In the Service of Your God, by Walter Rane

April 20–26

Mosiah 4–6

“A Mighty Change”

Which of King Benjamin’s teachings in Mosiah 4–6 will best help the children you teach begin to experience “a mighty change” (Mosiah 5:2) in their hearts? Record your impressions as you prayerfully seek guidance.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

Write the name of each child in your class on a strip of paper, and place the strips in a container. As you draw each name from the container, invite that child to share something they remember from last week’s lesson or something they learned from Mosiah 4–6 at home this week.

Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children

Mosiah 4:1–3, 10

Repentance brings joy.

Help the children learn about the wonderful gift of repentance that is available because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Possible Activities

• Use Mosiah 4:1–3 and 10 to teach the children what it means to repent. For example, help them discover that King Benjamin’s people felt sorry about their sins and asked for forgiveness (verses 1–2), and King Benjamin told them to forsake (or stop doing) their sins (verse 10). Read verse 3 to them, and ask how the people felt when they repented.

• Ask the children how it feels when we get our clothes dirty. How do we feel when we become clean again? Explain that like washing dirty clothes, we can repent when we make a mistake. Show a picture of Jesus Christ, and testify that He has the power to remove our sins and make us clean again if we repent. Sing together the second verse of “Help Me, Dear Father” (Children’s Songbook, 99). Ask the children what the song teaches about repentance.

Mosiah 4:13–26

I should treat others with love and kindness.

How can you use Mosiah 4:13–26 to teach the children “to love one another, and to serve one another”? (verse 15).

Possible Activities

• Draw a small heart on the board. Invite the children to share ways they can be kind to others. Each time they share, erase the heart and draw a bigger one. Testify that our love for others grows as we are kind to them. Give the children paper hearts, and invite them to draw on the hearts ways they can show love and be kind.

• Help the children come up with actions to do as they sing a song about loving others, such as “Jesus Said Love Everyone” or “Love One Another” (Children’s Songbook, 61, 136).

Mosiah 5:5–15

When I make covenants with God, I take upon myself the name of Christ.

Ponder how you can help the children you teach prepare to make baptismal covenants with God and to be “called the children of Christ” (Mosiah 5:7).

Possible Activities

• Help the children create badges displaying the name “Jesus Christ” and attach them to their shirts over their hearts (see this week’s activity page). Explain that King Benjamin taught his people that when we make covenants, or promises, with God, it’s like having the name of Christ “written always in [our] hearts” (Mosiah 5:12). What do we promise to do when we are baptized and take the sacrament? (see Mosiah 5:8; Doctrine and Covenants 20:37, 77, 79).

• Ask the children what they would do to become friends with someone (for example, talk with them, do things with them, and spend time with them). Read Mosiah 5:13 to the children. What can we do to come to know Jesus Christ better so He’s not a “stranger” to us?

Teach the Doctrine: Older Children

Mosiah 4:1–11

I can repent.

How can you help the children understand what it means to repent? Which verses in Mosiah 4:1–11 do you feel will help them?

Possible Activities

• Write the word forgiveness on the board. Read together Mosiah 4:1–3, and ask the children to search for words in verse 3 that describe the blessings that come when we repent and receive forgiveness.

• Ask the children to name things we must do in order to fully and sincerely repent. Help them find some of these things in Mosiah 4:10, and discuss the meanings of words and phrases found in that verse. Share a story that illustrates repentance, perhaps from your own life or from a recent Church magazine.

• Help the children find words in Mosiah 4:6, 9, and 11 that describe Heavenly Father. Why is it important to understand what Heavenly Father is like when we need to repent? Share your testimony of how you have felt God’s love as you’ve repented.

Mosiah 4:12–26

The gospel inspires me to treat others with love and kindness.

King Benjamin taught that when we come unto Christ and receive a remission of our sins, we are “filled with the love of God” (Mosiah 4:12), which leads us to be loving and kind toward others.

Possible Activities

• Help the children search Mosiah 4:13–16, 26 and identify phrases that describe how we can serve others. Invite them to act out these things or draw pictures of them, and let the other children guess the phrase. How can we show love and kindness at home, at school, or at church?

• Invite the children to share an experience in which they loved or served someone and how that experience made them feel. What are some reasons people might not want to serve others? Ask the children what they would say to someone to persuade them to help people in need. They can find ideas in Mosiah 4:16–26.

Jesus Christ taught us to be kind to others.

Mosiah 5:5–15

When I am baptized and take the sacrament, I take upon myself the name of Christ.

Many of the children you teach have probably been baptized and are renewing their covenants through the sacrament. Remind them that an important part of their baptismal covenant is taking upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ.

Possible Activities

• Draw a circle on the board, and place a picture of Jesus Christ in the center of the circle. Invite the children to draw pictures of themselves as you read Mosiah 5:8 together. What does this verse say we should take upon ourselves? What have we “entered into”? Invite the children to write Christ’s name on the pictures of themselves and place the pictures in the circle with the Savior. What covenants do we make when we are baptized and take the sacrament? (see Mosiah 18:8–9; Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79).

• Talk to the children about why people put their names on things, such as school assignments, sports jerseys, and so on (see Mosiah 5:14–15). How can we show that we have Christ’s name “written always in [our] hearts”? (Mosiah 5:12).

• Invite a young man or woman from the ward to visit your class and explain the covenants we renew by partaking of the sacrament. Read the sacrament prayers in Doctrine and Covenants 20:77 and 79 with the children, inviting them to look for phrases that describe what we covenant to do and what God promises us in return.

Encourage Learning at Home

Invite the children to draw something they learned today and use their drawing to teach their families.

Improving Our Teaching

Teach children to record impressions. Even children can learn the habit of recording spiritual impressions—for example, by marking scriptures, drawing pictures, or writing simple journal entries.