Primary Talks

Both Miriam and Rachel gave talks in primary this month. Poor Miriam was supposed to give a talk on January 17, but a special stake conference was called so they told her to be ready to speak the following Sunday (and moved the children who were supposed to speak that Sunday to the first week of February) but it snowed so church was cancelled come January 24. Miriam finally got around to giving a talk on Valentine's Day and Rachel spoke this week.

Here is Miriam's talk:

My talk is about why Jesus created the Earth. I will tell you why. So that we could get a family and so we can get sealed together and so we could get a body so we could do all the stuff that I just said. 

In family scripture study we recently read Alma 12 and in Alma 12:24 it says that “this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God.” That means that we are supposed to use our life to learn and grow so we can be ready to go back to heaven. The earth was created to give us a place to be away from Heavenly Father so that we can learn things on our own. This means that we will make a lot of mistakes, but that’s okay because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins, to make it so we can return to live with Heavenly Father. Jesus is the great Mediator of all men and makes it possible for us to choose liberty and eternal life instead of captivity and death.

Because Jesus and Heavenly Father love us they wanted to give us a beautiful place to live while we are away from them, so they spent a lot of time creating beautiful things for us to enjoy, like flowers, butterflies, and sunsets. Heavenly Father wants us to treat the world nicely because he worked hard on the earth. We don’t want to hurt the earth and make Heavenly Father sad, so we have to help take care of the earth.

I bear my testimony that Jesus made the earth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

She wrote a draft of it and then I helped her flesh it out so the wording is more or less her very own. I had to jog her memory about what we'd recently read during family scripture study but she came up with John 3:16 all on her own. When she wrote it down, however, she wrote, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Hear him." Kind of a cute mix up, but I figured we should quote the actual scripture instead.

We had Rachel go through much the same process. I had her write a draft, we talked about some sources we could pull material from, we discussed the things she should have written down but neglected to, and eventually ended up with this:

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth but were also told not to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We learn, however, in 2 Nephi 2:23 that without eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve would “would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin...”

Adam and Eve decided to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and had to leave the garden—because no unclean thing can be in the garden. Life was harder for Adam and Eve outside of the garden, through their trials they learned to feel real joy. Part of that joy was raising a family.

Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are an heritage of the Lord,” and we, as children are a blessing and a joy to our parents (and if we’re not then we should be)! In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” our parents are told that they need to ”love and care for each other and for their children.” We are given families so that we have someone to take care of us and so that we can learn how to be happy here on earth, as well as in Heaven.

The proclamation doesn’t say a lot about what children should do in their families, but it does tell us that “successful...families are established on...faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

I think that list is a pretty good place for us, as children, to start. After all, we have a responsibility to help build and strengthen our families as well. 

I can help strengthen my family by helping my younger siblings say their prayers at night and by paying attention during family scripture study. I can try not to be annoyed when my younger siblings are being obnoxious and can instead forgive them and help them to learn. I can show I love my family by doing my jobs around the house with a happy attitude.

Sometimes when my mom is busy with the baby Benjamin can go a little crazy. One day he was being really noisy while my mom was trying to settle the baby down so even though I don’t like the game “Spot It!” I played it with him and then read stories to him until he calmed down. That made everyone in my family feel happy.

When I am happy and helpful my whole family feels happier and that is what Heavenly Father wants for us—that’s why his plan is called the Plan of Happiness. 

I want to bear my testimony to you that I know this church is true, I know Heavenly Father has a plan for us and that that plan will lead us to joy and happiness. I know that he gave us families to help us learn how to love and care for each other and that as we do so we will be happy.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Even though giving talks can be intimidating, I think it's so good for the kids to go through the process of synthesizing their ideas—and really thinking about what the gospel means to them—and then getting up in front of a crowd to tell them what they have to say.

Poor Benjamin is feeling a little left out and is convinced that next week is his turn...but it's not!

Hopefully soon he'll get his chance.