Week 1
Death and Ressurection

Jesus told his disciples that he was going to die.  He knew long before his death what was going to happen.  He know that he would suffer in the Garden of Gethsemene, that he would be betrayed by one of the Apostles (Judas) and crucified.  He could have stopped it, but he went ahead and died for us.  Why do you think he did this?

(Take some answers, and then explain:)

Jesus knew that he needed to die for us, if we were to return to our Heavenly Father.  He loved us very much.  He also knew that Heavenly Father would help him, and had FAITH in the Father's plan for us.

After he was resurrected, Jesus appeared to his Apostles.  The only one that wasn't there was Thomas.  When the other Apostles told Thomas what they had seen, Thomas didn't believe them. He doubted that Jesus was resurrected.  He said that he would only believe if he saw the Savior himself.

Did Thomas show much faith?  Do you need to see Jesus Christ to know that he lives, and loves you?  Why not?

ACTIVITY:

Bring in a box with a flase bottom.  You can make this by gluing a piece of paper about 1 1/2" - 3" from the bottom of the box.  Put a slit in the paper that can't be seen a few feet away.  Pull out some small items (soft, so they don't rattle when you move the box).  Show the children the inside of the box.  Have them select something to put in.  When you do, carefully put it through the slit in the paper at the bottom.  Have another child select something for the box, and follow the same steps until all of the items are "in" the box.  Again, lift the box for the children to see (or for a more dramatic flare, tip the box over!), and watch the reaction when they see that the box is empty.

Are the things still there?  How do you know?  (Shake the box) Can you hear them?  Can you see them?

Remove the paper, and show the "missing" items.  Explain that the paper is like the veil that keeps us from remembering the preexistance.  Heavenly Father and Jesus live beyond tht veil.  We can't see them, or hear them, but we know they are there because of FAITH.

The apostles were out fishing one day, and one of them saw something in the distance.  They were in the middle of the sea, but the thing kept getting closer.  It wasn't a boat, it wasn't an animal.... As the Apostles looked closer, they saw that it was JESUS walking to them on top of the water!  Peter asked the Lord to call him to him, and Jesus did.  Peter started to walk on the water to Jesus, but when he realized what he was doing, and the wind started to blow, he started to sink.  Jesus grabbed Peter's hand and said, " O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Matthew 14: 31

What kind of faith was Peter missing?  How can we build our own faith in Jesus?

Activity:

Jr. Primary - Teachings of Jesus Actions

Teachings of Jesus Actions
Choose two children at a time, and have them act out a trait that Jesus has that we need to emulate.  For example, give them a scenario and have them act out a reaction.

Billy is sad.  He left his lunch on the bus, and is very hungry.  Jill has a lunch she brought from home.
(Jill acts out sharing her lunch with Billy.  This shows COMPASSION.)

You can write out the traits and have the children put the words on the board.

Go over the story of Mary being told that she would be the mother of the Savior.  Talk about her faith, and the faith of Joseph to marry her, and raise Jesus.  Also go over the faith Joseph had to flee to Egypt when he had a dream that he needed to leave with his family.

Go over the story of the Nephites who believed Samuel the Lamanites words, and knew that the sign of Jesus' birth had happened.  Talk about the persecution the faithful were under, and that they were almost killed because they believed that Jesus was going to be born.

Before Jesus was born, he did many things.  He helped to create the Earth, and he was also the God of the Old Testament.  He was also the one that helped the Brother of Jared...

The Brother of Jared had been commanded by the Lord to build ships for his family.  They were going to leave Isreal and travel to the Promised Land.  The Brother of Jared had faith that the Lord would help him build the boats, and get his family safely across the ocean.

When the Brother of Jared had a problem building the boats, he woulf pray and pray for an answer to his problem.  Because of his faith, his prayers were answered, and the boats were built.  One day, the Brother of Jared noticed that the boats were very dark on the inside.  You couldn't see anything.  He needed light for the inside of the boats, and went to pray to the Lord for an answer to this problem.

The answer he received was not what he was expecting.  The Lord told the Brother of Jared that if he would think of a way to light the insides of the boats, he would help him.  The Brother of Jared thought and thought.  Finally, he gathered up white stones and went back to pray.

He told the Lord that if the Lord could touch the stones, he know that they would shine brightly and be able to light the boats.  This showed great faith in the Lord!  Jesus saw the Brother of Jared's faith, and touched each of the stones with his finger.  The stones glowed bright for the whole trip.

Activity:

Ask a child to come up.  Hand them a baseball glove and a ball.  Tell them to play a game of catch.  Of course, they can't do it by themselves for very long.  It wouldn't be much fun.  Ask another child to come up and play catch (just one or two tosses) with the first child.

Ask another child to come up.  Have them put their hands behind their back.  Put a marshmallow in front of them, and tell them to go ahead and eat it, but they can't pick it up with their mouth.  When they look at you as if to say, "Yeah, right," have another child come up and feed the marshmallow to the first child.

Explain to the children that we need to have enough faith, like the Brother of Jared, to ask Heavenly Father for help when we need it.  Even Jesus asked for help from Heavenly Father when he was on the cross.  Heavenly Father will always be there to help if we have enough faith to ask.