Learn—Maximum Time: 45 Minutes

Read:As you begin to explore your education options, Heavenly Father will help you recognize the possibilities open to you. You’ll start this discovery by learning about these things:

1. You have divine potential.

2. Education is a bridge to self-reliance.

3. Know how much income you need to become self-reliant.

4. Begin your self-reliance plan.

1. You Have Divine Potential

Read:“The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth” (D&C 93:36). God wants you to have intelligence. He wants you to know what to do in this life. He wants you to know how to provide for yourself and your family, both spiritually and temporally.

Discuss:When has God helped you learn something that allowed you to be a better provider for yourself or your family?

Read:As a child of God, you have inherited divine traits and abilities and have the potential to become like your Heavenly Parents. You can develop these traits and abilities through experience and education. You can get education and training through going to school, enrolling in a training program, learning on the job, learning online, reading books, and in many other ways.

“Education is the key to opportunity” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Perpetual Education Fund,” Ensign, May 2001, 53).

Discuss:

• Two of you very briefly tell about someone you know who has improved his or her life through more education or training.

• How could education or training increase your abilities and open the doors of opportunity to you?

2. Education Is a Bridge to Self-Reliance

Read:There may be a gap between how self-reliant you are now and where you want to be. Your gap may be big or small, but it is a gap to be crossed. Education and training can help bridge that gap. Education and training can lead to a better job, greater income, and improved self-reliance.

The bridge on the next page represents the path you will be following with this self-reliance group. You will progress through these steps to greater self-reliance.

Activity (5 minutes)

Take turns reading the parts of the bridge (on page 8) and discuss what will be hardest or easiest for you.

Read:As you continue to progress in your self-reliance, you may cross the bridge many times in your life to stay current in your field, to sharpen work skills, or to change jobs or careers.

3. Know How Much Income You Need to Become Self-Reliant

Read:“Self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family” (Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 6.1.1).

One of the first steps in your education path is to determine how much income you need to be self-reliant. Once you know how much income you need, you can begin to explore potential jobs and needed training.

To help you know how much income you need, track your daily income and expenses in a notebook. At the end of each week, add up the numbers and record the total amounts on the Income and Expense Record on page 15. You will use this record for the next several weeks. This information will help you select an appropriate job and training path.

4. Begin Your Self-Reliance Plan

Read:Over the next several weeks, you will develop a self-reliance plan. To start your self-reliance plan, begin with a self-reliance goal. For example, one participant wrote:

“I will get a job that pays 20,000 more than I now make so that I can provide for my family and save for emergencies.”

Activity (5 minutes)

Write your self-reliance goal below. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. You will have several chances to revise it. During the week, pray about your self-reliance goal and talk to family members or friends about it. Revise it as needed.

My Self-Reliance Goal

I will so that I can .

Discuss:What are the most important things you learned in today’s group meeting?