Never tell a train story...

Lesson 34 - I Can Love Others

The boys had little trouble with today's lesson. They all realized we should love each other and that Jesus and our families love us. I'd say that's a pretty remarkable thing when you consider the number of children who don't feel loved. I was trying to emphasize to them how lucky we all are to have a loving Father in Heaven and earthly parents. I suspect that often we take this for granted. The energy level was high today so I gave them pipe cleaners to play with as we talked.

The real challenge began in sharing time. Sis. Matthews had a real cute story about a train that needed help and finally realized it could pray and ask Heavenly Father for help. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, my "Thomas the Train" fanatics kept interupting her to tell her which train to call to help. They knew every name of all the "good" and "bad" trains and cars from the Thomas the Train show. Somehow I think the message got lost...I guess you need to know your audience...what started out as a great idea ended up as a plug for PBS...

Lesson 33 - I Can Be a Friend

Not too many quotes today. We were talking about sharing and being a friend. I asked what they would do if one of their friends was sad because someone was teasing them...as a group they all thought they should "tease him back"! Guess we have a little work to do....

Later I showed the class a picture of Jesus and explained that He is our friend. Got one good quote from Tyler.

Tyler: "The bad men got Jesus. When Jesus was hanging, he prayed then he got dead so they couldn't get him anymore!" I'd say FHE is working!

I brought my camera to class and let each one of them take a picture of their friend. Elder Cook then took a class picture for us. Here are the results.

Lesson 32 - I Am Thankful for Food and Clothing

Sunday we talked about where our food and clothes come from. I had pictures and stories to explain about different plants and animals that contibute to our food and clothing. We even acted out planting seeds, getting dressed and going fishing. Here is what I learned...

Memorable quotes from Sunday's lesson:

When told that bread comes from grains...

Tyler- "Bread comes from bananas, when they get dark you give them to Nana and she bakes bread!"

When told that you can pray absolutely anywhere...

Austin - "You can't pray when you're coon hunting, they won't let you! Not even whisper."

When told that lots of clothes come from cotton...

Trevor - " Even underwears?"

Austin - "Uh-uh, shirts come from Wal-Mart!"

As they were pantomiming catching a fish...

Trevor - Immediately landed a whale!

Tyler - Immediately caught a catfish!

Austin - Patiently held his pole and said, " Nothing's bit my worm yet". (obviously the only one to have ever really gone fishing)

BTW, everybody's favorite breakfast food is Pop Tarts!