Lesson Helps

FHE: Family

Conference Talk:
For more information on this topic read “Children,” by Elder Neil L. Andersen, Ensign, Nov 2011, 28.

Thought:
The family is ordained of God. Families are central to our Heavenly Father’s plan here on earth and through the eternities.

(Elder Neil L. Andersen, “Children,” Enisgn, Nov 2011, 28.)

Song:
“Families Can Be Together Forever,” Children’s Songbook, p. 188

Scripture:
And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

(Mark 9:36–37)

Lesson:
Bring a photograph of your family to scripture study. Show your family the photograph and tell your family that Paul gives some great council for specific family members in Colossians 3:18–25. Take turns reading verses 18–24 and have your family watch for the counsel for the different family members. Ask:

• What should wives do? (Verse 18.)
• What should husbands do? (Verse 19.)
• What should children do? (Verse 20.)
• How should fathers deal with their children? (Verse 21.)

Read verse 25 to your family and ask them how they feel when someone in the family is
mean to them. According to verse 25, what is the reward for those who are mean? Encourage them to be kind to each other and build family unity thus becoming a Christlike family.

(Dennis H. Leavitt and Richard O. Christensen, Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families: The New Testament, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006], p. 249.)

Story:
Billy Casper

We are all one happy family when we are members of the Mormon Church.

This all started back in 1959, the year that I won the United States Open for the first time. That year I was contacted by the Utah Golf Association to come to Salt Lake City to play in the Utah Open. We accepted, and almost immediately upon arriving in Salt Lake City, we found there was something special about the city. As we became acquainted with the people we found that there was something very special about them: they were very genuine, humble people. They had a wonderful fellowship with one another that we had not experienced in
a large group of people anywhere that we had traveled. It was very interesting to us. The examples that we witnessed in the people that we met started us investigating. I must say
that it took me quite a time to make up my mind, but I’m sure Sister Casper had made up her mind three or four years ago. (I am sure one of the reasons for that is that she is one-sixteenth
Indian.)

All during this time that she was studying and I was wrapped up in playing golf, it seemed like
I had no time to sit down and do the things that were really important in my life. It seemed like the things that were important were the material things. If I wasn’t playing golf, I would be on a diversion someplace, vacationing or fishing. If I wasn’t fishing, I would be watching television, so that my spare time was not being channeled in the right directions.

At that time, I think if I had been asked the question “What is the most important thing in your life?”, it would have been a very difficult question to answer. I think golf would have been a prime concern at that time. Now there is no question in my mind as to what is the most important thing in my life: it is my family and the Church. Golf is now the vehicle I travel by, and I am very fortunate to be gifted with a good talent.

For quite some time in my life I had asked myself the question, “What am I trying to accomplish while I’m here on the earth?” I had been thinking about this some three or four years before I ever became interested in the Church. By that I mean I feel that I really didn’t become interested in the Church until about October of 1965. For several years previous to that time I had asked myself the question, ‘What am I trying to accomplish while I’m here on this earth?”

I now know the answer to this question. When I was beginning to study the gospel I thought about two other questions, “Where did I come from?” and “Where am I going?” I found the answers to all of these questions, and I found them through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Almost immediately after I was baptized into the Church on the first of January, 1966, a great change came over my life. I had a wonderful inner peace with myself that I did not have before. Little things that seemed to bother me in the past no longer seemed to be as important. This meant that every facet of my life I improved on, I could do better. My golf improved, my life and my family improved, and of course my religious life improved.

I know that if we will just study and practice the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can become as firm as the rock on which it is built. I know that as I have the opportunity of traveling and listening to Saints bear their testimonies, my testimony is strengthened. My testimony grows daily as to the trueness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

(Leon R. Hartshort, Powerful Stories from the Lives of Latter-day Saint Men, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1974].)

Activity:
Play one of your family’s favorite board games.

Refreshment
Coconut Macaroons

2 cups coconut
2 1⁄4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1 1⁄2 tablespoons corn syrup
3⁄4 cup hot water
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

Mix coconut, sugar, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, add corn syrup to
water and dissolve. Add eggs and vanilla. With a mixer on low speed, add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until evenly blended. Allow mixture to rest and absorb moisture for 30 minutes. Scoop onto cookie sheet with an ice cream scoop. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 18–20 minutes.

For added flair, dip half of the cookie in melted chocolate chips and place on wax paper to set up.

(Recipes from the Roof, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011] p.120.)

Share
Stay in the loop!
Enter your email to receive updates on our LDS Living content