October 2012 Week 4 Sharing Time: I can go to the temple to receive ordinances for my ancestors when I am older.

This week we are going to be discussing doing work for our ancestors. When I first read this sharing time, I'll be honest, my first thought was, "Thank goodness I don't have to do that one!" Because it just seems so deep I wouldn't want to get anyone confused or leave anyone with any weird impressions. I've mentioned before that we do not separate for senior and junior primary, so this makes it even more difficult. Well, long story short, I am doing sharing time this week. I thought because we had practices coming up for the program I was off the hook, but I was wrong. But, this just means I have to come up with something REALLY great this week. I know this post is long, but please keep in mind there are some great links at the bottom to talks I've found while researching. You may not want to include it but it could be a good resource to prepare spiritually. Also, I have an idea for treats at the bottom too. Annnnd without further ado, here it is.

I am going to start off by asking what everyone is going to be for Halloween. (I know this doesn't seem related, but bear with me. They're going to want to talk about it, trust me.) What I'm listening for is someone to be someone who would not have been able to have been introduced to the gospel when they were alive. Your listening for people that actually existed. So you're listening for a princess (assuming it's an old castle and horse kind of princess), an Indian, an Egyptian, a pirate, etc. If you don't get any of these I would be you will have a little girl be Cinderella, Snow White, etc. You could easily say that people who lived in the time when that story took place would not have had the opportunity to learn about the gospel. You could emphasize this further by saying this is however many years after Captain Moroni buried the plates, but this many years before Joseph Smith received them. They may have learned about Jesus but they would not have learned all of the things that we know about the gospel and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I want to start off by doing this because you're going to have them all want to talk about Halloween anyways, this will get it out of their system, and keep you on topic.  

From there, I will ask them if it is fair that they didn't get to learn all the things you get to learn?  After they acknowledge it isn't fair we can talk about how they will have an opportunity to learn about the gospel after they die. A few months back they should have gone over the plan of salvation (I know we did, I didn't teach it but I do remember them doing it), so this shouldn't be a foreign idea. If it is you could always do a light recap on it. Keep it to one or two minutes.

The next thing I will do is ask them, "If someone who is taught in Spirit Prison decides they believe in the gospel and want to live with Heavenly Father, do they  still need to be baptized?" When they say yes you can say, "How will they be baptized then?" The older kids I bet will know this, the younger ones may not. John 3:5 is a great scripture to emphasize the importance of baptism. This applies to the living and those who have passed on. This is when you get into the subject of them getting to help with this. Hold up a picture of the temple and tell them that when they are 12, if they have been worthy, they will get to go to the Temple and be baptized for someone. You may want to gage their reactions and further explain that we do not actually baptize dead people, we are baptized FOR them. Tell them that now the person they are being baptized for will have to opportunity to accept the baptism or reject it. 

Then I will ask, "what about all the other things we do in the temple?" I will then tell the children that we have the opportunity to do something really great for them. We can help them with these special ordinances in the temple. That is why it is so special to go through the temple and to do service for them.

My great grandma died when my grandma was a young teenager. She had to step into a mother like role when this happened. She helped my great grandpa to raise all of her siblings. Soon after she got married to my grandpa, my great grandfather died. My grandma and her family were not members of the church. My grandma discovered the church through my grandpa. A few years afterward my great grandparents were able to be sealed together for eternity. This is a blessing to my family to know that my death did not separate them. They are able to be together forever, even though they didn't know that was a possibility while they were alive.

I think it's important to get the kids excited to do baptisms for their own family members when they are old enough. Even if the work goes back far, it probably doesn't go back all the way. If you really didn't feel like you were able to do work for your own family, there are tons of names submitted to the temple. You can do those and help someone else get work done for their family.

I really liked the coloring activity idea for this week of drawing themselves on one side of a piece of paper, and an ancestor on the other. They could even just make up what the ancestor would look like. I made a coloring page if you didn't want to have them do it free hand. You can print it from here.

Also, I know this is the week before Halloween, so you may want to do treats. I had a fun idea for that too. Make sugar cookies, and use a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Frost like usual, or decorate them. Super cute and it would use your gingerbread man cookie cutters you normally only use once a year (or if your like me, you buy them and never use them, I'm so terrible with this).


I found this talk on genealogy and temple work from the October 2012 Ensign that may be good to read first to spiritually prepare. This isn't exactly on topic with what we're talking about, but I felt it was a good read to prepare myself mentally. Here is another one from Henry B. Erying that I though was really good also. I couldn't decide, so you can. :)


I want to close by bearing my testimony to anyone who may read this. I know that this can seem an odd or weird practice at first. I encourage anyone who feels this way to read about it from a church website, such as lds.org or mormon.org. I know that this practice is ordained of God. I know that this is a sacred responsibility of ours to care for our ancestors who have passed on. I want anyone who may read this to know that we believe the person must accept these ordinances for them. These are not forced on them, but are there as an option should they decide to use it. This practice is done out of love for those who have passed on.