For the STRENGTH OF YOUTH

JUNE – MATTHEW 22:37-40

“LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR“

CHURCH & HOME – LESSON PLAN

Now your For the Strength of Youth lessons can be SHORT-And-SWEET with our lesson-match activities.

TWENTY MINUTES can have more impact with these LESSON LIFESAVERS: ColorQuotes, Youth Goal Planners, puzzles and games, planners, scriptures to ponder, and post-and-present activities that YOUTH CAN TEACH. Enjoy!

YOU’LL FIND:

#1 Activities BUNDLE For Lesson-Match Activities (shown right)

#2 “Strength of Youth” lesson (below or here)

#3 Mutual Night ACTIVITIES (shown below)

BUNDLE Includes:

1. Post-and-Present Friend-or-Foe? slap or flip game

ACTIVITIES:
2. Love at Home spin-the-bottle
3. Jewels in My Crown service list
4. I will be a friend to extended family (postcard & friendship checklist)

LESSON LIFESAVER Lessons and Activities

Love God, love your neighbor.

Matthew 22:37–40

To help you make good choices, God gives commandments. He does this because He loves you. And the best reason to obey God’s commandments is because you love Him. Love is at the heart of God’s commandments.

Eternal Truths

God loves you. He is your Father. His perfect love can inspire you to love Him. When your love for Heavenly Father is the most important influence in your life, many decisions become easier.

The two greatest of all commandments are to love God and love your neighbor. And who is your neighbor? Everyone! Everything else taught in the scriptures and by the prophets is connected to these two commandments.

All people are your brothers and sisters—including, of course, people who are different from you or disagree with you. Heavenly Father wants His children to love each other. When you serve His children, you are serving Him.

POST-AND-PRESENT. FRIEND-OR-FOE? Slap/flip game. Youth learn the difference between being a FRIEND and a FOE. A FRIEND is patient, cheerful, nice, and helpful. A FOE is like an enemy: impatient, not kind, grouchy, and uncaring. SEE MORE . . .

YOUTH GOAL PLANNER. SERVICE & TALENT SHOW planner/journal. Youth will love this to explore their talents: The way they treat others and the things they do. Then draw themselves doing the service as a picture/journal. They might write next to a heart “Be kind,” or next to a smiley face“Shine the mirrors.” SEE MORE . . .

Invitations

Show love for God by keeping His commandments. For example, by keeping the Sabbath day holy, including faithfully preparing for and partaking of the sacrament, you show God that you are willing to dedicate one day a week to Him. As you fast and pay tithes and offerings, you show God that His work is more important to you than material things. When you use the names of God and Christ with reverence, never in a vain or casual way, you show you are grateful for all They have done for you.

Treat everyone as a child of God. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you can lead out in treating people of all races, religions, and any other groups with love and respect—especially those who are sometimes victims of hurtful words and actions. Reach out to those who may feel lonely, isolated, or helpless. Help them feel Heavenly Father’s love through you. Share with them the blessings He has given you, and invite them to follow Jesus Christ.

Make sure your language reflects your love of God and others—whether you’re communicating in person or virtually. Say things that uplift—nothing that might be divisive, hurtful, or offensive, even as a joke. Your words can be powerful. Let them be powerful for good.

Show love to your family. Loving all of God’s children starts at home. Do your part to make your home a place where everyone can feel the Savior’s love.

YOUTH GOAL/LESSON ACTIVITY. SABBATH DAY PLANNER Saturday Preparations & Sunday Activities. Youth can prepare and truly measure their Sabbath activities with this “ruled” planner by asking “Is it doing good to others?” “Is it spiritually uplifting?” They can ask before writing their Sunday plans, “Would Jesus do these activities on the Sabbath?” SEE MORE . . .

YOUTH GOAL ACTIVITY. LOVE AT HOME spin-the-bottle. Youth can think ahead about how they might show love to their family in case this or that happens. Play spin-the-bottle to draw situation wordstrips then tell how to show LOVE in that situation. For example, “Your best friend comes over. Your mother asks you to take out the garbage, clean up your mess, and straighten your room.” SEE MORE . . .

Promised Blessings

Your relationship with God will deepen as you express your love by obeying His commandments and keeping your covenants with Him.

Your relationship with others will deepen as you express your love through Christlike service. You will find joy in making the world a more loving place.

YOUTH GOAL ACTIVITY. JEWELS IN MY CROWN Service List. Youth can give up their time, talents, and means to build up the kingdom of God, thus earning their crowning glory and blessings. List ways. SEE MORE . . .

Plan on SERVING SENIORS Queen for a Day! King for a Day! with Once upon a Time Senior Spotlight and Good Old Days Bingo – SEE MORE . . .
Also see GRAMMY Award Night* below (Mutual Night)

GRAMMY AWARD NIGHT: Have the youth create a potluck dinner for a grandmother or grandfather. Have them spotlight the grandparent and award them with a Grammy Award cookie or a homemade certificate. The cookie could be a graham cracker to write “Grammy Award” with frosting in a tube. If grandparents are not close by, they could invite a senior who lives nearby. You could create an ice cream bar and make round graham-cracker cookies or other cookies to fill with ice cream.

“RELTIVE”-LY FUN NIGHT: Create a fun night for youth to bring one of their favorite relatives they are close to. Take time to introduce the relative and allow them to share with the group special moments.

ORGANIZE FAMILY GREETING CARDS: Create greeting card storage pockets that youth can store their greeting cards months ahead to send to relatives. They can contact relatives to learn of their birth-day dates and make homemade cards to send.
To Create 12 Pockets (and label each with the month January – December): Cut an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper (cardstock) in thirds. Glue the bottom and sides of the 1/3 sheet of paper to an 8 1/2″ x 11″ inch sheet of cardstock paper (only gluing the sides and bottom, leaving the top open. Three-hole punch pockets to place in a looseleaf binder. Youth can use 3″ x 5″ cards to place inside pockets to remind them of who they want to send cards for holidays, birthdays, etc. This is a great place to put “thank you” cards and “get well” cards ready to send. They also may want to have a special pocket for these addresses, stamps, and supplies to make greeting cards. Maybe get together as a group to make these ahead, sharing ideas.

These Mutual Night Activities were written by Fern Law, a Young Women leader of six years – these are her experiences with the YOUTH. Collect them all; there are over 200 in this series.

YOUTH GOAL ACTIVITY. EXTENDED FAMILY CLOSENESS: Be a Friend checklist and postcard. Youth can send this “You’re a STAR of the family!” postcard to an extended family member with a note of admiration and friendship. Then, use the FAMILY CLOSENESS CHECKLIST for ideas to gather that family member closer. SEE MORE . . .