Follow Up Lesson to the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Lamps - lamp of testimony
Oil - oil of conversion

Reread the Parable of the Ten Virgins by adding those words and it gives new meaning

Lesson: They who were foolish too no oil with them.

Were the five virgins who had oil selfish?

Ponder this - oil of conversion can not be borrowed from someone else. The peace the gospel brings is seldomly transferred to someone else.

Each of us must get our own oil. The oil comes one drop at a time. There is no shortcut available. Line upon line. Precept upon precept.

We must come to a knowledge of the truth and be converted unto the Lord. In so doing, we will never fall away.

Preparing for Family Home Evening - Comp Study

Missionaries are supposed to study together for an hour every day.

We have tried and tried...

...just not possible!

But occasionally we hit it hard

Want to see what a Mom and Dad study session looks like?

Our topic was 'conversion'

We researched the question: What are we asking investigators to do for enduring conversion?

We looked at Lehi's dream:

Continually holding fast to the word
Fell Down
Ate Fruit
Heeded not the people mocking them

We studied Enos's story:

Words of Christ sunk deep into the heart
Cried for Soul - Repented
Received forgiveness
Began to Pray for Others

We then went to King Benjamin's Discourse

Prepared to hear as families
Gave thanks
Prepared by the king to listen to the words of an Angel
Fell to the earth
Viewed their carnal state
Asked for mercy through atonement
Received joy, remission of sins, peace of conscience through knowledge of God and the Atonement
Cared about others
Hearts were Changed
Made a covenant to Always remember Christ
Took their names - appointed Priests and Teachers to stir them up to remembrance

Then over to Alma the Younger:(also look at Alma Sr. - taught by revelation, realized he was wrong and went about the repentance process)

Almas the Younger was - Taught revelation by an angel
Fell Down
Tribulation torment, wracked with pain
Prayed for mercy
Remembers pain no more
soul filled with joy
Went out to help others

Studying the impact on the people Alma taught:

Heard words spoken by Alma
Humbled
Hearts changed
Trusted God
Faithful to the End

Now, look at the story of King Lamoni:

Inspired by Ammon
Ammon discerned his thoughts, taught him doctrine
King believes
Cries for Mercy
Falls Down
Dark Veil of Unbelief was cast away - Light comes

Finally - examine the story of King Lamoni's father:

Hard-hearted
Seeds the goodness of Ammon
Wants to learn
Taught doctrine and scripture
Repents Calls on Christ in Faith
Falls down

Whoops - one more: Anti-Nephi-Lehis:

Freely hear missionaries (learned doctrine and scripture)
Convinced of the wickedness of fathers
Brought to knowledge of the Lord
Believe New Traditions
Brought to Knowledge of God
Taught by Spirit of Revelation and Prophecy
Had Miracles in Them
Converted Unto Lord
Never Fell Away
Weapons Buried Deep

Now to make connections to all of these experiences, we need a framework on which to hang these points:

Look at the Description of Conversion in Moroni 8:25-26

Repentance brings baptism brings faith unto commandments brings remission of sins brings meekness which brings lowliness of heart which brings a visitation of the Holy Ghost which brings hope and love which brings diligence which brings prayer unto God with Love of God.

The other scripture that gives the pattern of all these stories to illustrate conversion is Helaman 15:8

Note also Alma 23:6 - converted unto the Lord, never did fall away











It kind of reminds us of that nice 'seminary study room' we had in Millcroft with all the chalkboards

We are going to have FUN with you at home!

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

In interpreting the parables of the Savior, we need to be careful to not put our own interpretations on display in such a way that might detract from what the Savior intended. However, we believe in prophets, seers and revelators. When they interpret scripture, we are on solid footing.

Today, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles addressed the saints of the Caribbean in a Regional Conference and spoke of the difference between testimony and enduring conversion. The Parable of the Ten Virgins is an excellent lesson to use in illustrating the importance of not living merely on the testimony of our conversion. In likening the scriptures to us, he added the words "of testimony" to references to "lamp' and "of conversion" to references to "oil."

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps of testimony, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps of testimony, and took no oil of conversion with them:
4 But the wise took oil of conversion in their vessels with their lamps of testimony.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps of testimony.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil of conversion; for our lamps of testimony are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Questions:

1. Were the 5 wise virgins being selfish in not sharing their oil with the 5 foolish virgins? Why?

2. Is conversion something that can be postponed, or do we need to be adding to it constantly? How?

Summary:

The oil of conversion cannot be borrowed from someone else. Each of us must earn it for ourselves. Oil of conversion comes one drop at a time. There is no shortcut available. We must learn line upon line, precept upon precept.

A House of Order

Elder and Sister Bednar were recently visiting one of their married children and his family. When they were leaving, their son said, as is the custom in their family, "Dad and Mom, Do you have any suggestions for us that we could improve upon?"

Elder Bednar said, "well, your home is clean but cluttered. The Spirit of the Lord can not dwell in a cluttered home. You have a baby. You are raising that baby where the Spirit of the Lord can not be felt."

When they arrived home in Salt Lake that night, there waiting on the internet were photos of their son's apartment. They had gone to the local Home Depot and purchased shelving units and had reorganized their living quarters.


For Family Home Evening, I thought you might consider this topic - Making a House of Order. As a Latter-day Saints, we are very interested in putting our own homes in order, and in having peace through order.

Here is sample language "Tonight we are going to talk to our two-year-old about how and why we clean up. Then we will go through his dresser and pull out all of the clothes that are too small and store them. The lesson also suggests other ordering activities."

Lehi's Dream - FHE Activity

Lehi's Dream

Do you remember the picture Jeremy chose at the Church Museum of Art. We were on a trip to Utah and let him pick out a poster. The one on Lehi's dream is the one he picked. So, here is the drill: Gather the family round about the kitchen table for this activity. Come stocked with pencils, markers, crayons, stickers etc. You will also need a large poster board or piece of butcher paper and the scriptures.

As you read the story of Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 8) to the family, have everyone take part in recreating the vision on paper. All the family will enjoy participating in this. The youngest children are skilled enough to scribble in a believable mist of darkness. Everyone can add a piece of fruit to the tree. If you have an aspiring artist, let him or her create the large and spacious building with intricate architecture. The mathmetician in the family can make sure the strait and narrow path is precise. And so on for all the parts of the dream.

It really doesn't matter if the youngest kids add their touch to the entire paper. Just ask the older kids to figure out creative ways to incorporate the little scribbles and odd markings into their design. When the poster is done, it can be hung up as a good reminder of the lesson for the week. Hopefully upon seeing it, everyone will remember to hold to the rod!

While the story is being told, or after the picture is completed, discuss Nephi's experience with Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 11)so that all can know the interpretation of each item drawn.

A good treat for this activity would be some new types of fruit that your family hasn't tried before or doesn't get to have often. Make sure that it is a good, yummy sweet fruit!

A good song choice is "The Iron Rod" on page 274 of the hymn book.

Lehi's Dream Is For All Of Us

Here is an assignment for each of you. First I'll tell you a little about our experience this week.

We gathered with Elder Bednar and Elder Gonzales (of the presidency of the 70) and their wives as well as the Caribbean Area Presidency from Sunday evening through Wednesday lunch. It was a wonderful and needful experience for our missions as well as our families. There are some things we need to be doing to stay safe - I mean spiritually safe during the times ahead.

Here is the question I tried to find answers to during our training:

How can we stay steadfast, firm, and immovable during challenging times?

By challenging, I don't just mean difficult, I mean times when our beliefs will be challenged.

This, of course, relates to our children as well as ourselves - how do we help them become firm?

We spent most of our time learning how to learn by the spirit. Elder Bednar said that members of the church are pretty good at understanding what it means to teach by the spirit, but we rarely think about learning by the spirit. We actually did it rather than talk about it. He firmly believes that the best way to learn by the spirit is to act. That means when we are teaching classes or our children we need to invite them to do things rather than just sit and listen. Elder Bednar got us to act by having us share questions we had, answering questions he posed, reading scriptures, and sharing our ideas based on those scriptures. He didn't at all mind standing quietly waiting for us to contribute. He didn't jump into uncomfortable silences - he just waited. He also gave us homework (application) assignments to do during each break and at the end of each session - mostly to work on answering questions or figure out how to take what we learned back to our missions. We can do these same things in our families.

Why did we spend so much time learning to learn by the spirit? Because that is what will protect us. That is the way we receive our own testimonies and understanding of gospel truth.

We need that.

The children need that.

So - in keeping with that method of teaching, here is a way each of you can 'act' in order to learn by the spirit what we need to do to stay firm:

Read 1 Nephi 8 as couples or families. Go through it carefully verse by verse and figure out what the difference is between people who stayed firm and those who didn't. Share what you learned in comments. You may be lead to do answer new questions or find more scriptures - go for it!

I think it would be fun to work as families and draw a picture or make a list about what each group did as they approached the tree. Acting out each groups actions might help find differences.

Here is something to give you a jump start - Elder Bednar said the tree is Christ and the fruit is the Atonement. If you read on into 1 Ne 11 and 12, you will get more definitions of the symbols.

I think it is a perfect story for the kids to enjoy and analyze. You could ask them things like:

• Why do you think those people ate the fruit and then fell away?
• What is the large and spacious building?
• What would you do if someone made fun of you for being a Mormon?

Our Youngest Son is a Star

Family Home Evenings are fun! The grandchildren will love this as Jamie's fame grows and grows!

Who says bands are bad? This one is clean and very, very good!