Sharing Time: Additional Sharing Time Ideas, July 2006

The following are additional ideas Primary leaders may use with the Sharing Time printed in the July 2006 Liahona. For the lesson, instructions, and activity that correspond with these ideas, see “Heavenly Father Hears and Answers Prayers” on pages F4 and F5 of the children’s section in this issue.

1. Invite each Primary teacher to come prepared to share a simple experience of when his or her prayers were answered. You could also invite older children to be prepared to tell the suggested stories from the Liahona. The leaders of the Church today confirm that prayers are answered. Tell, or have an older child tell, one or more of the following stories from the Liahona: “The Lifeline of Prayer,” by President James E. Faust, July 2003, F2–F3; “A Growing Testimony,” by President James E. Faust, Apr. 2003, F2–F3. Sing a song or hymn about prayer. Invite the children to gather in small groups around their teacher. Have the teacher share his or her experience with prayer, and invite the children to share their own experiences, if they have some. (Remind them that some experiences are too sacred to share.) Return the children to their original places, and invite each group to share experiences with the whole group. Take responses as time permits. Bear testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.

2. Song presentation: “Tell Me, Dear Lord” (Children’s Songbook, 176). This song is actually a prayer with a melody. As you teach the first line, direct the children’s thinking by asking, “In whose way are we asking that our prayers be answered?” Sing the first line. Invite the children to respond to the question (“thine own”—the Lord’s). Sing the first line together. Continue teaching the song the same way with each line. Say, “We are asking for guidance in something today. What is it?” Sing the second line, have them echo and respond (“what thou would’st have me say and do”). Ask, “What do we want Him to teach us?” Sing the third line. Have them echo and respond (“to know and love thy will”). Ask, “What do we need help in understanding?” Sing the last line. Have them echo and respond (“thy loving word”). Sing the whole song, share D&C 112:10, and testify that prayers are answered.