The Jaredites Leaving Babel, by Albin Veselka

November 9–15

Ether 1–5

“Rend That Veil of Unbelief”

As you review what you learned during your study of Ether 1–5, what truths do you feel impressed to help the children discover? Perhaps there are ideas in this outline that can help.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

Show a picture of the brother of Jared (see this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families). Invite the children to share what they know about him.

Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children

Ether 1:33–43; 2:16–25; 3:1–6

Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers.

The story of the brother of Jared illustrates several ways in which God can help us when we pray.

Possible Activities

• Invite a few ward members who know another language to say a few sentences in that language for your class (or play a recording of another language). Let the children pretend to speak another language, and point out how hard it is to understand one another when we don’t speak the same language. Use this to introduce the account of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1–9 and Ether 1:33. Explain how the brother of Jared prayed that he and his friends and family would be able to understand one another (see Ether 1:34–37). Read and help the children understand the Lord’s response to his prayer in Ether 1:35. You could also use “Chapter 50: The Jaredites Leave Babel” (Book of Mormon Stories, 143–44, or the corresponding video on ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

• Invite the children to pretend to build a barge, as described in Ether 2:16–17. Explain the problems the Jaredites had with their barges (see Ether 2:19), and ask the children what they would do about these problems. Read Ether 2:18–19 to teach the children how the brother of Jared took his problems to the Lord in prayer. Testify that we can always pray when we have questions or problems.

• Briefly summarize Ether 2:19–3:6 to explain how the Lord responded to the brother of Jared’s questions about the barges. Place 16 stones throughout the classroom, and invite the children to count them as they find them. Show the picture in this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families, and let the children retell the story (see also this week’s activity page).

Ether 3:13, 15

I was created in the image of God.

When the brother of Jared saw the Lord, he learned that “all men were created in the beginning after [His] own image” (Ether 3:15).

Possible Activities

• Show a picture of the Savior, and invite the children to point to various parts of His body. Read Ether 3:13 and 15, and explain that when the brother of Jared saw Jesus Christ, he learned that we all look like Jesus. As you point to a body part in the picture, invite them to point to the same part of their own bodies. Testify that we were created to look like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

• Sing together a song related to our bodies, such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” (Children’s Songbook, 275). Help the children talk about why they are grateful for different parts of their bodies.

We are created in God’s image.

Teach the Doctrine: Older Children

Ether 1:33–43; 2; 3:1–17

I can receive revelation to help me.

How can you help the children learn about revelation from the brother of Jared’s example? What experiences can you share when the Lord helped you find solutions to your problems or questions?

Possible Activities

• Before class, write the phrase “Stand up, turn around, and sit down” in different languages on several slips of paper (you could use an online translator or the help of someone who knows another language). Give one slip to each of the children, and invite them to try to follow the instructions. Use this to help explain what motivated the brother of Jared’s prayers in Ether 1:33–37. Read these verses together, and ask the children to pay attention to how the Lord felt toward Jared and his friends and family. What do we learn from this account about prayer?

• Assign each child to read one of the following passages, and help them look for a question or problem the brother of Jared had: Ether 1:33–35; Ether 1:36–37; and Ether 2:18–20. What did the brother of Jared do about these problems or questions? How did the Lord help him in each case? Invite the children to think about problems they need help with. How can they follow the example of the brother of Jared to find solutions to their problems? Share an experience in which you prayed for help and the Lord helped you.

Ether 3:4–17

I was created in the image of God.

The children you teach will encounter many false messages about God, themselves, and their physical bodies. These verses are an opportunity to teach eternal truths about these topics.

Possible Activities

• Read with the children Ether 3:6–16, and help them make a list of things the brother of Jared learned about the Lord from this experience. Why is it important to know these things? For example, how does it affect the way we view our bodies to know that we are created in the Lord’s image?

• Write physical body and spiritual body on the board. Invite the children to share characteristics of a physical body (we have skin, blood, and so on), and write their answers on the board. Read Ether 3:4–17 together, and invite the children to look for what they learn about our spiritual bodies. Testify that our bodies and spirits were “created after [Jesus’s] own image” (Ether 3:15).

Ether 5:2–4

Three witnesses testify of the Book of Mormon.

Moroni prophesied that the Three Witnesses would help establish the truth of the Book of Mormon. You can use this prophecy to strengthen the children’s testimonies and inspire them to be witnesses of the Book of Mormon in their own way.

Possible Activities

• Write on the board some important words from Ether 5:2–4, such as plates, power, true, witnesses, and testimony. Read these verses with the children, and invite them to stop when you get to one of the words on the board and talk about why these words are important. To teach the children about the Three Witnesses, you might refer to “Chapter 7: Witnesses See the Gold Plates” (Doctrine and Covenants Stories, 31–33) and “The Testimony of Three Witnesses” in the Book of Mormon. Why did God want three people to see the golden plates?

• Tell the children how you know the Book of Mormon is true. Invite the children to share why they know it is true. Help them think of ways that they can be witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and encourage them to share their witness with someone this week.

Encourage Learning at Home

Invite the children to think of something they could ask for Heavenly Father’s help with, as the brother of Jared did. Encourage them to seek His help through prayer.

Improving Our Teaching

Teach during activities. As the children are doing activities such as drawing or working on an activity page, you can use the time to emphasize the truths being taught through those activities.