Guide to the Friend

The Guide to the Friend can help you find stories or articles for preparing lessons or talks for church or for family home evening. The Primary theme for November is “My faith in Jesus Christ blesses my life. I am thankful for my blessings.”

Family Home Evening Ideas

Look for the FHE symbol on the [original magazine] pages mentioned below.

1. What blessings did Heavenly Father give Rene and his wife for keeping His commandments (pp. 2–3)? Heavenly Father gives us many blessings. Read Elder Dallin H. Oaks’s list of some things we have to be thankful for (p. 31). Then do the “Thankful” activity (pp. 36–37).

2. What did Mother say the rocks in the soup were for (pp. 4–6)? It is easier to get through hard times when we find things to be grateful for and ways to have fun. Go on a family walk to collect rocks. Using a permanent marker, write something you are grateful for on the bottom of each rock. Then, using paint, markers, or pieces of paper, decorate the rocks. Set them where you can see them to remind you to be grateful and to have fun.

3. Read Genesis 1:27, D&C 130:22, and Alma 40:23. Why do we need physical bodies? What will happen to them in the Resurrection? Read “My Busy Body” (p. 7) and act out each of the lines. Then invite each person in your family to take a turn calling out a different body part. Following the pattern in the poem, let everyone else name something you can do with that body part.

4. Before you read “Prayer and Work” (pp. 8–9), tell your family to listen for things Elder Andersen did as a child and for things Heavenly Father did for him. After reading the story, see how many you can name. What was one way Elder Andersen was blessed for his faith with something he could touch? What was one thing he was blessed with that he couldn’t touch? Name blessings your family has received.

5. Read “Tithing Shoes” (pp. 10–12). Talk about a way Heavenly Father has blessed your family for paying tithing. One blessing is having shoes. Each of you set one pair of your shoes in a pile and turn out the lights so that the room you are in is dark. Then let everyone race to find, by touch, his or her own shoes.

Topical Index to This Issue of the Friend

(FLF) = For Little Friends

(f) = Funstuf

(IFC) = inside front cover

(v) = verse

Baptism IFC

Body 7 (v)

Book Reviews 22

Choose the Right IFC, 2, 32

Faith 2, 10, 48

Family 17, 18, 27, 38 (FLF)

Friendship 32, 34

Heavenly Father IFC, 14, 31, 34, 46

Holy Ghost IFC, 32

Jesus Christ 14, 26 (f), 31, 32, 46, 48

Love and Kindness 32, 46

Missionary Work 24

My Gospel Standards IFC, 2, 8, 10, 14, 18, 22, 24, 28, 31, 32, 46

Prayer IFC, 4, 8, 34, 38 (FLF)

Primary 28

Profanity 32

Prophets 2, 6, 42, 47

Quorum of the Seventy 8

Quorum of the Twelve Apostles 12, 26 (f), 31

Scriptures 13 (f), 26 (f), 46, 48

Subscriptions 21

Thankful 4, 13 (f), 14, 17, 31, 36 (FLF), 46

Tithing 2, 8, 10

Work 8