Shownotes
2024 WEEK 01 [INTRO PAGES] INSIGHTS NOTES
“ANOTHER TESTAMENT OF JESUS CHRIST”
January 1 – January 7
WEEK 01: SUMMARY
This week we kick off a whole new year as we study the Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon. We’ll study the Title Page, Introduction, and testimonies of the witnesses of the plates. I’ll chat about 7 of the insights that sparked ideas in my mind and then ask you 5 questions to get a good conversation going.
We’ll talk about the value of creating, keeping, and learning from records with a simple questionnaire and mini-recording session. Next, we’ll put Joseph Smith’s keystone object lesson to the test by creating a candy-filled paper arch. Finally, we’ll talk about the importance of witnesses and help our kids understand how to be witnesses at living and proxy baptisms.
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CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST DISCLAIMER: This podcast represents my own thoughts and opinions. It is not made, approved or endorsed by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Any content or creative interpretations, implied or included are solely those of Maria Eckersley ("MeckMom LLC"), and not those of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Great care has been made to ensure this podcast is in harmony with the overall mission of the Church. Click here to visit the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Transcripts
Welcome back you guys.
Speaker:It's time for the creative side of week one.
Speaker:So like I mentioned, my goal with the three creative ideas is that it will help
Speaker:your kids connect to these scriptures.
Speaker:I want them to have their own fires ignited, and one of the best ways
Speaker:I've found to do that is to come up with creative ways to teach.
Speaker:So just like every year in the past, we will have.
Speaker:Fresh new fun ways for you to create memories that last and this week is no
Speaker:exception I will tell you that the one change we're making this year is we've
Speaker:decided to make the creative video freely available You won't have access to the
Speaker:printables and the notes unless you're a part of the subscriber course But you
Speaker:will have access to the ideas and so all the videos we're going to be posting them
Speaker:on YouTube in their fullness so that even if you don't have access to the course
Speaker:and my materials, you could use it as a creative kickstart to do your own.
Speaker:I hope it helps.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I'm going to walk you through a quick supplies list first, and then
Speaker:I'll break down each object lesson and tell you how to pull it off.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:First and foremost, there's a printable involved in this one.
Speaker:You could come up with your own as well, but I've created a
Speaker:printable called make a record.
Speaker:The reason I did this is because the very first object lesson we did.
Speaker:back in January of 2020 was also called make a record where
Speaker:we ask these same questions.
Speaker:So if you've been in the course for all these four years, and now
Speaker:you're onto your fifth, you're going to want to do this object lesson.
Speaker:I'll walk you through how to pull it off in just a second.
Speaker:The second one, actually all three of these involve a printable, but hopefully
Speaker:you can find other ways to spin off it.
Speaker:If you're not in the course, the second one is all about Keystone.
Speaker:I know this is an object lesson that we've taught before, but
Speaker:I think the way we teach it.
Speaker:Actually kind of confused this thing.
Speaker:So I wanted some way to teach Joseph Smith's object lesson of the Book of
Speaker:Mormon being the keystone of our religion in a way that's more understandable
Speaker:and Maybe a little more doctrinally accurate and the way we're gonna do that
Speaker:is by creating this very cool keystone craft so that you Don't have to pull
Speaker:out wooden blocks or chop up potatoes or whatever else you do to make your
Speaker:keystone I'm creating the blocks for you.
Speaker:It also has a secret space where you can hide candy So if this is your first lesson
Speaker:of the year and you're teaching a new class Stashing the columns full of candy.
Speaker:I promise we'll win you some points So I'll walk you through that one soon
Speaker:that one you just need cardstock and the printables and a little bit of glue Okay.
Speaker:Third one.
Speaker:This one is more of an analogy or an example, but it also
Speaker:has a printable option.
Speaker:This is to talk about the value of a witness.
Speaker:There's a big difference between being an observer and being a witness.
Speaker:And those witnesses that we studied this week in the intro pages.
Speaker:Speak volumes about how the Lord sees his work that it is something he wants
Speaker:certified It's something he wants people to put their stamp of approval on He
Speaker:wants the law of witnesses fulfilled and he does it this week One of the ways I
Speaker:think our kids can relate to that is by being a witness at a baptism So since
Speaker:that's something that has kind of shifted in the last few years where kids who
Speaker:are baptized can be a witness I thought it would be cool to take this week to
Speaker:talk about what a witness is and then also to talk about what you Should do
Speaker:as a witness If they're asked to be a witness at a baptism, what do they do?
Speaker:How does that work?
Speaker:And the printable will help you pull that off.
Speaker:So for this one, you don't necessarily need the printable, but it helps.
Speaker:Um, but most of it is just something we're going to talk about with
Speaker:your group and help them understand the value of that critical role.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's your supplies.
Speaker:You guys, let's get started.
Speaker:I think one of the resounding messages in this week's study is the value of making
Speaker:and keeping records and not just storing them, but Putting them in a way that
Speaker:other people can access them and learn from them for years and years to come.
Speaker:That's Mormon's message.
Speaker:It's Moroni's message.
Speaker:I even think it's the message of Joseph Smith, because this
Speaker:is the pattern of the Lord.
Speaker:He wants us to keep good records.
Speaker:That's why we have record keepers in the church.
Speaker:That's why when the Savior came, he corrected the record and told them
Speaker:there were things that were missing.
Speaker:You're going to see a lot of that this year.
Speaker:There is value in making a record.
Speaker:For me, I wanted something to bring my kids back to where we began.
Speaker:So like I mentioned, the very first object lesson we did in 2020
Speaker:was a make a record where I just designed a simple questionnaire
Speaker:to help capture them a little bit.
Speaker:What I love about Mormon and Moroni's writing is They don't
Speaker:just write what was happening.
Speaker:In fact, you'll see this difference between the large and the small
Speaker:plates that some are written about the history and some are written about
Speaker:the spiritual side and both matter.
Speaker:I just think that's a powerful message that when we keep a record, it's not
Speaker:supposed to just be our testimony.
Speaker:It's supposed to be about who we are and what our school was
Speaker:like and who our best friend was.
Speaker:Those are things your grandkids and great grandkids are going to want to
Speaker:hear because it helps them understand how you came to your testimony by getting a
Speaker:fuller picture of what your life was like.
Speaker:So that's what you're gonna find on the questionnaire.
Speaker:So I reformatted it this year to make it a little easier to print, but the questions
Speaker:are really similar and that's on purpose.
Speaker:Because yesterday when we listened to my kids recordings, I honestly hadn't heard
Speaker:them since we made them back in 2020.
Speaker:And to hear Violet's little voice, I mean, she's like six when she recorded it.
Speaker:And it's, you know, that she wanted to be a ballerina and a dancer.
Speaker:Like it was so fun to compare her initial record answering these same
Speaker:questions with what she wrote down today.
Speaker:Same thing happened with Will and with Sam, like to hear their voices.
Speaker:It was one of those moments where, uh, to be completely honest, there've been times
Speaker:in the course of this four years of study that I've wondered if this is worth it.
Speaker:You know, I've been doing this for my posterity, hoping to capture my
Speaker:testimony and my understandings about the scriptures so that someday they'll see it.
Speaker:And yesterday was one of those days when I was like, Oh, this is for me.
Speaker:Like just hearing their.
Speaker:memories captured, who their best friend was, who they looked up to, what
Speaker:they hoped to be when they grew up.
Speaker:And then to hear it again, now four years later, it was just this tender mercy.
Speaker:Like it, it fueled me to keep going.
Speaker:So I know this seems like A silly little thing to do, but I'm telling you,
Speaker:there is power in this simple process.
Speaker:Whether you use my questions or you come up with your own, my hope
Speaker:is that you'll use the template we have in the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:Ask questions about their day to day life, you know, in, in the questionnaire,
Speaker:you'll see some interesting ones.
Speaker:Like, do you have any weird fears?
Speaker:What goals are you working on?
Speaker:If you had 200 and two hours.
Speaker:What would you spend it on?
Speaker:Like those are things that will help your kids make a record of
Speaker:them, not just of what they know.
Speaker:It also has some questions feathered in about their testimony, what they're hoping
Speaker:to grow in their testimony, how they rate themselves on their understanding
Speaker:of the Book of Mormon, so that at the end of this year, you can make another
Speaker:record and we can compare the two and see.
Speaker:Where they are, but I'm telling you guys, this is worth your time.
Speaker:It will bring you to tears some point in the future, and
Speaker:I promise it's worth your time.
Speaker:So that's object lesson number one.
Speaker:Okay, full disclosure between you and me.
Speaker:I tried to come up with other alternatives to the keystone object.
Speaker:Because I found myself thinking like, oh, they've done this before, they've
Speaker:made keystones in the past, or at least they've had a teacher hold up a picture
Speaker:of an arch and they, it's done, right?
Speaker:Everything we tried.
Speaker:Failed.
Speaker:We, we tried a couple of different ideas.
Speaker:I even went to the store to buy supplies for one of the ideas.
Speaker:Like I tried, Jason tried, they all failed.
Speaker:I decided that that was probably a sign that Joseph Smith's object
Speaker:lesson is one I'm supposed to teach rather than trying to improve on.
Speaker:So we're going to talk about a keystone.
Speaker:The message in this week's study is that the Book of Mormon is
Speaker:the keystone of our religion.
Speaker:So in the notes, you can walk through, but basically you want to talk to your
Speaker:kids about the value of a keystone.
Speaker:This is in the come follow me manual as well.
Speaker:But what it offers, like why it has that structural integrity.
Speaker:One of the things I love about a Keystone, in fact, I, I went down a
Speaker:rabbit hole of YouTube videos, learning all about arches and how to build arch.
Speaker:One of the things I learned is that the Keystone is something
Speaker:that gives all the other bricks.
Speaker:purpose, not just strength.
Speaker:It's not just that if I pull the keystone out, everything falls apart.
Speaker:It's also that all those bricks now have a purpose.
Speaker:They create an opening.
Speaker:They create, you know, a place that light can shine through.
Speaker:They, they create purpose.
Speaker:They also create permanence.
Speaker:This is something that can last.
Speaker:In fact, the ones I watched on YouTube were, you know, hundreds, if not thousands
Speaker:of years old, these arches that were still standing, that keystone offers that.
Speaker:Permanence.
Speaker:It also offers power.
Speaker:As soon as that keystone is solidly in place, all the pressure
Speaker:that is distributed between those blocks sticks, right?
Speaker:So you have this power so that if one of them just gets
Speaker:knocked, they, they don't move.
Speaker:They don't budge because they've got this weight distribution that is solid.
Speaker:That's what we want to talk about when you talk about your
Speaker:testimony of the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:I just think the printable will help you.
Speaker:I've designed the printable.
Speaker:So if you look at it this way, I've created, it has a little platform that
Speaker:you can build it on, but you actually, if you're in a hurry and you don't
Speaker:have time to make the columns, you can build this just with the top section.
Speaker:So this actual arch piece, you can make it just sit on top of that same
Speaker:base and it will fit just perfectly.
Speaker:If you want to elevate it and add candy to it, then you want to put the columns in.
Speaker:But the idea is really simple here.
Speaker:You let your kids create the arch.
Speaker:I just think rather than Building your arch from the sides and
Speaker:working your way up to the middle and finally placing that keystone.
Speaker:I found it was Easier to build and demonstrated something better when I
Speaker:started with the keystone So when violent and I were building I began with the
Speaker:keystone and I attached the blocks So if you look at the top of that arch, you'll
Speaker:notice that those pieces have letters across the top You can't really tell
Speaker:when you first Put those pieces together that there's a phrase written out.
Speaker:You can just see that there's letters there.
Speaker:But when I start with the one that says Keystone, and then I
Speaker:try to match the next brick to it.
Speaker:I look at the text and I try and match the font and try and get it to attach.
Speaker:I glue that one in place and then I find the one on the other side
Speaker:and I glue that one in place.
Speaker:And I slowly, like, work my way out, then I get this full, solid arch.
Speaker:What I liked about that is for me, that's how the Book of Mormon works.
Speaker:It's not so much that if I pull the Book of Mormon out, my
Speaker:whole testimony crumbles apart.
Speaker:Although I think there's some truth to that.
Speaker:I think a bigger thing is the testimony can be our beginning.
Speaker:The testimony of the Book of Mormon that you'll get this year that will increase
Speaker:for you this year is something you can attach all other things to so that next
Speaker:year when you study the Doctrine and Covenants you can attach that brick all
Speaker:about Joseph Smith and Moroni and the plates solidly on to what you already
Speaker:know is true about the Book of Mormon.
Speaker:You can attach other things like the words from prophets you hear at conference.
Speaker:Because the Book of Mormon testifies about prophets and about appointed leaders.
Speaker:You know, when the Savior comes and he, he ordains apostles, like that
Speaker:is something that we still see today.
Speaker:So that you can take that brick about living prophets and attach it solidly
Speaker:to the other side of that arch.
Speaker:That's how the Book of Mormon is a keystone for me.
Speaker:It's not so much that everything else crumbles as it is when I begin there.
Speaker:Everything else can attach to it and I get this solidity, I get power, I get
Speaker:permanence, and I get this something that lasts a long, long time, something
Speaker:that can withstand pressure, that can, you know, be That will endure.
Speaker:That's the idea behind it.
Speaker:So when you assemble the printable, whether you do it with columns
Speaker:or not, if you're going to do the columns and fill them with candy,
Speaker:or you can fill them with stones.
Speaker:Like, for example, this one, you can probably hear the marbles rolling around.
Speaker:I just put weights in it to give the columns a little bit of strength.
Speaker:But if you attach the columns to this paper at the bottom, you
Speaker:don't really need any extra weight.
Speaker:It just gave you a place to, like, stash good things.
Speaker:So the idea is simple.
Speaker:You create the arch.
Speaker:You talk through that process of building this puzzle across the top.
Speaker:That if we start with the Book of Mormon, we can work our way out
Speaker:and then we can get this powerful, permanent, strong foundation.
Speaker:Then we have something that we can build off for a whole lifetime.
Speaker:That's kind of the idea.
Speaker:At the very bottom on that base, you'll see a quote from Ezra Taft Benson where
Speaker:he talks about how the Book of Mormon is a keystone in several different ways.
Speaker:He says, it's a keystone of our religion.
Speaker:It's a keystone of our witness of Christ.
Speaker:It's a keystone of our doctrine and the keystone of our testimony.
Speaker:You could build in all those different directions and Get good understandings,
Speaker:or maybe make three different arches and talk about how they are, how it's
Speaker:the keystone of our testimony, how it's the keystone of our doctrine.
Speaker:You could build a few and put them together and see how it works, but
Speaker:hopefully the printable will help you pull off this powerful teaching tool.
Speaker:Some of the object lessons we'll do will not be so much a thing
Speaker:to build or play with, but just.
Speaker:So if you go through the notes, it'll kind of walk you through
Speaker:this process, but let me explain.
Speaker:This one, I really wanted to focus in on the difference between being
Speaker:an observer and being a witness.
Speaker:The people who we read about in the Book of Mormon, especially
Speaker:in those intro pages, are not just someone who saw the plates.
Speaker:They are someone who witnessed that they saw the plates.
Speaker:That's different.
Speaker:That means I'm going to put my name on the dotted line.
Speaker:It means I'm going to stake myself there.
Speaker:It means they're going to face persecution and Problems and troubles because
Speaker:they witnessed something is true.
Speaker:I think there's power in that.
Speaker:And one of the reasons I wanted to focus on it in an object lesson is
Speaker:because it's something our kids are invited to do now, that is a weighty.
Speaker:Obligation, a weighty calling.
Speaker:In fact, one of the easiest ways you can open discussion about this with
Speaker:your kids is to ask them about the last time they went to a baptism.
Speaker:And say, maybe, how many times did you, or how many people saw the baptism?
Speaker:You know, for most baptisms that I've been at, there's at least 30 people in
Speaker:the room, you know, maybe 50 sometimes, that see the person being baptized.
Speaker:And then ask them, okay, how many witnesses were there?
Speaker:And this is, that's where they'll start to catch the difference.
Speaker:Witnesses are those two people who stand at the front, who watch the ordinance, who
Speaker:try to make sure things are done properly.
Speaker:They're someone who certifies that it has happened properly according
Speaker:to the outline that the Doctrine and Covenants gives us, and according
Speaker:to what we read in scripture.
Speaker:Like, they are someone who Watch and care for the words of God and make sure they
Speaker:are upheld in this very sacred setting.
Speaker:And that's different than just being an observer.
Speaker:So, my thought was, this week, since we're talking so much about witnesses,
Speaker:it might be cool to understand more about these particular witnesses.
Speaker:If you go in the notes, you're going to see there's a four minute video
Speaker:that I've linked from the church.
Speaker:It's on the church website.
Speaker:It walks you through the two different experiences the three witnesses had and
Speaker:the eight witnesses had and who they are.
Speaker:And then I thought it would be cool to talk about their
Speaker:opportunity to be a witness.
Speaker:I just think, especially since this is new, you know, just in the last few
Speaker:years, this policy has changed where baptized kids can now be a witness at
Speaker:their sibling's baptism or anybody's baptism that those who have a You know,
Speaker:if you have a temple recommend, even a youth temple recommend, you can be a
Speaker:witness at proxy baptisms in the temple.
Speaker:So I think it's even if they're younger kids or teenagers, this
Speaker:object lesson will apply to them.
Speaker:So I went and chatted with Jason to help create this little card.
Speaker:I just found there was nothing online to help you understand what a witness
Speaker:is supposed to do other than like the fundamentals of make sure they are
Speaker:fully immersed and make sure no hair floats up and I thought it would be
Speaker:cool to talk about What are some of the other things that you do as a witness?
Speaker:For example, you might be there to help keep the room reverent, to
Speaker:make sure this is a sacred place.
Speaker:I think there are things you can watch for and be cautious about.
Speaker:Also, what to do if you spot some mistake.
Speaker:So as a witness, if you notice that the wrong words are said, or you notice
Speaker:that a dress floats up, what do you do?
Speaker:Like, I just think my thought with this is, if your kids are
Speaker:called to be a witness, you could give them this little card.
Speaker:The front side has.
Speaker:For a living or sorry this site has for a living baptism.
Speaker:This one's for a proxy baptism It walks you through the process what you can
Speaker:expect It tells you little things like you know There's a card that has all
Speaker:the words on it right there by the font So you don't need to be afraid to have
Speaker:to memorize anything But I thought you could practice at home For all your kids
Speaker:this week or practice in your classes what it's like to be a witness if you're
Speaker:in the church building you may even go to where the font is and let them see
Speaker:what this process is like and then Just keep this in your back pocket, right?
Speaker:Digitally, you know that this is in the archive so that when your kids or
Speaker:someone else is asked to be a witness, or maybe it's your kid getting baptized
Speaker:and you're asking your grandparents to be a witness or your aunt to be a
Speaker:witness, you could hand them this little card at the beginning of the baptism.
Speaker:Let them review it while they sit down and listen to the talks and then give them.
Speaker:Empowerment when they stand to actually be a witness since they've been able to
Speaker:read through and understand it better and see the scriptures that Associate with it.
Speaker:They'll feel more weight.
Speaker:This isn't a casual commitment.
Speaker:This is something that matters It's always mattered to the Lord to have witnesses
Speaker:to his great work and the ordinances are a great work There's some talks in
Speaker:the notes that in addition to being a baptism witness if you've got younger kids
Speaker:Another thing they can do is be a witness in sacrament, which I love this concept.
Speaker:I can't remember Which talk I read but he basically said every Sunday when
Speaker:you partake of the sacrament You are witnessing that you are taking his
Speaker:name upon you You become a witness not someone who observes or who was a part
Speaker:of but someone who witnesses So even if you have little kids, I think this same
Speaker:object lesson can apply and hopefully these tools will help you pull it off
Speaker:Thank you so much for being here you guys, especially those of you who have
Speaker:been with me for years I think it's going to be a really Really good year, and I
Speaker:hope you're filled with hope and light for what can happen, especially to you.
Speaker:In fact, that's probably the best thing I've learned over the last four
Speaker:years of intense study is that I, none of my teachings and what I do is
Speaker:gonna control my kids agency and what they choose, but I feel different.
Speaker:I felt empowered over these four years to know how to solve problems in my family.
Speaker:I felt empowered against doubts when people I loved Left the
Speaker:church or had odd questions.
Speaker:The study that we've done together helped, helped me stay solidly planted.
Speaker:I wasn't, I didn't feel tossed with winds of doctrine.
Speaker:I felt.
Speaker:Steady.
Speaker:There's this great quote from President Irene.
Speaker:It's in the notes, but he says this, you can have the utmost
Speaker:assurance that your power will be multiplied many times by the Lord.
Speaker:All he asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart.
Speaker:Do it cheerfully.
Speaker:And with the prayer of faith, the father and his beloved son will send the Holy
Speaker:ghost as your companion to guide you.
Speaker:Your efforts will be magnified in the lives of the people you serve.
Speaker:And when you look back on what may now seem like trying times of
Speaker:service and sacrifice, the sacrifice will have become a blessing.
Speaker:And you will know that you have seen the arm of God lifting those
Speaker:you served for Him and lifting you.
Speaker:That's my testimony about this year's course and every year before it.
Speaker:It is all about serving others and in the process being lifted.
Speaker:I can testify that that has happened and will continue to happen as
Speaker:you get into your scriptures and I'm here to help you do it.
