^{Image attribution: Dolly Sods Twilight Trail, Nicolas Raymond. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.}

Method

My method for preparing lessons this year generally goes like this:

1) Read the scripture assignment, taking notes about any

• passages I want to be sure to cover

• questions I want to bring up in class

• activities I think of that would support the lesson

2) Read the corresponding sections in The Book of Mormon for the Least of These. This gives me plenty more ideas for how to cover particular sections of the text, or what kind of conversations I want to invite. Add those ideas into my notes. Ideas below marked with an asterisk (*) were all ideas from this book.

3) Read through the Come Follow Me lesson plan. Usually I have a pretty good idea of how I want my lesson to go by this point. I use the resources on the church’s website to fill in any gaps.

4) Find an appropriate quote by a woman to include in the lesson. Lessons and conference talks rarely quote female leaders. I want to normalize sharing the power and authority of their words in my class.

Lesson

Attention Activity:

Ask “What would you do if you became really rich?”

Lesson:

We’re covering four books today: Enos, Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon.

• Show this picture from the New Era or print out copies of this page from one of the church’s manuals. Discuss the structure of the Book of Mormon.

• The book Words of Mormon talks about how Mormon abridged the records up to the reign of king Benjamin, but then also included the plates from 1 Nephi through Omni.

Enos

• What happens in the book of Enos?

  • Enos goes hunting but ends up praying all day and night.

  • He prays

    • for a remission of his sins (v.4),

    • for the welfare of the Nephites (v.9),

    • and for the Lamanites (v. 11).

  • Enos sought a covenant from God that if the Nephites were destroyed but the Lamanites lived, then a record of the Nephites would be preserved to teach the Lamanites (v. 13).

• What parts stood out to you?

  • Loving your enemies enough to want them to be preserved and learn from your record is not easy!

  • v. 16-18 Enos asks for the covenant with God*, God didn’t tell him “this is what you should want”

  • v. 20 Seems similar to how Lehi’s family lived in the wilderness…* Enos didn’t have to see the Lamanites perfectly to still want them to be able to connect with the Nephite’s story.

• Is there something that you have done that has helped you to make your prayers more meaningful?

• How can you influence your family in positive ways?

• Watch “Home and Family—Through Small Things” (video), Gospel Library.

• Enos was worried about his people and their way of life being destroyed. So were his fathers (v. 18). He was concerned about genocide, which is “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” Enos says the Lamanites swore to “destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers.” (v. 14)

Jarom

• What happens in the book of Jarom? If the class struggles with this, divide them into three groups to read 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15.

  • Doesn’t write new prophesys (v.2),

  • some Nephites have revelations, some are stiffnecked (v.4),

  • Nephites fight the Lamanites (v.7),

  • worried about being “destroyed from off the face of this land” i.e. genocide (v.10),

  • teach law of Moses (v.5, 11)

• Read v. 8-9 together. Nephites get rich → they make tools and weapons → think they are righteous because they hold back Lamanites

  • How does this compare to what you would do if you were rich?

  • How does this compare to what rich nations do today?

• They were taught the law of Moses. Were they living the law? (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.)

• What is the higher law that Jesus taught later on? (Turn the other cheek, walk the second mile, give cloak and coat, love enemies. Read Matthew 5:38-44)

• What might their actions have been like if they knew Jesus’ teachings?

Omni

• v.1-2 not only righteous people can write scripture!* Omni says he is wicked, but still writes a few verses that have been canonized as scripture.

• plates passed from Omni → his son Amaron → his brother Chemish → his son Abinadom → his son Amaleki → king Benjamin

• Nephites flee from land of Nephi to land of Zarahemla, Mosiah is the king.

• Read v. 14-19. The Nephites:

  • lived in the land of Zarahemla,

  • taught the people of Zarahemla their language,

  • taught the people of Zarahemla their religion,

  • the Nephite King Mosiah ruled over the people of Zarahemla.

    • It seems like there was a peaceful transition of power. In the scriptures it sounds like everything was super good for the people of Zarahemla, but the Nephites were the ones who wrote the scriptures, so we really don’t know what the people of Zarahemla thought about all this.

    • What do you think the leaders of the people of Zarahemla might have felt?

    • There is a word for “the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.” Does anyone know what that word is? Colonization*. What are some other examples of colonization?

    • Nephites left the land of Nephi because they were concerned about losing their traditions and didn’t want to be ruled over by the Lamanites, but then they go and change the traditions and rule over of the people of Zarahemla.

    • Jesus later taught “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31

Encourage your class to think about others. We can think about the ways we use time and resources. We can be answers to prayers. We can seek guidance from God.

“God knows the needs of His children, and He often works through us, prompting us to help one another. When we act on such promptings, we tread on holy ground, for we are allowed the opportunity to serve as an agent of God in answering a prayer.”

Kathleen H. Hughes, First Counselor, Relief Society General Presidency
“What Greater Goodness Can We Know: Christlike Friends,” April 2005 General Conference

“Your prayer can take many forms. It can be sung in a hymn, or whispered, or even thought. It can be as short as one word—’help!’—or it could be as long as Enos’s prayer that lasted all night and all day.

“The important thing to remember is to pray often, talk to Heavenly Father, seek his counsel so that he can guide you. When you draw near to Heavenly Father in prayer, he will draw near to you. You need never feel alone again.”

Dwan J. Young, Primary General President
“Draw Near to Him in Prayer,” October 1985 General Conference

* Salleh, F., & Hemming, M. O. (2020). The Book of Mormon: For the Least of These. BCC Press.