Learn the names and order of all the prophets by learning “Latter-day Prophets” in the Children’s Songbook. Teach it to your children and practice it periodically, then quiz them for fun.

D&C Lesson Helps from BYU Studies, Lesson 5:
(from “Watermelons, Alma 32, and the Experimental Method,” Joseph Thomas Hepworth, BYU Studies Vol. 23 no. 4)

It was a warm beautiful morning in the early spring as I stood surveying my burgeoning garden with a peaceful, calm contentment. . . .

As I stood imagining the fresh vegetable dinners we would enjoy later in the summer, I could almost taste the succulent squash and crispy cucumbers. I even pictured myself reaching for a toothpick to dislodge the ubiquitous remains from buttery corn-on-the-cob prior to dessert. The cakes, cookies, and candies of the winter months would of necessity have to give way to the fresh fruits of summer, especially to an ice cold slice of sweet red watermelon.

Watermelon? The thought roused me from my reverie again I inspected the now sun drenched garden plot: corn, squash, peas, beans, cucumbers . . . but no watermelon. That couldn’t be! The one crop for which I1 would sacrifice all others hadn’t come. It was still early spring and I was determined to have watermelon this year, so a few hours later I was hunched over in the heat of the day replanting two rows with a new package of watermelon seeds.

Perhaps its the humbling experience of bowing oneself close to the earth, or perhaps its the actual planting of a seed, that inevitably turns my thoughts to Alma’s discourse on faith in which he compares the process of exercising faith with the planting of a seed.

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INTRODUCTION:

I have sent six sons and one daughter on missions. For some reason, (probably because my wife hates it) it has always been my responsibility to write to them. I have done this faithfully every week, and have, at last count written close to 700 missionary letters to my children. All of these letters are evidence of my love, an d almost all of them have contained doctrinal lessons to assist my children in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of their missions. Many times, I have responded to questions they have asked in their own epistles.

I cannot imagine sending them off for two years with no hope of communication. I want to be a part of their successes and their heartaches. I want to share the insights of my own experience with them. This works our nicely because my children have all been willing to listen and generally, to respond in appropriate ways...

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Young Women Lesson 5: "Seeking the Companionship of the Holy Ghost"

Heavenly Father knows you and loves you. You are His special daughter. He has a plan for you.

Our son-in-law told his daughter, three-year-old Eliza, that for family home evening they were going to have a lesson on a very special subject. She got a big smile on her face and attempted to guess the surprise. “It must be about me,” she said, “because I am very special!” Eliza remembers and knows who she is—a very special child of God. She has learned this from her mother, who from Eliza’s earliest infancy has sung our opening hymn, “I Am a Child of God” (Hymns, no. 301), as a nightly lullaby.

All over the world and in almost every language, young women ages 12 to 18 declare the same thing: “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him” (“Young Women Theme,” Young Women Personal Progress [booklet, 2001], 5). Yet as they grow up, they often grow away from the confident knowledge of three-year-old Eliza that they are very special. Youth often experience an identity crisis, wondering who they really are. The teenage years are also a time of what I describe as “identity theft,” meaning that worldly ideas, philosophies, and deceits confuse us, buffet us, and seek to rob us of the knowledge of our true identity.

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Young Men Lesson 5: "Faith in Jesus Christ"

When we choose to follow Christ in faith rather than choosing another path out of fear, we are blessed with a consequence that is consistent with our choice.

Dear brothers and sisters, I join with you in expressing my love and sustaining support to President Eyring and his family. President Hinckley extended this call to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve late Thursday afternoon. I cannot possibly articulate the kaleidoscope of feelings I have experienced since then. There have been sleepless nights and much prayer. My spirits have been buoyed, however, by the knowledge that President Hinckley is the prophet and that the membership of the Church will be praying for me and my family.

To say that I feel deeply inadequate would be an understatement. When I was called as a General Authority in April of 1996, I also felt unequal to the calling. Elder Neal A. Maxwell reassured me then that the most important qualification for all of us serving in the kingdom is to be comfortable in bearing witness of the divinity of the Savior. A peace came over me at that time and has stayed with me since because I love the Savior and have had spiritual experiences that allow me to testify of Him. I rejoice in the opportunity to bear witness of Jesus Christ in all the world (see D&C 107:23), notwithstanding my inadequacies.

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