FHE: Missionaries

Prayer:

Song: "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" from the Primary Children's Songbook page 169. Click the link to sing along.

Picture & Scripture: Hold up a picture of Jesus Christ. Tell your children that there are people on the earth who don't know about Jesus Christ. They have never heard of Him. Jesus Christ loves all people on the earth. He wants everyone to know about his true church. That's why Heavenly Father calls missionaries ... to teach other people in the world about Jesus Christ and His church. Jesus said, "And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." (D&C 133:37)

World Map Picture: Here is a picture of the world. Missionaries can be called to serve in almost any part of the world. It makes Heavenly Father and Jesus happy when missionaries are willing to teach others about Jesus and His church. Talk about if you or your spouse served a mission and show your children where on the map, pictures of your mission, and add any other details you'd like (missionary ages, who can go on missions - boys, girls, grandmas or grandpas, etc.) 

Mission Call Game: Explain that missionaries don't get to choose where they serve. They get a special letter in the mail that tells them where they will go on their mission. They wear special missionary badges (these are perfect! from a Year of FHE), so that everyone knows that they are a missionary of Jesus Christ. Show your child a picture of a missionary.

• Have your child dress as a missionary - white shirt and missionary badge. We just taped the missionary badges to our shirts. 
• Print a second copy of the world map (use the map above or print this toddler friendly map) and cut out six areas - North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
• Prepare six envelopes with "mission calls" (each containing one area of the map) and put them in the mailbox.
• Have your child choose an envelope from the mailbox, open it and match it to the world map. 
• Role Play. Have your child pretend to be a missionary. Have him/her knock on the front door, pretending to be in the area your child drew his/her missionary call. Have your child explain who they are and pass a sibling or parent a picture of Jesus and a Book of Mormon. 

(picture to come)

Other Missionary Activities: Choose one of the following ideas below:

• Write a Missionary: Choose a missionary you know and write them a letter. Have your children color or paint them a picture (click the link to print a missionary picture, pictured below).

• Color "I Can Be a Missionary" below (from LDS.org) and insert a picture of your child's face. Hang it on the fridge as a reminder of your lesson during the week.

Testimony: