Set up chairs or desks facing each other in a line. Have the students sit in a chair

and explain to them that they will each move clockwise every 3 minutes.

They each have 3 minutes (so 1 ½ minutes each) to get to know the person across

from them (you can give them more or less time depending on the size of your

class). Have them turn to page 2 in their journals and record as they go. They need

to get to know the person’s name (including proper spelling), birthday, and

something interesting about them.

Their ultimate goal is to question each other and continue to follow a line of

questions until they find out something that they think no one else in class will find

out.

For example:

Student #1: How many siblings do you have?

Student #2: Two

Student #1: What are their names and ages?

Student #2: Emma (4), and Charlie (7)

Student #1: What did you give Emma for Christmas last year?

Student #2: I gave her a coloring book with crayons.

So they will interview each other for 1 ½ minutes each and write down their

favorite thing they learned in their journal under “interesting fact”.

After everyone has interviewed each other, go through each student and have

people share what they learned about them, if another person also found that out

have them raise their hand. Try to find the student who found out the most original

information for the most people in the class.

The fun thing about this is that you will be able to observe and see personalities

emerge as well as tons of facts about them. Some kids will ask the same questions

to everyone so when you share about them it will be funny because you will find

out everyone’s favorite pizza topping, or what they did yesterday at 2:04 pm.

Use the crossword puzzle in this PDF package to help them to search the journal

and also learn important facts.

Getting to Know You

Activity

Journal

Crossword

Scripture Mastery

Book of Mormon

Basic Doctrines

Use the page in this PDF with all of the boxes with the scripture mastery verses. Cut them up and

put them in a bowl. Have the students pull out a paper. This is the scripture that they will give a

devotional for. I

If you have less than 25 students you can do a couple of different things. You can give extra credit

for those who want to do 2 devotionals, or you can split them up into groups. Like if you have 12

students you can have the first half and then the second half of the scripture mastery verses.

I would definitely introduce doing these devotionals by giving a sample devotional with the first

scripture mastery. In the journals there is a page for each scripture mastery. As they study and fill

out that page, a devotional will come easily.

I would also tell the students that their goal is to 1- Invite the Spirit, 2- teach about that scripture

mastery, and 3- Have the rest of the class fill out their scripture mastery page for that scripture

mastery.

So, during each devotional, the students should expect to pull out their journals and be taught

something meaningful by their peers.

Put the students into pairs or small groups. Give each group a printout from the official seminary

website of the basic doctrines with their descriptions.

Give each group 30 minutes to read through them and fill in their journals with important facts

about each doctrine.

Then after 30 minutes gather up the printouts and hand each group a quiz template (there is one

in this PDF package). Give each group 10 minutes to make a quiz (that another group will take)

about the doctrines. They can use the notes in their journals to make the quiz.

Have the groups switch quizzes and have them all take the ones they have received. Allow them

to use the notes in their journals (this will help set the bar high for keeping good journal notes)

This is a good activity because they will review much of the doctrine 3 separate times as

they write it down, make a quiz, and take a quiz.

Don’t tell the students ahead of time that they will be making group quizzes. You want

them focused on writing down important doctrines and not just totally random things to

stump their friends.

You could also give them a quiz you made (which would be a 4th time with each doctrine).

You could also divide this activity up and have them focus on a few basic doctrines rather

than all of them at once.

Put the desks in a circle. Print out the quotes on this PDF and lay them out on each desk. Have

the kids sit in a desk with a marking pencil and have them read each quote, mark their favorite

parts and write their thoughts in around the quote. Give them 1 minute at each desk.

After they have read each one, have them choose their favorites and go to that desk and copy

them on page 9 in their journal. This is fun because you will have a bunch of kids crowded around

a desk copying the same quote down.

Devotional

Activity

Quotes

1 Nephi 3:7

2 Nephi 2:25

2 Nephi 2:27

2 Nephi 9:28-29

2 Nephi 25:23, 25

2 Nephi 28:7-9

2 Nephi 31:19-20

2 Nephi 32:3

2 Nephi 32:8-9

Mosiah 2:17

Mosiah 3:19

Mosiah 4:30

Alma 7:11-

13

Alma 32:21

Alma 37:35

Alma 39:9

Alma 41:10

Helaman

5:12

3 Nephi

12:48

3 Nephi

18:15, 20-21

Ether 12:6

Ether 12:27

Moroni 7:41

Moroni

7:45, 47-48

Moroni 10:4-5

Quiz Makers: Quiz Takers:

Multiple Choice

True / False Fill in the Blank

1. A. B. C.

2. A. B. C.

3. A. B. C.

4. A. B. C.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

In order for us to be strong and to withstand all the

forces pulling us in the wrong direction or all the

voices encouraging us to take the wrong path, we

must have our own testimony. Whether you are 12 or

112—or anywhere in between—you can know for

yourself that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Read

the Book of Mormon. Ponder its teachings. Ask

Heavenly Father if it is true. We have the promise that

“if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent,

having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it

unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost [Moroni

10:4].

Thomas S. Monson, “Dare to Stand Alone,” Ensign, October 2011

In seminary, I set a goal to pay attention to what I was being taught and to spend more time studying the scriptures. During my last year in seminary, we read the Book of Mormon. I started to pray more, to read more, and to pay closer attention. I took careful notes in my seminary notebook. Eventually, there came into my heart the simple but profound witness of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. I felt in my heart that this knowledge was something precious.

Bethzaida Vélez Rivera, “My Own Testimony of the Book of Mormon,”

Liahona, February 2000

One day when I was about 11 years old, I finished some of my chores early and had some time before I had to start my next task. It was hot, so I sat under a tree to rest. I don’t know why, but I had the Book of Mormon with me. I picked up the book and started to read. To my amazement, I couldn’t put it down. For the next three or four days I continued to have extra time during my workday. In those few days, I read the whole Book of Mormon. Every time I opened the book, I was filled with a warm, calm feeling. The presence of the Spirit was strong and bore witness to me that the book was true, and because it was true, everything else I knew about the gospel had to be true too.

Kevin R. Duncan, “The Book Was True,” Friend, March 2013

One of the ultimate messages of the Book of Mormon, and indeed of the Old Testament and all human history, is that mankind cannot reach perfection on our own. There is another message that comes through loud and clear from its pages. It is the often unpopular and seemingly harsh injunction “Repent or perish.” When the Book of Mormon people listened to this prophetic message, they flourished. When they forgot the message, they perished.

James E. Faust, “The Keystone of Our Religion,” Liahona, January

2004

Love for the Book of Mormon expands one’s love for the Bible and vice versa. Scriptures of the Restoration do not compete with the Bible; they complement the Bible. We are indebted to martyrs who gave their lives so that we could have the Bible. It establishes the everlasting nature of the gospel and of the plan of happiness. The Book of Mormon restores and underscores biblical doctrines such as tithing, the temple, the Sabbath day, and the priesthood.

Russell M. Nelson, “Scriptural Witnesses,” Liahona, November 2007

Counting the ways the Book of Mormon brings peace to the soul is like counting the sand on the seashore.

Neil L. Andersen, “The Book of Mormon: The Great Purveyor of the

Savior’s Peace,” Liahona, January 2008

I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon

and all that it implies, given today under my

own oath and office, be recorded by men on

earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a

few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do

or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand

before the judgment bar of God that I declared

to the world, in the most straightforward

language I could summon, that the Book of

Mormon is true, that it came forth the way

Joseph said it came forth and was given to

bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the

travail of the latter days.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign November 2009

Among the lessons we learn from the Book of Mormon are the cause and effect of war and under what conditions it is justified. It tells of evils and dangers of secret combinations, which are built up to get power and gain over the people. It tells of the reality of Satan and gives an indication of some of the methods he uses. It advises us on the proper use of wealth. It tells us of the plain and precious truths of the gospel and the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for all mankind. It informs us of the gathering of the house of Israel in the last days. It tells us of the purpose and principles of missionary work. It warns us against pride, indifference, procrastination, the dangers of false traditions, hypocrisy, and unchastity. Now it is up to us to study the Book of Mormon and learn of its principles and apply them in our lives.

L. Tom Perry, “Blessings Resulting from Reading the Book of

Mormon,” Ensign, November 2005

The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for our blessing today. Those people never had the book—it was meant for us. Mormon, the ancient prophet after whom the book is named, abridged centuries of records. God, who knows the end from the beginning, told him what to include in his abridgment that we would need for our day.

Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon Is the Word of God,” Ensign,

May 1975, pg 63

For 179 years this book [The Book of Mormon] has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign November 2009

The time is long overdue for a

massive flooding of the earth with

the Book of Mormon for the many

reasons which the Lord has given.

In this age of electronic media and

mass distribution of the printed

word, God will hold us accountable

if we do not now move the Book of

Mormon in a monumental way.

President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, Nov. 1988, pg 2–9

There is a power in the book which will begin to flow

into your lives the moment you begin a serious study

of the book. You will find greater power to resist

temptation. You will find the power to avoid

deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait

and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words

of life’ (see D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true

than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to

hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in

greater and greater abundance. These promises—

increased love and harmony in the home, greater

respect between parent and child, increased

spirituality and righteousness—these are not idle

promises, but exactly what the Prophet Joseph Smith

meant when he said the Book of Mormon will help us

draw nearer to God.

President Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg.

54

I told the brethren that the

Book of Mormon was the

most correct of any book

on earth, and the keystone

of our religion, and a man

would get nearer to God by

abiding by its precepts,

than by any other book.

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 4:461; quoted in the

Introduction to The Book of Mormon

[T]he Book of Mormon is a testament of

Jesus Christ. The title page tells us that. It

says that the purpose of the book is to show

what great things the Lord has done for His

people, to help them know that the

covenants the Lord has made with His

people are still in force, and to convince all

people that Jesus is the Christ.

There are thousands of references to the

Savior in the Book of Mormon. The

testimony of Jesus permeates every page.

So, whoever reads it is reading words which

testify of the Savior. President Henry B. Eyring, “Why the Book of Mormon?” New Era May 2008