Littleton Youth Stake Trek: Core Doctrine Activities to do with your family
Littleton Stake Trek 2017 - Core Doctrine Activities
The youth on Trek will have an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives. During Trek we focus on several major doctrines we call “Core Doctrines” that are reinforced by the activities and stories we share. Each day we focus on looking for ways to see these doctrines and how they change our hearts and grow our understanding of the gospel. We created materials for our Mas and Pas to prepare to teach our youth, along with activities they can do to prepare to be Mas and Pas. These activities focus on these Core Doctrines.
While we created these activities to help our Mas and Pas have unity in their marriages to strengthen them before they head out on Trek, they are helpful to all families to create unity. We have summarized some of these activities for our stake members to experience some of the uplifting benefits of these doctrines. Whether or not anyone in your family is going on Trek this year, you can experience these activities in your own way. Each can be adapted to the needs and make up of your family. Consider prayerfully taking the opportunity to use these activities, perhaps as a Family Home Evening, to teach these doctrines. We hope that these simple activities can help you build Zion in your heart, in your homes, wards, and our stake. Zion is not a place, it’s a state of the heart.
Core Doctrines for our 2017 Stake Trek:
Your Journey to Zion-Unity and Being Pure in Heart
Humility-Perspective and a Humble & Grateful Heart
Grace-Miracle Hunt and a Believing Heart
Love of God-Advocate and a Loving Heart
Your Journey to Zion is a reflective experience. Zion is a feeling of unity we strive for as couples, families, wards, stakes and as a church and people. Gaining a testimony and arriving at our own personal Zion takes time. None of us are perfect nor will be in this life. All of us are on different places on the path to Zion. We can use our experiences, especially ones we have together, to build our Zion as a couple, a family, a ward or stake.
Zion Activities
Unity- Individually or as a couple or family, make note of nuances in your marriage/family; unique things you do as a family. These can be adventures you have shared, things you have accomplished together, special personal or family customs and inside jokes. Discuss these and share what you love about those experiences together. Think about ways to do activities as a family to draw you close together.
Pure hearts-
We all need to work on having pure hearts. This activity asks you to work on improving our hearts. Consider things you would like to improve within yourself and work on it. Having the desire to change makes most of the difference. Ask yourself these questions: What causes contention in our home? What makes me unhappy? What disrupts my relationship to God? Pray and fast to ask Heavenly Father to help you improve and change those things.
Pondering our Journey-
Adults often have had experiences that brought us to our testimonies. We all arrive at Zion along different journeys. None are the same. And none of us have walked our paths unscathed. Think about your own journey to Zion, how did you get a testimony of Jesus Christ? What are the things that brought you to your knowledge of gospel principles? It’s okay if you have parts of your testimony where you are still on that path. Share your testimony with your spouse or family or others/extended family. Sharing our testimony-whether over the pulpit, in a class you teach, in a letter to a family member or friend, or to others we care about helps us grow on this journey we are all on to Zion.
Humility Activities
Gratitude-
Gratitude plays a large role in developing humility. You can record things you are grateful for in your spouse or family, for spiritual experiences, temporal blessings, friendships. Keep a gratitude journal for a week, a month or more, and reflect on the things you are grateful for. Share these things with your family or spouse. Discuss and journal about the experience and how reflecting on your blessings affects how you feel.
Perspective-
Our lives are a journey, sometimes filled with potholes, bumps and bruises. Trust that you are being cared for and be grateful for what comes your way. Putting things in a different perspective won’t take away problems, but humility isn’t only reserved for moments where you get what you wants. When things go wrong, use the power of humility to release negative emotions. When you are faced with a negative event, large or small, take time to ask these questions and consider writing the answers or discussing them in your family. What is good about this? What can I learn from this? How can I benefit from this? Is there something about this situation I can be grateful for?
As you write down thoughts that come as answers to these questions, and over a period of time write and discuss with your family how asking these questions and using gratitude can help your perspective and attitudes.
Grace Activities
Grace is both a gift and a power we can call upon to overcome problems. Sometimes we can see how God helps us, other times it might not be so clear. We may understand and appreciate that we are saved by Grace, but do we see how we can use the Grace of Jesus Christ to empower us to move forward? Do we see when we’ve been given grace? These gifts of grace can be called other things: Miracles, tender mercies, luck, and even coincidence. The key is recognizing it for what it is.
Miracle Hunt-
Noticing God’s hand in our lives is connected to humility and gratitude. Begin to look for small things where you notice tender mercies, where things fall into place, or seem to
land in your lap. Think about exceptional moments in your life-things that you couldn’t have planned, incidents of unexpected grace. Maybe a series of events that led you to a spouse, a job, a move, or receiving a testimony. Write these things down, either in one activity or over a period of time. Share these with your spouse or family.
Talk about looking for these miracles/tender mercies and recognizing them and being grateful for them. Remember to add these to a gratitude journal and discuss how recognizing these gifts of grace make you feel.
Love of God Activity
The Advocate Experience-
Understanding that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us unconditionally, and immensely is important and difficult to fully grasp. On Trek we will be talking about how Jesus Christ is our advocate, who will defend us, despite our weaknesses. Jesus Christ always sees the best in us.
Try envisioning how the Lord sees your spouse, or a family member throughout the course of an entire day or week. What are their strengths and amazing talents? Write down all the good you see in each other Share or let one another read this list of positive attributes. Discuss how knowing what others in your family see as positive in you makes you feel.
Think about how much better your family will be, how much less contention there could be when you each as a family strive to overlook flaws and focus on each other’s admirable qualities. This means striving to live up to those good qualities, working on our flaws as we cling to the understanding that our family will extend their love, looking for the good in each other.
We all need to work on having pure hearts. This activity asks you to work on improving our hearts. Consider things you would like to improve within yourself and work on it. Having the desire to change makes most of the difference. Ask yourself these questions: What causes contention in our home? What makes me unhappy? What disrupts my relationship to God? Pray and fast to ask Heavenly Father to help you improve and change those things.
Pondering our Journey-
Adults often have had experiences that brought us to our testimonies. We all arrive at Zion along different journeys. None are the same. And none of us have walked our paths unscathed. Think about your own journey to Zion, how did you get a testimony of Jesus Christ? What are the things that brought you to your knowledge of gospel principles? It’s okay if you have parts of your testimony where you are still on that path. Share your testimony with your spouse or family or others/extended family. Sharing our testimony-whether over the pulpit, in a class you teach, in a letter to a family member or friend, or to others we care about helps us grow on this journey we are all on to Zion.
Humility Activities
Gratitude-
Gratitude plays a large role in developing humility. You can record things you are grateful for in your spouse or family, for spiritual experiences, temporal blessings, friendships. Keep a gratitude journal for a week, a month or more, and reflect on the things you are grateful for. Share these things with your family or spouse. Discuss and journal about the experience and how reflecting on your blessings affects how you feel.
Perspective-
Our lives are a journey, sometimes filled with potholes, bumps and bruises. Trust that you are being cared for and be grateful for what comes your way. Putting things in a different perspective won’t take away problems, but humility isn’t only reserved for moments where you get what you wants. When things go wrong, use the power of humility to release negative emotions. When you are faced with a negative event, large or small, take time to ask these questions and consider writing the answers or discussing them in your family. What is good about this? What can I learn from this? How can I benefit from this? Is there something about this situation I can be grateful for?
As you write down thoughts that come as answers to these questions, and over a period of time write and discuss with your family how asking these questions and using gratitude can help your perspective and attitudes.
Grace Activities
Grace is both a gift and a power we can call upon to overcome problems. Sometimes we can see how God helps us, other times it might not be so clear. We may understand and appreciate that we are saved by Grace, but do we see how we can use the Grace of Jesus Christ to empower us to move forward? Do we see when we’ve been given grace? These gifts of grace can be called other things: Miracles, tender mercies, luck, and even coincidence. The key is recognizing it for what it is.
Miracle Hunt-
Noticing God’s hand in our lives is connected to humility and gratitude. Begin to look for small things where you notice tender mercies, where things fall into place, or seem to
land in your lap. Think about exceptional moments in your life-things that you couldn’t have planned, incidents of unexpected grace. Maybe a series of events that led you to a spouse, a job, a move, or receiving a testimony. Write these things down, either in one activity or over a period of time. Share these with your spouse or family.
Talk about looking for these miracles/tender mercies and recognizing them and being grateful for them. Remember to add these to a gratitude journal and discuss how recognizing these gifts of grace make you feel.
Love of God Activity
The Advocate Experience-
Understanding that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us unconditionally, and immensely is important and difficult to fully grasp. On Trek we will be talking about how Jesus Christ is our advocate, who will defend us, despite our weaknesses. Jesus Christ always sees the best in us.
Try envisioning how the Lord sees your spouse, or a family member throughout the course of an entire day or week. What are their strengths and amazing talents? Write down all the good you see in each other Share or let one another read this list of positive attributes. Discuss how knowing what others in your family see as positive in you makes you feel.
Think about how much better your family will be, how much less contention there could be when you each as a family strive to overlook flaws and focus on each other’s admirable qualities. This means striving to live up to those good qualities, working on our flaws as we cling to the understanding that our family will extend their love, looking for the good in each other.
Comments
Post a Comment