“Finding Peace: 4 (More) Ways to Use the 2018 Mutual Theme,” Liahona, January 2018
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Finding Peace: 4 (More) Ways to Use the 2018 Mutual Theme
The 2018 Mutual theme teaches youth about the peace they can receive from Jesus Christ. The theme comes from Doctrine and Covenants 19:23 where the Lord invites, “Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me.” What a powerful message! Here are four fun ways to use the Mutual theme to strengthen youth through challenging times:
1. Opening exercises
By including the theme at the beginning of Mutual, you can set the tone for the whole activity. Before each activity, you could assign a young man or woman to pick a scripture relating to Doctrine and Covenants 19:23 and present it to the group. You could also set aside time during opening exercises to study the verses surrounding verse 23 to understand its context.
2. “Listen to my words”
This activity offers a fun, challenging twist on the cooking activity idea given in “You, the Youth, and the Mutual Theme” (Liahona, January 2018). Pick a recipe and have one person read it while the youth each listen and follow the instructions to make the dish. Then, play loud music periodically as the reader is speaking, making it harder to hear the instructions. Encourage the reader to continue reading the recipe and not repeat themselves. After the activity, talk about how letting the world drown out the words of Christ makes following Him more difficult.
3. “Learn of me”
This activity will teach youth how to find peace by studying Christ’s life in an engaging, spiritual way. In the halls of your ward’s meetinghouse (or any other suitable location), there will be various stations set up where you have photos/objects representing some of the stressors in the youths’ lives—things like schoolwork, wars/rumors of wars, people being unkind, etc. Each station should be in the hallway outside of a classroom. At each station, allow the youth to discuss some of their feelings and experiences on how these particular stressors affect them. Then, open the door to the room the station is outside of. (There could even be a painting of Christ posted on the door.) Inside the room, there should be another station set up with a video/scripture/message on a portion of Christ’s life and teachings that will help provide peace in relation to the stressor out in the hall. Three such two-part stations (one part in the hall, one part in a classroom) should be able to provide a full activity.
4. “You shall have peace in me”
Go “caroling for peace” as a Mutual group. Though caroling is usually reserved for Christmastime, it’s a great activity for any time of year. Find a few families you know who could use a spiritual lift and then show up on their doorstep with a treat and a few hymns you can sing. Hymns invite the Spirit, which also brings an added measure of peace.