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Eagle Mountain, Utah, United States
My name is Lauren, and I live in the bubble. I am wife to Marshall, the biggest BYU fan in the world; and mother to Carly, our big girl, and Wes, our wild man, and Calvin, our new addition. I graduated BYU with a degree in Social Work, and I went forth to serve at LDS Family Services. I like scrapbooking and going out to eat at nice restaurants. I am fascinated by new cleaning products at the grocery store, so I have to shop in wide circles around the perimeter to avoid the temptation to buy. I love chocolate.

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Book of Mormon stories

Carly has been very excited lately.


At church this year, the theme for Primary is...

...

..wow, I should know this, being a primary teacher and all....


Well, it has something to do with reading the scriptures. Probably "I love to read the scriptures." Either way, the Primary Presidency went all out and challenged the kids to read the whole Book of Mormon this year. That's a really long book with lots of strange words.

I didn't actually think we would attempt to accomplish this at our house.

But this Primary Presidency, they're crafty. They made the BOM challenge into a quest with a map.

Now, if you know Carly, you know she's big on maps. In fact, she loooooves maps. And hidden buried treasure. So when she was given her first map of '1st Nephi Island,' and was told that she'd get a treasure chest once she finished reading 1st Nephi, that was her goal.


Everyday she brings me our big family size Book of Mormon and asks to read more. I would just do the kid version, but the map is colored in chapter by chapter. So we have to stay true to the original, to be fair and all. So at first we were reading the chapter, and then summarizing in kid speak. But her eyes would glaze over, and she wouldn't hear a word. So then I started changing some of the harder words as we went.

brethren = brothers
slow to hearken = they didn't listen
wilderness = forest
etc

And she is really getting the stories! Sometimes we do multiple chapters a day because she wants to hear more of the story. Before we go on to the new chapter, I make her summarize what we've heard so far.

She loved the story of Nephi chopping off the mean guy's head to take his scriptures, and the story about Nephi's mean brothers tying him up and Heavenly Father making a big storm on the ocean until they untied him, and how the magic ball didn't work and tell them where to go unless they were being good. She can tell you all about Lehi's dream, and the big building with the bad people and the yummy fruit on the tree, and how we have to hold on to the "rail" so we don't get lost while walking to the tree.

When reading about the Liahona, I pulled up images on Google of compasses. When we read about Nephi's bow, we looked up pictures of bow and arrows.

It's really been a lot of fun!

It's also been fun to see the real life applications in her 3-year-old little world. When reading, I use the word 'whining' instead of 'murmuring.' The other day she was whining, and I asked "what happens when we whine?" The expected answer was "mommy doesn't hear me." But instead she sheepishly replied "Heavenly Father doesn't bless us."


We finished first Nephi in about 2 weeks, and she was so excited to turn in her treasure map. Now on to 2nd Nephi Beach!

2 comments:

KarenOjai said...

So... did she get the treasure box? Oh, and... BTW the primary theme for 2011 is "I know the Scriptures are True."

Maranda said...

Wow, what an awesome experience for her, and you! She will always remember this and will know the Book of Mormon really well as she's growing up! That is so wonderful. I wish I knew it at well as she does. Can I come join in your study sessions? ;)

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