An 8 week countdown for families to the April 2020 General Conference.
President Russell M. Nelson invited us last General Conference and again at the beginning of this year to prepare for the April 2020 General Conference by studying more about the Restoration. He said, “The year 2020 will be designated as a bicentennial year. General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel. . . Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.”
This guide is designed for families in mind. Families with teens, families with Primary aged children, families with very young children, and families, like mine, who have all those ages.
This countdown is separated into eight topics: 1) apostasy/restoration, 2) First Vision, 3) Book of Mormon, 4) priesthood, 5) organization of the church, 6) temples, 7) Joseph Smith, 8) YOU and the ongoing restoration.
Each week will have a lesson introducing the topic and then a list of activities that can done on different days of the week. Children, especially younger children, learn best with short, frequent teaching moments. They will absorb more when you do a short lesson to introduce the doctrine with a variety of activities spread throughout the week to enhance learning.
We tried to keep this as simple as possible. Some links have activities that do require some prep work, but most will not. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. Our teaching of it should be too.
Please don’t feel like you need to do every single activity! This is just a resource with ideas and links to church websites to help you and your family. Each effort, no matter how small, is worth it and will make a difference.
Enjoy!
Download the file below.
Eight Week Restoration Countdown for Families
Each individual lesson has also been uploaded to the website. You can find them by clicking on the links.
1. The Apostasy and Restoration – February 9 – 15 Eight weeks until General Conference
2. The First Vision – February 16 – 22 Seven weeks until General Conference
3. The Book of Mormon – February 23 – 29 Six weeks until General Conference
4. The Restoration of the Priesthood – March 1 – 7 Five weeks until General Conference
5. The Organization of the Church – March 8 – 14 Four weeks until General Conference
6. Temples & Temple Work – March 15 – 21 Three weeks until General Conference
7. The Prophet Joseph – March 22 – 28 Two weeks until General Conference
8. YOU and the Ongoing Restoration – March 29 – April 3 One week until General Conference
Lis says
Thank you so much for putting this together.
Debbie Kidd says
Is there a way to add this as an icon to my iphone screen?
Laura McKee says
Yes! In the upper right-hand corner of your screen there is a download icon (box with an up arrow). Click it! Your choices are to email, message, or save the site. Scroll down the list and click to ADD TO YOUR HOME SCREEN. Then check your home screen—the shortcut will be there. Good luck! I love this iPhone feature 😉
Montserrat says
Mind blown! I didn’t know about that feature at all. Thanks for sharing!
Natalie Gifford says
You are amazing! Thank you! I’ve been all over the place trying to figure out how to best prepare and this wojo help focus my efforts so much! Thank you for sharing! Can I ask a question though? How do you prepare for this upcoming conference while still doing Come, Follow Me? Already I feel like we barely tap into all the amazing material for that so I’m struggling to know how to split our family study and my personal study time?
Becky says
So, my family usually does come follow me every morning. I plan to integrate this into a family home evening setting . I was thinking of even trying to get together with other families. That way you can divey out different items.
NANCY A DESJARDIN says
I’m looking at this on my phone, do not see the download icon you mentioned…
Laura McKee says
Sometimes, depending where you are at on an iPhone, you will find the Download button (empty square with up arrow) on the bottom Nav bar. Click it then scroll down when all options show until you see “Add to Home Screen”.
On a Samsung, you click on the three dots in upper right corner—then choose Add to home screen.
Jan Roldan says
Fantastic ideas!!!! Thank you for your dedication to the gospel and helping families learn to hold to the rod.
Kristi says
Thank you so much for these lessons. We have been doing them for Monday FHE lessons and they are great. We are doing the temple lesson tonight! I appreciate your work in compiling all the information, I am always able to find something that works for the varied ages in my home.
Montserrat says
It’s so good to hear that you are able to use these lessons!