in the collection, then you might do something with a twist.
Speaker:You might say something like, okay, find me the ones that
Speaker:were translated by King Mosiah.
Speaker:Now, if they've been paying attention and they've been playing, they're going to
Speaker:know which of those plates to aim for.
Speaker:If they don't know, that's when they have to get into their scriptures.
Speaker:They'll open their gospel library app, they'll turn to that intro page
Speaker:about the plates, and they'll find the answer, and then hurry and shoot.
Speaker:And the first one who hits the target, of course, gets
Speaker:whatever prize is inside, right?
Speaker:Whether it be a candy prize or a little coupon or something, stick something
Speaker:inside that your kids can win if they find the right plates that you were describing.
Speaker:I give you three or four of those games so that you can take this lesson
Speaker:and play it over and over again.
Speaker:Ideally, not just this.
Speaker:week.
Speaker:In fact, my hope is that because it takes a little bit of time to put all
Speaker:these boxes together, you can kind of keep these in your closet, right?
Speaker:And then the next time when you learn about the small plates of Nephi, or
Speaker:you learn about the records of Ether, that you could pull out this game again
Speaker:and say, remember, we talked about these at the beginning of the year.
Speaker:These object lessons are designed to be evergreen.
Speaker:So my hope is that you'll kind of play it this week, tuck it away, and then bring
Speaker:it back out when it can help reinforce another part of the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:That's the idea behind it.
Speaker:And I promise it's a blast.
Speaker:It's totally worth your time.
Speaker:The second way you can use these little boxes is to teach what
Speaker:happened with the boys as they're going to get the plates in Jerusalem.
Speaker:I think one of the cool things you learn, in fact, you can get this more
Speaker:in depth if you go on the insights or in the notes, but I like that each
Speaker:of those attempts that seemed like a failure actually was a way for the Lord
Speaker:to teach them new things so that when the opportunity arose, Nephi was able
Speaker:to slay Laban and Retrieve the plates.
Speaker:He couldn't have done that as efficiently or as well.
Speaker:If they hadn't had those first failed attempts, I think they
Speaker:learned things on each one.
Speaker:And the same thing happens with these little boxes.
Speaker:So after your kids have played the game for a few rounds and they've learned
Speaker:the plates and they got the idea.
Speaker:Now you want to pull it back to this week's lesson and talk to them about.
Speaker:What they do when they miss, let's say they shoot their rubber band and
Speaker:they miss, they probably pay attention to if your rubber band went to the
Speaker:left of the box or to the right of the box, they probably pay attention
Speaker:to, did they pull too hard on the rubber band or did they pull too soft?
Speaker:Like they're naturally making adjustments to their aim.
Speaker:with every single shot.
Speaker:And in that case, you're deliberately making mistakes so
Speaker:that you can eventually accomplish what you're hoping to accomplish.
Speaker:Nobody stands in front of all those boxes and thinks I'm going to hit
Speaker:all eight of these in eight shots.
Speaker:Cause you know, it's going to take some trial and error.
Speaker:I think revelation works the same way.
Speaker:Oftentimes the Lord doesn't stop us from making what we see as mistakes,
Speaker:because we learn by those mistakes.
Speaker:We learn we need to go a little bit to the left.
Speaker:Maybe this time a little bit to the right.
Speaker:Maybe I pulled a little too far back last time.
Speaker:This time I need to go a little easier.
Speaker:When we put those same thoughts and intentions into our efforts, especially
Speaker:when it comes to Revelation, we get a much faster way of getting to our target.
Speaker:So hopefully that's another way you can use the little boxes.
Speaker:You guys, we can't take ourselves too seriously when it comes to Scripture Time.
Speaker:Sometimes you just need to laugh and make memories and understand
Speaker:some core concepts at the same time.
Speaker:That's probably how I would describe this second object lesson.
Speaker:Basically, I'm inviting you to take on a karaoke challenge, but here's why.
Speaker:I love that when Nephi wants to pump up his brothers, He plays the song of Moses.
Speaker:Yeah, he plays it almost the same way you would play like the intro sequence to, I
Speaker:don't know, Indiana Jones or Star Wars.
Speaker:And as soon as you hear those anthems played, your mind calls certain things
Speaker:back to their remembrance, right?
Speaker:You get these ideas of, I can conquer hard things, or I can do what's impossible.
Speaker:When you hear an anthem, you believe that you can do things.
Speaker:And Nephi knows that.
Speaker:And so he's trying to help his brothers catch fire.
Speaker:I think before you even begin into the object lesson part of this, I would
Speaker:encourage your kids to choose an anthem.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be a spiritual song.
Speaker:It might be, but it doesn't have to be.
Speaker:I would encourage them to find Whatever song that they think pumps them up and
Speaker:play it for the class play it for your family in my family We made a playlist
Speaker:of everybody's anthems And it's totally entertaining to have those on my phone
Speaker:because you know Like you drop your kids off at the first day of junior high and
Speaker:you blare their anthem as they're walking into school and you know, they roll
Speaker:their eyes and are frustrated at you, but at the same time, they deeply love it.
Speaker:So I think that's the value of having anthems, even if it's just
Speaker:your class playlist of anthems.
Speaker:I think having those in your back pocket is really helpful.
Speaker:I did that with my YSAs as well.
Speaker:I have a whole playlist of their favorite, like walk up songs, and it's awesome.
Speaker:So start there.
Speaker:Get your favorite songs.
Speaker:And then if you feel up for the karaoke challenge, do some
Speaker:karaoke with your anthems.
Speaker:I thought it would be fun to draw your attention to a new
Speaker:feature that's on the iPhone.
Speaker:Sorry, I don't know Google phones very well, but on the iPhone, if you go
Speaker:into the music app and you click that little quotation mark, you know, the one
Speaker:that gives you the lyrics of the song.
Speaker:If you look over to the right, just above that time bar, there's a little
Speaker:sparkly microphone that's kind of new.
Speaker:And if you click it.
Speaker:What you can do is control the volume of the person singing.
Speaker:So even though the music plays loud behind it, you can tone down what's all the
Speaker:lyrics and what the singer is singing.
Speaker:So Violet, one of her favorite songs is Sweet Caroline.
Speaker:She loves singing that song and belting it all out.
Speaker:So you can turn down Neil Diamond and let Violet belt it out.
Speaker:And that's how you do the karaoke challenge.
Speaker:And then to bring it all back around spiritually, talk to
Speaker:them about scriptural anthems.
Speaker:In this story, Moses knows the story, or sorry, Nephi knows the story of Moses so
Speaker:well that in this moment when he needs his brothers to believe, he can shout it out.
Speaker:He doesn't seem to have scriptures in front of him.
Speaker:He doesn't have anything in his hands as far as I can tell.
Speaker:He just knows it.
Speaker:He knows it the same way you probably know Sweet Caroline or something like that.
Speaker:Like he knows the songs and he knows what will motivate his
Speaker:brothers and so he calls it out.
Speaker:So I just think that's what we're hoping for, is that each of our kids can choose.
Speaker:a scriptural anthem as well.
Speaker:I give you some examples in the notes of some that have helped me in the past.
Speaker:Like I really love the story of Gideon and how it shows me that God uses small
Speaker:things to accomplish big purposes.
Speaker:I love the story of Joseph Smith that that anthem when it's played for me reminds
Speaker:me that oh yeah God does answer prayers even if I'm imperfect and I come Not fully
Speaker:understanding what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker:He answers prayers.
Speaker:There's a bunch of them.
Speaker:You can play the anthem of Esther and learn that yes, he will protect
Speaker:you in hard times, like you will have the help you need, especially if you
Speaker:rely on friends to fast and pray with you, you'll have the help you need.
Speaker:Those scriptural anthems play in my mind.
Speaker:It's one of the ways the Spirit brings all things back to my remembrance.
Speaker:I'll hear that anthem of Esther or of Ruth or of Eve and it will
Speaker:motivate me to move forward.
Speaker:So hopefully this will help your family do that too.
Speaker:I don't think the Lord ever calls us into the wilderness without giving us
Speaker:sufficient light, but it doesn't mean we'll be able to use it automatically.
Speaker:I think you see that with the brass plates and acquiring them this
Speaker:week because basically in order for those brass plates to really help
Speaker:Lehi and Nephi and their family.
Speaker:They have to put them to use, they've got to study them, and they've
Speaker:got to put the principles and the teachings into action in their lives.
Speaker:And when that happens, power flows in.
Speaker:And I think the same thing happens with us when we read our scriptures.
Speaker:So, this object lesson is one you can do with the printable or without,
Speaker:but either way, I would probably start with a simple flashlight.
Speaker:You're going to talk to your kids about what a flashlight is designed to do.
Speaker:It's really simple, right?
Speaker:Every kid, even down to some of you would know that a flashlight is designed
Speaker:to illuminate the darkness so that you can move forward in a dark space.
Speaker:The same thing happens with the revelation.
Speaker:It's given to us in order to move forward in dark spaces, but I think what's
Speaker:interesting is it requires two things.
Speaker:This flashlight, in order for it to really work, first it needs power.
Speaker:I've got to fill up the body of this flashlight with batteries, fully charged,
Speaker:strong batteries, and I have to put them in the right way in order to give myself
Speaker:the potential to use this flashlight.
Speaker:So I would talk to your kids about how oftentimes flashlights,
Speaker:when you buy them at the store, they don't come with batteries.
Speaker:In fact, if it were me and I was teaching this in maybe a Sunday
Speaker:school class or primary class, I would probably buy a dollar store flashlight
Speaker:for each of my kids and let them.
Speaker:Try to turn it on without any batteries inside and then once they realize they
Speaker:can't they'll know immediately what they need They need a source of power
Speaker:So then you're gonna teach them how to put the batteries in and talk about this
Speaker:is what happens when we study Scripture when we study and try to understand
Speaker:the scriptures, especially in a program like come follow me What the Lord is
Speaker:trying to do is give us power He knows we're going to need light in our life.
Speaker:He knows we're going to need testimony and understanding.
Speaker:So he's trying to give us this big well to draw from.
Speaker:The Book of Mormon is this deep well that has loads of advice for our life.
Speaker:You know, President Nelson says you can find all the answers that you need in it.
Speaker:So I think that's what we're trying to do here.
Speaker:That's why I designed the flashlight to look like this, so that as you go
Speaker:through the year, you can mark off all the different weeks of study that you've done
Speaker:and that individually or as a family, you can watch your spiritual power increase.
Speaker:And as great as it is to study the scriptures and to
Speaker:know them, it's not enough.
Speaker:Just when you go back to the flashlight.
Speaker:The other thing I need in addition to batteries is I need to push the button.
Speaker:It doesn't really help me much if I've got a battery full of
Speaker:charge, but I don't put it to use.
Speaker:I have to push the button.
Speaker:Same thing happened with Nephi this week.
Speaker:It's not so much that he knew his scriptures is that he
Speaker:knew them and acted on them.
Speaker:He knows about Moses.
Speaker:And so when he's facing a difficult situation where it seems like the bad
Speaker:guy has armies and can fight better than he can, he remembers Moses.
Speaker:And he says, No, I remember the Lord delivered him.
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:Let's go and do because we're going to get the help we need.
Speaker:That's the equivalent of pushing the button.
Speaker:It's not enough for us to study and know the scriptures.
Speaker:He gives them to us so that we can use them.
Speaker:We can click the button and have the light we need.
Speaker:And I can testify over and over again that the deeper I get into my scriptures, the
Speaker:more I understand them, where they came from, who wrote them, why they matter,
Speaker:the brighter that light feels to me.
Speaker:I can click in.
Speaker:I can get the illumination that I needed to navigate my tricky life.
Speaker:I testify that that's true.
Speaker:And I know what will happen for you as well.
Speaker:So hopefully this simple flashlight optic lesson will help you pull that off.
Speaker:Like I mentioned in the intro.
Speaker:I'm giving you a few different versions.
Speaker:There's the colorful small version has a little flap that you can close so that
Speaker:you could tuck it into your scriptures.
Speaker:And then I also give you the jumbo version.
Speaker:So this one is designed to actually print on two pieces of paper.
Speaker:You're going to see it in the printable.
Speaker:You're going to cut it out and then just simply glue it together.
Speaker:I did find, I put a backing of cardboard.
Speaker:It's not pretty, like just ugly cardboard that I cut off of a box so that if I
Speaker:hung it on the wall and the kids use Sharpie on it, I didn't have to risk the
Speaker:Sharpie bleeding through onto my wall, but hopefully this giant flashlight
Speaker:will help your kids have a constant reminder of why this study is worth it.
Speaker:We're not just checking boxes here.
Speaker:We are building up spiritual power and the spiritual power is best if it's
Speaker:used when we fill up and then we click that button and put that light to use.
Speaker:So hopefully this object lesson will help you teach it.
Speaker:Thanks for being here, you guys.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I hope you enjoy this week of study.
Speaker:It's really familiar ground, but that's a good thing.
Speaker:It means you'll have really good discussions with your
Speaker:kids and your classes.
Speaker:I think you're gonna love it.
Speaker:So if you have extra questions, you are welcome to join me on the live.
Speaker:That happens Monday morning at 10 a.
Speaker:m.
Speaker:over at gather.
Speaker:macmom.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:That's where I'll walk through the basics of what's in the course
Speaker:this week, what object lessons are.
Speaker:in store and then also answer any questions you might have, whether
Speaker:it be about the insights or how to pull off the object lessons.
Speaker:Coming to find me on the live is a good place to get those answers, but otherwise
Speaker:enjoy your week of study you guys.
Speaker:And I'll see you when we come back for week three.
