Hold please

Some lessons are that good!
 

The accident

Ever have those moments when you’re teaching a lesson and suddenly you get that overwhelming feeling that what you’re teaching is true?
 

Messages in context

The people were mostly nice to us on my mission. A few snide remarks were thrown at us, but never any garbage. But the honeybucket truck did park across the street from our apartment, so there's that.
 

Level of discourse

Have you noticed that discussions don't seem to go off the rails nearly as much as they did in the days before Come, Follow Me? 

My opinion is that using Come, Follow Me has elevated the level of discussion. We're getting a lot more meat and meaning with our lessons — which means nobody has to bring up stuff like ancient American astronauts or Adam's belly button to make the conversation interesting!
 

Primary prep

A good teacher knows how to make adjustments on the fly. 
 

Teaching by the spirit

Are you ready? Five straight weeks of Isaiah in Come, Follow Me! 

When I taught Sunday school, I both dreaded and looked forward to teaching Isaiah. Dreaded because people either (a) freak out, or (b) figure they know it all. I looked forward to it because it's all kinds of cool and approachable on so many levels.

One thing I like is how he often writes in poetic form and repeats ideas. For example in Isa. 1:18 "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow" followed by "though they are red as crimson, they shall become like wool." It says the same thing, just in a different way. If you don't get it in one verse, don't panic! If you read the next verse or two, he'll probably say the same thing.

OK, you came here for the cartoon, not the Sunday school lesson. But if your family is like ours, we're getting way more out of our scripture study this time around than we did before Come, Follow Me. Enjoy these lessons — it'll be fun!
 

The music of the spoken word

I can't decide if this is about promoting doctrinally questionable teachings or inadvertently using the wrong verb. 

You've got to watch your step

Missionaries learn all kinds of tricks to deal with, um, interesting dinner appointments. 
 

...and out the other

I'll leave it up to you to decide what kind of lesson it was: church, school, webinar.
 

Light the World: Sharing Light

A couple of days ago I looked at an illustration of the Nativity and noticed that the shape of the beam of light emanating from the star. As it shone down on the manger in this particular depiction, the light formed the shape of a Christmas tree. I'd never thought of that concept before. Then I noticed in the illustration that the manger formed the base of the tree — the place where we put our gifts. 

Maybe that's something that everyone knows, but I just got it. And now I'm sharing it with you.

It's that icon in the lower left

For me it's kind of the opposite. I have to stop myself from telling people to be reverent during staff meetings!

A light message

Some of our local sister missionaries livestreamed a lesson in which they used balloons to teach a series of object lessons. At first they were serious, but they got progressively sillier as the lesson went on. It was entertaining, and there was a good spirit in what they did.

The apartment sure was a mess when they were done, though!

Every creature

I'm convinced that practically every missionary has a cat story. My experience was a lot like this one — I was so covered in cat leftovers that I had to go home and shower and change after our lesson.

D&C 76:34

It's already becoming a challenge to avoid spoilers for Endgame.  I sure hope Wonder Woman comes back!

You think your teacher is boring...!

My guess is that this is the week that a lot of people figure out just how easy it was to sit in Gospel Doctrine and be fed a lesson every week.

Come, Follow Me will encourage a spirit of learning and of gospel study in the home. There are a ton of resources available to make it more exciting and engaging, and take our study of the Savior to a deeper level.

Shameless Plug
If you want to further enhance your gospel enjoyment, there's an additional new resource — Volume 1 of Sis. Kerry Jo's Mission Blog: I Miss Wearing My Dork Dot is now available for purchase on Amazon! It's approaching the top half-million best sellers (currently at 515,255 and rising fast!). Order your copy today — and look for more to come!

Sketchbook: Shine on!

Is your Sunday school class in Isaiah too? A lot of people think it's challenging to study Isaiah, how his writings can be understood on multiple levels across multiple dispensations.

It's even more challenging when you're a cartoonist, not only trying to understand what he's saying, but fighting that niggling part of your brain that says, "Yeah, but how can I make a joke out of this?" 

Support your mother

It's not a Mother's Day cartoon (although I have many of those), but I think this shows the importance of loving and supporting one another through all of our trials. Just like a mom would do.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms — and to anyone who had a mom. You're awesome!

There's something about Kerry Jo

Versatility

It takes a special skill to work pop culture references into a spiritual discussion.

In the beginning was the text

Man may not, but there are plenty of girls who do!