January Apprentice Inspirements

Note from Sister Edwards:  
You have over a month to work on these, so get a good head start, especially on the master book.  Remember to BRING your inspirements to class! :) 

JANUARY THEME: Conscience is the most sacred property. 

 

Read and mark your favorite parts of the following. 

1) “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” by Elder Richard G. Scott  here.

2) TJED for Teens, chapter 5. (I hope you took time over Christmas break to read chapter 4.) 

3) The 5,000 Year Leap – read principle 7 (even if you already have) and choose one other principle: 14, 15, 27.  Come prepared to teach those principles to the class.  

Write down your favorite quotes or ideas in your reflection journal. And choose one of the following, being ready to share it in class:

• Julie B. Beck said that, “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life” (April 2010).  What are your thoughts about this statement?  Write down your thoughts and include points from Elder Scott’s article.  Of course if you’d rather create a poem, a piece of music, or some artistic creation to record your thoughts about this, that’s fine too.  
• Create a collection or collage of quotes and scriptures about personal revelation (receiving answers to prayers, promptings of the Spirit) (check www.lds.org).  Feel free to illustrate your collection if you’d like. Record how it could affect your life in different areas (academically, family, spiritually, etc) if you take Sister Beck’s challenge and become really good at this one single skill. 
• Make an outline of the steps DeMille and Brookes recommend for a quality scholar phase education in TJED for Teens.  Take time to ponder each step and write down at least one goal related to each step.  You could also draw your outline and goals, or make a brainstorm mind map. (Here's a silly example of a mind map for The Three Little Pigs.) 

• What has been your favorite principle(s) that we’ve read this school year in The 5,000 Year Leap?  What ways do you see that our government is following your favorite principle(s)?  What ways are they not following it/them? If you were serving in Congress, what would you try to do to change things? Come prepared to make a presentation about these ideas with some kind of props, object lesson, visual aid, or Power Point. 
• Study the word “revelation.”  Searching both the scriptures and words of prophets and apostles, record what you find in answer to these questions:  Record as many ways as you can find that God gives revelation, both to individuals and to the Church.   What are keys to receiving revelation?   Record a plan for improving your own habits to be better able to receive and follow personal revelation.  Be ready to present your findings and your plan to the class. 
• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” what you learned from the readings.  Approve with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

January Journeyman Inspirements

Watch/read the following while taking notes:  

1) Read excerpts from “The Proper Role of Government,” by Ezra Taft Benson  here. 
Or you can listen to the speech on MP3 (43 minutes) here.


2) Watch this video clip of Ezra Taft Benson about America (13 minutes).

3) Watch this video clip of Ezra Taft Benson about socialism (9 minutes). 

4) Watch this video of excerpts from “How do you Kill 11 Million People” (6 minutes).   (Get permission from your parents first – at the beginning are some disturbing scenes of Nazi concentration camps.)  Just a little FYI, The little girl’s narrator voice is my cousin’s daughter.  It’s based on Andy Andrews' short book, How Do You Kill 11 Million People?  Or watch the "nicer" version underneath it. 

Here is a “nicer” different version without the concentration camp scenes if you’d rather: 

Write down your favorite quotes or thoughts.
And choose one or more of the following, being ready to share it in class:  

• In your own words, summarize each of the principles from The Proper Role of Government.
• In your own words, summarize each point Ezra Taft Benson makes in the other two videos. 
• Create a skit, poem, story, or comic strip that shows examples of some of these principles of righteous government being followed or not being followed. 
• Do some research on Ezra Taft Benson. Why do you think he felt so strongly about promoting freedom and rejecting socialism and communism?  What was his position in the government? What was his position in the LDS Church afterward? What role did he play in Germany after World War II?  Be ready to give the class a presentation on all you learned about him and why he was so passionate about the proper role of government.  
• After watching the 11 Million People video (the first one) draw your own version of the cycle that is mentioned, using words or pictures.  How does it relate to a cycle seen in the Book of Mormon?  Where do you think we are in that cycle today?   
• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” your reading. Approve it with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

January Master Inspirements

Read: Yearning for the Living God, by F. Enzio Busche

And do one or more of the following, being ready to share it in class:

• Using chapter 2, “A Terrible Time to Grow Up” compare Satan’s tactics with Hitler’s tactics.  Create a mind map, an essay, a poem, a list of as many points as you can. 
• F. Enzio Busche tells us what it was like growing up under Hitler’s reign.  Why do you think the German people didn’t know what was going on? What advantages do we have in America to help us avoid being so deceived?  Are we still sometimes deceived by leaders?   How can we find the truth and know who to trust?  What can we use as our measuring sticks?  Discuss, ponder, and/or record your answers to these questions and be ready to present them to the class. 
• Choose one chapter (for example, chapter 8, “The Chapel Miracle”) and review it, making a list of all the miracles you can find.  Which of the miracles touched your heart and boosted your faith the most?  Record what those miracles mean to you, how it boosts your faith for miracles to happen in your own life, and what is your plan of action to be more receptive to miracles and personal revelation like Busche was?  Be ready to share with the class. 
• What were your favorite parts of Busche’s story?  Why?  If God can do great things for him, what can He do for you when you commit to do whatever He asks of you?  What are keys you noticed in the story of being worthy and ready to receive God’s miracles, blessings, personal revelation, and even angels?  Be ready to share your favorite parts and those keys with the class. 
• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” your reading. Approve it with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

Master Class changed to WED December 5th

Event: Leadership master class for November: "17 Miracles" movie party! 

Date: Wed. Dec. 5

Time: 2-4:30 pm 

Place: Sister Edwards' home

Bring: A snack to share while we watch the movie if you'd like to.  We'll provide lots of popcorn with real butter!  Also bring your master reading and inspirement(s).  

Theme: Miracles! We'll be discussing how God has worked miracles for America, for the Church, the pioneers, and in our lives. 

Wear:  I think movie parties are fun in comfy clothes, so if you want to wear pajamas or sweats, that's okay with me! 

Who can attend:  Youth who have studied all three levels for November Leadership Academy. Question:  "Sister Edwards, if I didn't finish all three levels before our November class, can I finish them before the master class and still come?"

November Scripture of the Month

2 Nephi 2:27  (We're passing this off on Halloween)

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

November Apprentice Inspirements

NOVEMBER THEME: Life and the Pursuit of Happiness.  

God wants us to be free to pursue happiness; Satan does not. Following God and building a Christian character bring happiness.  

Read and mark your favorite parts of Seven Miracles that Saved America, by Chris Stewart and Ted Stewart.  

Write down your favorite quotes in your reflection journal. And choose one of the following, being ready to share it in class: 

• The authors say that because God helped save America during past crises, God will help save America in future crises.  Focusing on God’s miracles helping people in the past gives us faith that God will work miracles for us in the future. With this in mind, write a list of a handful of scripture people God has worked miracles for.  Then write a list of a handful of times when God has worked miracles to help you in your life or your family’s life. If you’d rather draw, write a poem or a song of these miracles, that’s great too.  

• Do a word study on the word “miracle.”  Remember to look up definitions in the 1828 dictionary here. find several scriptures and quotes from leaders of your church. Then write up your own definition. End by writing down your own testimony of how God is a God of miracles. 

• Do you believe God wants America to be free?   Choose one of the seven stories from the book. Ponder about and write a story about what probably would have happened if God didn’t perform that miracle to preserve America’s freedom.  What would life be like now?  Again, feel free to write a story, poem, song, graphic summary, etc. to show what life might be like then and now. 

• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” the principles and life lessons you read in the book. Approve it with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

November Journeyman Inspirements

Read and mark your favorite parts the following.  Write down your favorite quote(s) from each. 

1) Thomas Jefferson Education (TJED) for Teens, chapter 3.  
2) Fill in the worksheet parts of this chapter. (If you don’t own your book, write the answers in your reflection journal or type them.)  Give yourself time as this will take some thought and discussion with several people who know you well.  
3) 5000 Year Leap — read two of these principles: 1, 6, 7, 8, 22, 23, 24, 28.  
Come prepared to teach  those principles to the class.  

And choose one or more of the following, being ready to share it in class: 

• Watch “A More Perfect Union” (a 2 hour movie about the Constitutional Convention) here .
(The film is divided into eight segments, so watch all eight of them.)  Watch it with your notebook handy, and write down the different miracles you noticed that happened in the story. Think about and write down principles or life lessons you learned. 

• Watch this Glenn Beck interview of author Timothy Ballard (28 minutes) here.  The author’s book is about the Founding Fathers giving God credit for helping them establish our country, and the idea that they believed they were helping bring the Abrahamic covenant to America.  What do you think about this -- is it a new idea to you?  Do you agree or disagree? As you watch it, write down two things you agree with and two things you disagree with or have a question about. 

• For the book Seven Miracles that Saved America: 1) Make a list, chart, or mind map where you list each of the seven miracles.  2) Ponder about and write down how God used trials that eventually helped each of those people fulfill their mission to help save America.  3) Create a possible mission statement for each of those seven people.  4) At the end of your list, record your answer to this question: Knowing that God uses trials to help people become their best selves and fulfill their life missions, write down a trial in your own life and how God has helped it turn into a blessing.  

• Bonus: Watch this 5 minute clip of Ronald Reagan here.

• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” the principles and life lessons you read from the journeyman readings. Approve it with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

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NOVEMBER MASTER INSPIREMENTS 

Read: “God’s Hand in the Founding of America” by Elder L. Tom Perry  here

Mark your favorite parts.  Write down your favorite quote(s) from it in your reflection journal.  And do one of the following, being ready to share it in class:

• This is from a talk given in February 1976. Elder Ballard announced a series of seven paintings commemorating the Bicentennial of America and God’s hand in our country.  Because the seven paintings are currently unavailable, find a way to illustrate these seven miracles yourself, either with cartoons, painting, illumination, music, poetry, an essay, or some other way. 

• Look up and record ten scriptures that talk about God’s hand in preserving liberty in America, and/or righteous principles of government.  Record what themes and principles you found.  Also record how you will apply these to your life.  

• On your timeline, write in the miracles from the book Seven Miracles that Saved America, and the additional miracles from Elder Ballard’s talk.  If you’d like to, illustrate the miracles in your timeline with drawings, or with a parent’s permission, from online images. Add your own birthday to your timeline, and write your commitment to uphold your responsibility to help preserve America. 

• Teach a Family Home Evening lesson to your family using Elder Ballard’s talk.  After discussing the various ways God has shown his hand in our country, focus on what responsibilities God has given each of us in helping preserve freedom in America.  Or rather than teaching a lesson, you can write a paper, detailing the various points Elder Ballard told us are our responsibility. 

• Choose your own inspirement to help you “swallow” the principles and life lessons you read in the talk. Approve it with your parent or Sister Edwards first. 

• Bonus: If you haven’t already, see if you can memorize the Preamble to the US Constitution. This “School House Rock” song makes it easy: Click here.  The song left out one phrase.  Tell us what the missing phrase is.