Faith Helps Us Choose the Right

By Vicki F. Matsumori

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost (A of F 1:4).

A six- or seven-year-old boy in the car parked ahead of you turns and sticks his tongue out at you. What should you do?

This happened to Elder Wayne S. Peterson of the Seventy while he was waiting in his car. What do you think he did? Elder Peterson remembered how important it is to choose the right. He said, “I waved at the little boy. He stuck his tongue out at me again. I smiled and waved again. This time he waved back. Soon he was joined … by a little brother and sister. [When their car] pulled away, my newfound friends continued to wave for as long as I could see them.”*

Elder Peterson chose to show his faith in Jesus Christ by following His teachings. The Savior taught, “Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (3 Ne. 14:12). Elder Peterson felt good as the car drove away, because he had chosen the right.

We are happy when we choose the right and keep the commandments. When we choose the right, we show our love for Heavenly Father and we prepare ourselves for temple ordinances.

What happens, though, if we choose to do something wrong? We feel bad, and we know that we need to repent so that we can be forgiven. A loving Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to be forgiven so that we can be worthy to be with Him.

We begin our membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints clean and pure. If we show our faith in Jesus Christ by choosing the right and by repenting when we do wrong, the Holy Ghost can continue to guide us. Each week as we take the sacrament, we can renew our baptismal covenants to Heavenly Father to remember the Savior and keep His commandments.

Heavenly Father’s choicest blessings can be ours. Going to the temple is an important step we must take to live with Him again.

“Faith to Choose the Right” Door Hanger

Mount page 35 on heavy paper or lightweight cardboard. Cut out the door hanger, fold it along the broken line, and glue the backs together. Place the hanger on a doorknob to help you remember to choose the right each day. If you have made a good choice sometime during the day, turn the hanger over to show that you have shown your faith to choose the right.

Illustrated by Richard Hull

I Have Shown Faith to Choose the Right
Today I Will Choose the Right

Sharing Time Ideas

(Note: All songs are from Children’s Songbook unless otherwise indicated; GAK = Gospel Art Kit; TNGC = Teaching, No Greater Call)

1. Teach the principles of the fourth article of faith by inviting four members of the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood to give the children short talks on faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Before each talk, have the children sing a song about the principle of that talk—e.g., “Faith” (pp. 96–97), “Repentance” (p. 98), “When I Am Baptized” (p. 103), and “The Holy Ghost” (p. 105).

Help the children memorize the fourth article of faith. Write it in phrases on separate slips of paper; give each class a phrase to memorize, with younger classes getting the simpler phrases. Have each teacher help her or his class learn its phrase.

Ask a member of each class to come to the front and present its phrase. While the entire Primary says the fourth article of faith, have the class representatives quickly but reverently put themselves in the correct order. Then have them repeat their phrases in order for the rest of the children. Repeat this process until all the children who wish to have participated and the article is memorized.

Review the article by singing “The Fourth Article of Faith” (p. 124), with each class standing when its phrase is sung.

2. Review the baptismal covenant and ordinance of the sacrament by playing a question-answer game. Place these GAK pictures on the chalkboard: John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus (208), Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon (309), Baptism (601), The Last Supper (225), Passing the Sacrament (604). On each side of a small box—the “picture box”—write one of these descriptions: Jesus Christ’s baptism, Alma baptizes, Modern-day baptism, The Last Supper, The sacrament, Choose a picture. On each side of another small box—the “word box”—write one of these words: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How.

Pick one class to be It. Have a child from that class roll the picture box; have another child from that class roll the word box. Invite the other classes to ask one question, using the rolled word, for the selected class to answer about the picture that was rolled. For example, if the Savior’s baptism was the picture rolled, and the word What was rolled, the question might be “What method of baptism was used?” If the rolled picture was Alma baptizes, and the rolled word was Why, the question might be “Why was Alma baptizing in a hidden place?” A How question might be “How does this apply to your life today?”

Repeat the game until all classes have been It. Then review the ordinances of baptism and the sacrament by singing such songs as “When Jesus Christ Was Baptized” (p. 102), “When I Am Baptized” (p. 103), “The Sacrament” (p. 72).

3. To help the children understand that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are the same today as they were in ancient days, review the story of Adam and Eve found on the back of GAK 101. Have the children recite the fourth article of faith, holding up one finger for each principle and ordinance mentioned: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Have them locate Moses 6:52 and hold up their fingers, one at a time, as they hear you read these same four principles and ordinances in that scripture.

Divide the Primary into four groups, and assign each group one of these scriptures: Moses 5:4–6 (faith), Moses 6:53 (repentance), Moses 6:64 (baptism), Moses 6:65–66 (Holy Ghost). Have each group locate its scripture and decide which principle or ordinance Adam followed. Have the children suggest case studies (see TNGC, pp. 161–62) that teach how each principle or ordinance can apply in their everyday lives. For example, paying tithing is a way to show faith. You have saved your allowance to buy a part to fix your skateboard. When you get to the store, the part has gone up in price. You will have enough to pay for it if you use your tithing money. What do you do?

Have each group present its principle or ordinance case study to the Primary by reading its assigned scripture out loud as a choral reading or by singing an applicable Primary song, then present its case study.

For younger children: Use GAK 101, and tell the story about Adam and Eve written on the back of the picture. Explain that when Adam and Eve left the garden, they taught their children the gospel—what parents are to teach their children today. Have the children suggest things that parents teach, and then have the children suggest a way of portraying these teachings with actions (e.g., fold arms for prayer, hold hands like a book for reading scriptures). Use the actions to sing “Do As I’m Doing” (p. 276).

4. To help the children understand the process of repentance, use a roller box (see TNGC, pp. 178–179) to tell the story of Alma the Younger (see Mosiah 27, Alma 36). Select passages from the story that illustrate and explain the process of repentance, and write them on separate slips of paper. Have each child choose a reference. In larger Primaries, you may have two or three children work together on one reference. Give the children papers and pencils or crayons and have them illustrate their scripture passage. The size of the roller box will dictate the size of the paper and the direction in which the illustrations should be drawn.

Collect the drawings, and while one leader connects them into a continuous story and attaches it to the roller box, have another leader use Primary 3, Lesson 10, to review the steps of repentance: feel sorry, ask for forgiveness, right the wrong, don’t repeat the wrong. After the review, sing songs such as “Repentance” (p. 98) and “Help Me, Dear Father” (p. 99).

Use the completed roller box to tell the story of Alma the Younger. Invite the children to come to the front to describe what is happening in their own drawings. Make appropriate pauses in the story to help the children see the steps Alma and the sons of Mosiah took to repent. Express gratitude for the principle of repentance.

5. Help the children understand what they can do to build their faith in Jesus Christ. Have them locate Alma 32:36–39, and you read it aloud. Explain that the seed in the scripture is the word of God and that planting it in their hearts will help build their testimonies. To help the children listen, you might assign different groups to count how many times words like see, tree, fruit, and nourished are used. Discuss why it is important to “nourish” their testimonies. Help the children understand what happens to testimony “seeds” that aren’t nourished.

Sing “The Church of Jesus Christ” (p. 77). Have the children list on one half of the chalkboard the things we believe or know: “who I am”; “God’s plan”; “the Savior, Jesus Christ.” Discuss and list other things we might know as part of our testimonies (e.g., the Book of Mormon is true, Heavenly Father answers prayers, we have a prophet today).

On the other half of the chalkboard, list the things we can do to develop our testimonies: “follow Him in faith,” “honor His name,” “do what is right,” “follow His light,” “proclaim His truth.” Have the children suggest specific things we can do to follow in faith, honor His name, etc. (pay tithing, keep the Sabbath Day holy, read the scriptures, obey the Word of Wisdom). Explain that the singing of hymns can be a way to express our testimonies, and have them re-sing “The Church of Jesus Christ” as a testimony.

In their temple booklets, have the children draw a tree growing from a seed, and raindrops labeled with things they can do to help their testimonies grow. Or give each child a raindrop-shaped piece of paper. Have each child write or draw something he or she can do to help his or her testimony grow. Affix the raindrops to a chalkboard or wall where a small, seed-shaped piece of paper has also been affixed. As you see children doing acts of kindness or making right choices during the next few weeks, write them on pieces of paper that you add to the top of the seed to show it growing into a tree.

6. Additional Friend resources: “Baptized by the Prophet,” Feb. 2001, pp. 2–5; Sharing Time Ideas, Jan. 2000, p. 46; Sharing Time Ideas, Mar. 2000, p. 14; Sharing Time, July 2000, pp. 12–14; “I Come to the Water” (song), Mar. 2000, pp. 46–47; “Covenants at the Waters of Mormon,” Apr. 2000, pp. 10–11; “Testimony,” Oct. 1998, IFC. See also: “The Power of a Strong Testimony,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, pp. 87–89.