Approaching that milestone soon at our house.

As usual, your comments are welcome.

~~Matia Bryson

This is my new favorite video from MormonMessages. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says, “May I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given this responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you.”

Your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

~~Matia Bryson

Recently I was asked to teach a Relief Society class about studying the scriptures. In preparing for that class I discovered a free e-book about studying the scriptures. The book is Please Pass the Scriptures by John Hilton III and can be downloaded from http://deseretbook.com/free. I must admit that in recent years my scripture study has been only scripture reading and I have not been edified with mere reading as well as I could have been. Now I am enthusiastic about keeping my scripture journal, and I look forward to getting up in the morning and studying my scriptures. I am getting more out of my reading and study of the scriptures.

Your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

Here are some of the activities they list:

Conference Notebook

This is for children that can write, and would work well for youth and adults too. There are several pages with a very nice photo of each member of the First Presidency and Twelve with space to write notes of what they talked about. It also suggests activities for before, during and after conference. 12 pages.

Conference Squares

Pass out a “Conference Squares” sheet to each member of your family and use markers such as beans or candy to mark a square when a speaker mentions the subject in the square. (This is a bingo-like game.) Topics include things like the First Vision, prayer, Heavenly Father, scriptures, baptism, the Word of Wisdom and more. There are seven unique sheets.

Conference Coloring

A “color-by-numbers” page that is an illustration of a pair of missionaries with numbers in each area to color. As you listen to conference and hear certain color-coded topics mentioned, you color those areas on your sheet. 1 page.

There are also links to two online games. One is a “Prophets and Apostles” matching game where you match the pictures of the current First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve members. It would be a good exercise for learning their faces and names. The second game is played in a similar manner but with the pictures of all the previous Presidents of the Church.

*New* General Conference Activities for Children on LDS.org

As always, your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

~~Matia Bryson

The First Article of Faith
We believe in God, the Eternal Father - #122a

The Second Article of Faith
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins - #122b

The Third Article of Faith
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ - #123

The Fourth Article of Faith
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: - #124

The Fifth Article of Faith
We believe that a man must be called of God - #125

The Sixth Article of Faith
We believe in the same organization - #126a

The Seventh Article of Faith
We believe in the gift of tongues - #126b

The Eighth Article of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the word of God - #127

The Ninth Article of Faith
We believe all that God has revealed - #128a

The Tenth Article of Faith
We believe in the literal gathering of Israel - #128b

The Eleventh Article of Faith
We claim the priv’lege of worshiping Almighty God - #130

The Twelfth Article of Faith
We believe in being subject to kings - #131

The Thirteenth Article of Faith
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent - #132

Of course, if you just want to see the text for all the articles in one place you can find The Thirteen Articles of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here.

One of my daughters is eager to learn her Articles of Faith since she learned in Primary today that there will be an ice cream party reward for the children who have learned their Articles. The party will be an activity day in August and for each Article of Faith each child learns they will be rewarded with one ice cream topping of their choice. The teachers are keeping track of each child’s progress in class.

My first thought was “I can’t think of thirteen different ice cream toppings I would want all on one sundae. All I need to be in sundae heaven is hot fudge, whipped cream, a few cherries and salty peanuts. Lots of salty peanuts and lots of hot fudge. In that case I need about five articles worth of peanuts and five articles worth of hot fudge. The whipped cream and the cherries each count for an article. Ok, the thirteen article of faith could be represented by chocolate chips.” So what do you want on your Articles of Faith ice cream sundae?

As always, your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

~~Matia Bryson

On June 27th, it will be the 165th anniversary of the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. I hope my readers will enjoy this inspirational video. Praise to the Man.

Your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

~~Matia Bryson

Did you know that some of the artwork in the English Liahona is different than the artwork in the Friend? Even though many of the items are the same, the Liahona contains things that are not available in the Friend. The original name was Tambuli but lds.org has listed the old magazine under the Liahona Index.

The first one I found was a Missionary board game “I Want to be a Missionary Now” in Nov 1977.
Also, a group of very nice Easter Figures entitled “He is Risen” Liahona, April 1978. And Christmas figures: Liahona, December 1986. The woman scripture figure has more exotic eyes that the Friend original: Liahona, April 1987.

Anyway, I just thought I would let you know as some of these things are nice. It is, however, a bit time consuming to go through each issue to see what is available. Thanks, Cecelia

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Hello Cecelia,

I never realized that the artwork in the English Liahona was different. It makes me wonder if some of the artwork for other languages could be different, also. Thanks for the heads up.

~~Matia

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Hi Matia,

My daughter was a foreign exchange student in Germany twice in the 1990s. She brought home several issues of the Church magazine in German. Most of the pictures seemed to be the same ones that were in some of the English magazines but I did notice a couple of activities for kids in one or two of the magazines. They had the German words imbedded instead of the English. As I could not read German, I did not continue to look.

Several years ago, I got a copy of the English Liahona from Church Distribution by mistake. When I looked at it, I was impressed (a bit of each magazine is included (Ensign, New Era, and Friend). So one time when I was searching for a subject at lds.org under magazines, a hit came up with only the Liahona and no Friend link. I clicked on that link and realized I had not seen that artwork or lesson before even though I was in Primary for 20 years. So one day, I searched on flannel board and got a hit on the “He is Risen” set that is only in the Liahona. I went directly to the Liahona and went through one of the years in the 1980s and saw that these magazines had additional artwork for my lessons if I needed them.

The year that we had the Primary theme “I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints”, I was the Primary Choister and needed some visuals to teach that song. (This was before the January issue came out that contained the visuals I needed.) I searched and found that the Friend had a puzzle that turns into a very simple church with each part representing a different aspect. It has simple shapes and you can just make it yourself on colored paper with a word processor. Recently while looking through one of the Liahona links, I found that the Liahona - several months later - had a shaded, detailed Church that would make great flannel board pieces ( I am going to print them out with lighter shading and then use colored pencil to color them). (I make some for my daughter to use with my grand-daughter).

Also, if you look at the Liahona under

“The Savior’s Love,” Jul 1983, C-5
It contains most of the artwork that is in the Friend article “Continue in My Love” but it is a much better resolution. It is missing one of the “scenes” though. So it seems some of the art was “improved scans” from the Friend in the later issue of the Liahona.
Anyway, if someone can only afford one magazine for their home, the English Liahona would be great.

Best regards, Cecelia

President Uchtdorf reminds us of the creative yearnings we have all had born within us.

It reminded me of how even little children will try to create: building with blocks, playing in sand, or coloring, painting, cutting and pasting with paper.

“Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you.” I was visiting in Primary and I heard a child say about her paper she was coloring, “it’s ruined.” I looked at it, and I could not guess what she thought was wrong with it. I said to her, “it is fine; do the best you can with it.” I think we all need a little more encouragement and a little less negativity about our efforts. We are, each of us, our own harshest critics.

I close with this quote from President Uchtdorf: “The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.”

Your comments are welcome below. Click on “Comments” to enter a comment.

~~Matia Bryson

The choices of coloring pages for this activity are now “Missionaries,” “Temple,” “Jesus Christ,” “Prophet” (President Thomas S. Monson) and “Family.”

You can see a gallery of the LDS Online Coloring Pictures here. Click on the pictures to go into the activity.

An online coloring activity is webpage where you have a choice of colors in a palette and an uncolored illustration. You (or your child) clicks on a color then points to an area in the picture and clicks on it. The area fills with the color you selected. If you have never done one of these before, try it. It’s fun!

By the way, I am also working to update my Primary manual coloring pages index with the new coloring pages in the new Nursery manual “Behold Your Little Ones.” I think it should be finished in a couple weeks.

Your comments are welcome below.

~~Matia Bryson

“Apostles-Family” has the topics:
Apostles (1 coloring page)
Baptism (2)
Christmas (3)
Faith (1)
Family (5)

“Gratitude-Jesus Christ” has the topics:
Gratitude (1)
Heavenly Father (1)
Holy Ghost (2)
Jesus Christ (14)

“Prophets-Restoration” has the topics:
Prophets (6)
Repentance (1)
Restoration (2)

“Sacrament-Word of Wisdom” has the topics:
Sacrament (3)
Scriptures (3)
Service (1)
Spring (1)
Temples (2)
Testimony (1)
Word of Wisdom (1)

Enjoy, and as always, your comments are welcome.

~~Matia Bryson