Lehi's dream

[Brian]

We talk about Lehi's dream tomorrow in EMS.
To me, the dream is a story about us coming home, and what we face in the journey.

I'm going to show them this video.
For some reason, this really struck a chord with me. I think it really gets to the core of Christianity.

[YOUTUBE]nxfdChYCKYA[/YOUTUBE]

[Indy Coug]

That's a really good video.

[UtahDan]

I wish I had brought that story into my lesson. I had come armed to do a really in depth lesson about symbols and allegories and what the symbols meant with cross references, etc. After about five minutes it was apparent that I had a very sleepy group so I switched gears, hauled in a huge black board, and had them all participate in drawing part of the dream and saying what they thought is meant. It had their attention at least.

One of the things that caught my attention this time around was how many people actually made it through the darkness, away from strange paths, out of the filthy waters (that Nephi later sees) and after all that either wind up at the building or at the tree with fruit in their hand feeling ashamed.

I think being older than last time I read it I was also more conscious of Lehi's anxiety for his older sons. He exhorts them with all the feeling of a "tender parent." It made me wonder how often I had given my parents that sort of anxiety.

By the way, dinosaur ball is a big hit.

[Brian]

I wish I had brought that story into my lesson. I had come armed to do a really in depth lesson about symbols and allegories and what the symbols meant with cross references, etc. After about five minutes it was apparent that I had a very sleepy group so I switched gears, hauled in a huge black board, and had them all participate in drawing part of the dream and saying what they thought is meant. It had their attention at least.

One of the things that caught my attention this time around was how many people actually made it through the darkness, away from strange paths, out of the filthy waters (that Nephi later sees) and after all that either wind up at the building or at the tree with fruit in their hand feeling ashamed.

I think being older than last time I read it I was also more conscious of Lehi's anxiety for his older sons. He exhorts them with all the feeling of a "tender parent." It made me wonder how often I had given my parents that sort of anxiety.

By the way, dinosaur ball is a big hit.

Yes, good points. In fact, making the building was quite an accomplishment. Many tried and failed. And, interestingly, it states that the House of Israel was a prominent resident of the building.

I split them up into 4 groups last week to read sections of Lehi's dream and draw it on 4 chalk boards. Luckily, it was stake conference on Sunday, so the chalk boards still have their pictures. I'm going to wheel them back in and use their drawings to talk about what the symbols mean as we go through Nephi's vision.
I think I'm going to start talking about the prodigal son, then do the dream, then end with the movie. I've watched it 3 times and it strikes me each time.

Ah, the magical leopluridon game. Make sure you show them Charlie the Unicorn (search youtube if you haven't seen it) to set the context.

In general, I've found that the kids really like to draw stuff on the board. Sometimes I give them a twist. They have to do a "modern art" drawing. Or I give them a list of 4 random things that they must use to in their drawing to tell the story. Then they have to present their work to the class.

[Tim]

By the way, dinosaur ball is a big hit.

Wait, is that a game that can be played in Seminary? My kids have had three weeks of lessons every day without a game. I did the same blackboard thing yesterday after I discovered that they didn't want to talk about focusing on our own path to the tree rather than focusing on others' paths, and a whole lesson on perspective and judgment. Tomorrow I want to have the kids play a game. Any recommendations? It doesn't have to be related to the lesson, just fun and taking 15 minutes or so.

[TripletDaddy]

wow, how many sem teachers do we have on CUF?

We just started yesterday, so we don't even get into 1 Ne until next week. You guys are already ahead.

[Surfah]

Serious question here. Have any of you prayed to have Lehi's dream?

[beefytee]

Serious question here. Have any of you prayed to have Lehi's dream?

Or have any of you had Lehi's dream?

I haven't but I had an experience with it.

I was in charge of a Book of Mormon sharing program back in college and decided that I really needed to participate in this if I was going to expect others to participate.

It was a difficult task being at BYU and all and not being familiar with anyone that didn't have a BOM. I decided that my best chance was to get a hold of some past acquaintance when I went back to Canada for Christmas break. So Christmas break goes by and I can't get in contact with anyone and early New Years Morning I'm going to bed praying that I could give this to someone the next day as it was my last there. I got a peaceful feeling that I would get an opportunity and went to sleep.

The next morning when I get out of bed, I talk to my mom who says she needs to send a Book of Mormon to her aunt (my great-aunt). Her sister had been down to visit her and my great-aunt told her about a dream she had that turned out to be the same as Lehi's dream. My mother and her sisters were converts and no one else in their family are members. So my mom's sister (my aunt) proceeds to explain that this is something found in the Book of Mormon.

So I of course ask my mom if she will let me send it and proceed to send it off.

Unfortunately when my aunt met with the missionaries she has an issue with the "mormon pope" (as she put it) and she never joined the church.

I contemplated for years how I could help her with this, but unfortunately this summer she had a sudden stroke and died unexpectedly. We were about to head out to her neck of the woods for a family reunion a couple of weeks after she passed. I was going to bring things up with her again.

So why did I (and she) have this experience if she was never going to join the church in this life? I don't know. I obviously don't think the experience was just for her, as it is something that I needed to go through as well for some reason.

[Levin]

That's a really good video.

TIC, right? I know! LOL.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I split them up into 4 groups last week to read sections of Lehi's dream and draw it on 4 chalk boards.

For DDD and others who will be teaching Lehi's Dream in the future, this is a very effective and entertaining lesson approach.

Mrs. PAC has a huge roll of butcher paper and for this lesson she divides the class into teams of four or five and has each team draw the dream, encouraging creativity and humor as long as it conveys their view of the meaning. The result is invariably a large rendering (like Rembrandt's "Night Watch" or Rubens' "Rape of the Sabine Women") with a surprising amount of detail and flourishes. Each team then presents their masterwork and the results are hung on the walls for folks on Sunday to admire/ridicule/contemplate. The kids always remember the experience and, more importantly, at least some of the ideas that are discussed.

[UtahDan]

Wait, is that a game that can be played in Seminary? My kids have had three weeks of lessons every day without a game. I did the same blackboard thing yesterday after I discovered that they didn't want to talk about focusing on our own path to the tree rather than focusing on others' paths, and a whole lesson on perspective and judgment. Tomorrow I want to have the kids play a game. Any recommendations? It doesn't have to be related to the lesson, just fun and taking 15 minutes or so.

I do nothing but games on Friday, but all of them are tied to having paid attention during the week. They all involved questions that if they have taken notes they will be much better at. It is amazing how after the first Friday, most of them are now taking notes. I bought them little spiral note book journals and I have them write something in them almost every day.