How to make scripture mastery fun! And a recipe...

Exactly two girls regularly show up to seminary. They are intelligent, bright, sweet, sometimes sassy students and we have a wonderful time talking about the Book of Mormon together. However, only two students with the possibility of a few more popping in occasionally made teaching scripture mastery a challenge at the beginning. I grew up in Utah and had release time seminary; there were thirty kids in my seminary class. We played games that involved lots of people to help us memorize our scriptures.
I want to share a few things we have been doing, with a small group, that the girls really enjoy. I hope they help anyone who needs ideas, as well!
1. Scripture Chase--even if it's just the two of them, they are really competitive and love scripture chasing. Often, we end up having my husband, the students' mom, or my sweet newly-called assistant teacher participate, as well. I call out references, the subject line of the scripture from the SM bookmark, or start reading the verse. Once they've identified it, they race to open their own books and whoever can read the entire passage first gets the point.
2. Memory Game--this is really helpful to learn references and scripture topics and can be played with 2 players and up. I write the references on small cards and then portions of each passage on other cards, turn them all upside down on the table, and we go around flipping them over trying to make matches. If they're not familiar with the scripture and don't know if it is a match, I have them look up the reference and check. This is a great way for them to start learning where the scriptures are and what each SM reference is about.

3. Scrambled in an Envelope--I love this one. Once we've worked on a verse on the board (erasing words one at a time to memorize), I'll play this game to help push us over to a more memorized position on that scripture. I write out the scripture, and then cut out each word, and then put all the words mixed up inside an envelope. I make two envelopes. This morning, we had two teams: my husband and Sianneh worked on one envelope while my assistant teacher Munah and Siawale worked on the other one. They race against each other to see who can put the words in the correct order first, without using their scriptures. Once a team has completed assembling the scripture, the other team takes their scriptures and checks their work. This is highly effective; everyone had the scripture memorized by the end of the activity.

4. Treats--I don't ever say, "And whoever gets the most points, wins....a PRIZE!!" I feel like they wouldn't buy into the incentive to play and also don't consider a treat a prize. However, I am pleasantly surprised that simply getting points and winning really satisfies them. They are good sports and like to play games. So, treats make it sort of fun and special without being a reward. This morning, I made these adorable rice crispy treats that look like gold plates. I didn't have any left by the end of class; they loved them. (Which made me very happy because last week I made pumpkin spice bars and they didn't touch them, not even to try the taste! I think they were put off by the fact that I would put pumpkin in something meant to eat. That's fine, I ate them all myself.)

Do you want to make these cute treats?? They are super simple. I made the classic Rice Krispy Treats recipe. For those of you who aren't familiar:

3 TB butter, melted slowly in a large saucepan

Add a bag of big marshmallows, about 40 marshmallows

Once all the marshmallows are melted, stir in 6 cups of rice crispy cereal.

Spread it out in a greased 9x13 dish, allow it to cool completely before cutting. 

Once the treats are cooled, I made a chocolate icing:

1 TB cocoa powder

(almost) 1 TB water

1/2 TB oil

1/2 TB corn syrup

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

I cooked and stirred that mixture on the stovetop until my icing was smooth. I sort of add more or less water depending on the consistency I want. 

I let the icing cool, then spooned it into the corner of a small plastic sandwich baggie. The icing shouldn't be runny; if it is, put your bag in the fridge to let it cool down more. Then, I cut the tip of the corner off the bag, and squeezed the frosting out in three lines on one side of each rice crispy rectangle. Making a bit of a dot of frosting on the top before taking it over the edge of the treat made the frosting stick better, giving it an anchor. Also, the dot kind of made it look more like the binding rings for the gold plates. 

And, Voila! You have the cutest treats in the world. Stick them in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, overnight. And then let them sit for about at least hour before you serve to your class.  Have fun!!

If you plan it, they will come...won't they?

After a great first day of seminary, I was looking forward to day number two. I even told the alternate teacher that I would teach again, so that she only had to teach two days this week. Monday evening, I had rehearsal for A View From the Bridge, so I was home late. Thus, Tuesday morning, I woke up at 4 a.m., planned a fabulous lesson about how to study the scriptures, and rushed to the grimy community center our ward is renting for seminary class.
I dashed from my car, unlocked the door quickly, and slipped inside to get off the dark street. I flipped the light switches by the door; nothing. I set my bag down and used the light of my phone to scan the walls for another light switch; nothing. I started reaching up on my tip toes, shining the light along the old brick walls. I found a smelly kitchen and turned the lights on in that room, but ten minutes later my search for the main room's lights was still fruitless. I prayed. I searched. I prayed aloud. I wondered when students would show up; my phone showed about 6:10. Okay, no big deal, everyone is ten minutes late. It's the second day, it's fine. At least when Sister Zizer shows up, she'll know where the light switch is.
I sat down at the table and positioned myself to face the open door, where light from the street lamp outside weakly hovered, not quite illuminating anything but giving an idea of orientation by creating shadows. I spent a few minutes browsing Instagram, then checked the time: 6:28. I felt my throat tighten and could sense a self-pity creeping into my thoughts. I prayed for patience and then told myself, "You will be blessed for being here whether anyone comes or not. Do not get angry or make this about you, something good can still come of this."
I felt that half an hour was plenty of time to wait. I decided to call Sister Zizer, let her know I was leaving, ask her where the heck she was, the phone was ringing, it went to her voicemail--
And a car pulled up outside. I would have missed them had I left five minutes earlier. It was Sister Victoria and her two twin daughters, Sianneh and Siawale.
"Sorry we're late," they apologized, explaining that their alarm clock hadn't woken them that morning.
Between the four of us, we still couldn't find the light switch. So we dragged some chairs into the kitchen and had a short 20 minute lesson, accompanied by a lonesome, bothersome kitchen fly. I didn't expect them to be so willing when I suggested it, but Siawale joined in, "Hey, y'all don't mind meetin' in the kitchen, huh?"
The girls surprised me with insightful answers to my questions and full participation during the short lesson. At one point, I asked them if they had written anything in the scripture journals I had given them the day before.
Siawale, again, spoke first. She mentioned reading  the beginning of the Book of Mormon. "I thought about Nephi believing his father's visions and I thought that was so amazing," she shared. "I don't think I could have done that if our dad started talking about visions I would have said, 'You crazy, Dad.'"
I was grateful for their participation and for sharing their thoughts so willingly.
That day, I couldn't contact the other teacher, Sister Zizer, so I went ahead and prepared the next day's lesson, as well.
Wednesday morning, the twins and Sister Victoria beat me to the building. "Good morning!" I greeted them.
No one else came. It was just the four of us.
Sianneh gave the opening devotional. She had read about the vision of the Tree of Life and gave us this thought: "Even if we make it all the way to the tree, we can still fall away if we pay attention to the people in the world. We can't ever let go of the iron rod. Which means, if we focus on Jesus Christ and always have God and Jesus to be with us, we won't fall away. It's up to us." BAM. These girls knew way more than I had expected, based upon the other students I had previously met with at the church.
Their mom, Victoria, participated, as well. She commented about our personal responsibility to learn the gospel, and way others might make it seem unimportant, "Yesterday, I told these girls. On the first day, you have ten people show up, then on the second day, you're the only ones there. That doesn't mean you won't still get the blessings and the things you need by being there."
The rest of the week--Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--only the girls and their mother came. We had wonderful discussions and got to know each other well. On Friday, Nick came with me and we all ate German pancakes during the lesson about obedience. Sister Victoria shared her conversion story: she had been searching for the right church for 14 years before she fasted from 6 am to 6 pm every day for a month, in a desperate plea to God. Toward the end of the month, a friend called her and invited her to come to the LDS meetings that Sunday. She described feeling the Spirit, "It was a like a little child who has been away from home for a long long time," she said in her African accent. "And it was as if I had finally come home, that I was welcomed home at last."
 I have been incredibly touched by the power of this mother. Not only has her faith, patience and humility led her to the Gospel, she has dutifully learned it, learned it well and accurately, and then taught it to her children with consistency. She brings them to seminary and sits with them, participating and sharing on an equal level, before driving them to school and then going to work. She shows them what she believes, and lives it, and expects them to do what is right. AND IT WORKS. These girls not only know doctrines and principles that other students in the ward don't understand, they also understand why they are important.
Today, Sister Victoria sang "How Great Thou Art," a capella, in sacrament meeting. It was supposed to be a duet, but the other sister never showed up to church. She was nervous, humble, and beautiful.
I am certain this experience as a seminary teacher will teach me and bless me this year, in ways I can't imagine. But already, I have learned a great lesson about the power of parents. The best way to teach ethics, doctrine, truth, and Christlike attributes is to live it and learn it with your children. I hope I can be like this sweet convert mother and teach my children just as well.