Tuesday, June 24, 2014

FHE at the Bishop's House











Del works with some really great men in the Bishopric.  His counselors and executive secretary give him endless hours and sacrifice a lot to be the best men they can be.
And, they have great wives and families.
So Del and I thought it would be fun to have them all over for a FHE and party at our house.  Each of them has at least three kids, and they're all young, so we figured we would put out a slip n' slide,, little pool and then have hot dogs, samores and barbecue beef sandwiches with all the trimmings and fruit they could eat.  And we all had a blast.  The dad's cooked all the hot dogs, the mom's got all the plates of food ready and then the kids just had a blast eating and playing.
We had shooting of rifles, bb guns and a shotgun for the men, bow and arrows for the men and women and then water, trampoline, hammock. and swing set for all the kids.  They played for hours.
It really was such a good time for the kids.  They were exhausted with fun.
Then, when it started to get dark, we had them all wrap themselves up in their towels, come in the living room, and gather around the floor where Del and I taught them a FHE lesson from the Book of Mormon.  Del taught them the story about the Anti Nephi Lehi's, who in a covenant made with the Lord, chose to lay down their swords and weapons, bury them in the ground so as not to kill or hurt anyone ever again.  Of course, he told a little more of the covenant and details, but then I applied it to today and now for the kids.
I asked each of them to tell me some things that they might do or say, that are hurtful or unkind to their family members.  And that even though it's not like a sword, or knife, or spear or bow and arrow, it is still something that hurts and kills the heart - it's painful.  Then I gave each family member a piece of paper and pencil and asked person to think of a word or action that they currently do/say that is hurtful like a knife, write the word down and then we all walked out to our backyard.  Del had gone to the back yard and dug a deep hole in the garden and as he stood there with the shovel, each family member went up and placed their paper into the hole.  Then, they all promised to never say those hurtful words or do those hurtful things again...and then the Bishop buried them.
It was great.  Special comments were heard from some of the kids - they understood the concept.  Even some of the adults love the simplicity of the lesson and the way their children caught on to the comparison of the story from the Book of Mormon.  I was pleased.
We then cooked up samores and finally, by 9:30, everyone went home EXHAUSTED!!!
Del and I slept well too.
Good families.  Good opportunities for us to work together to help raise these children to be servants of our Heavenly Father.  I'm hoping they remember this night for a long time.

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