Mormon Jeopardy - Eden and the Plan

Click here for a game of Mormon Jeopardy 
- Eden and the Plan!

Game is a google spreadsheet and can be printed.

Enjoy!

Mormon Jeopardy - Restoration of the Church

Click here for a game of Mormon Jeopardy - Restoration of the Church!

Game is a google spreadsheet and can be printed.

Enjoy!

We Need a Little Christmas

I'm thinking about Christmas music. I am normally a stickler for absolutely no Christmas until after Thanksgiving. One of my favorite sayings is 'one holiday at a time'. But today, with the rain and depression I decided I needed "a little Christmas, right this very minute!" 

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. People tend to be a little nicer to each other. The focus becomes one of giving instead of getting. People think about serving one another. And most of the music is so cheery and bright. I am so grateful for this time of year and the joy it brings. 

 
(Nativity my Mom brought back from her Italy trip.) 

The greatest gift we can get for Christmas is the joy that only Jesus Christ can give. His gift to all the world in his willingness to come to this earth and suffer and die to atone for our sins is far better than any wrapped present we will ever receive. When you see a nativity scene I hope you take a moment to pay respects to the baby in the manger who would dedicate his life and eventually give it for all humanity to pay a debt we could not pay ourselves. Praise be to God! 

Women of the Scriptures - Lydia

Women of the Scriptures - Lydia

Favorite pastime:  Spreading the Good News that Paul, Silas and Luke recently brought to our area when they formed a Church here in Phillippi.

Favorite place to eat:  In the words of someone who would come much after my own time, “There is no place like home”.

Favorite food:  Living in a trade city like Phillippi we have grand markets with all of the fruits, vegetables and spices one could possibly ever want.  It is a big difference from our garden in Thyatira.

Education:  I come from a wealthy family and was very well educated.  I married well and secured a position in the Dyer’s Guild in Thyatira learning to make the famous purple dye.  I later moved to Phillippi to become a tradeswoman, selling the dye in this lively trade market between Asia and Europe.

Favorite thing about where I live:  Phillippi is a bustling city with many travelers coming through to trade goods.  That is why some of us women go to the bank of the Gangites River to pray on the Sabbath, it is the only place we can find some peace and quiet.  This is where we met Paul and Silas and where I opened my heart and accepted Jesus Christ.  (Acts 16:14)

Favorite thing to do with my family:  We were all baptized together and we are zealous in spreading the Gospel.  We support the Church any way that we are able.  (Acts 16:15)

Children:  (The Scriptures say nothing of children and it is speculated that Lydia was a widow with older children living in her household.  Cameos: The Women of the New Testament)

Where did you grow up:  I grew up in Thyatira, a city in the district of Lydia (where I received my name) in Asia Minor. 

Hobbies:  Assisting in the building of the Church, selling purple dye (a symbol of my high status in the community) and hosting Church leaders in my home.

Anything else interesting about you:  I am the first European convert mentioned in the New Testament.  My home is a safe place for all Christians and is often used as a Meeting House.  My story is in Acts 16:14-40.

Women of the Scriptures - Esther

      Women of the Scriptures - Esther

Favorite pastime:  Being the wife of the King I am very busy in the palace, but I most enjoy writing letters to my cousin Mordecai and my people.

Favorite place to eat:  There is no place finer than the palace.  The banquets are quite extravagant.  It is often my responsibility to plan them. 

Favorite food:  We have every food known to our Kingdom here but I am quite fond of the fruits and vegetables that we grow in our own garden.

Education:  My parents died when I was young and I was brought up and educated by my older cousin, Mordecai, who was esteemed in the world of Jewish and cultural knowledge and passed that knowledge on to me.

Favorite thing about where I live:  There is so much variety here at the palace.  Many foreign people and unusual creatures pass through to pay homage to the King on their way to other lands and pay tribute to the King by giving all sorts of strange and exotic gifts.

Favorite thing to do with my family:  Celebrate Purim, the commemoration of the salvation of the Jews from the evil plot of Haman.  At the risk of my own life I approached my husband, the King, to reveal Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jews.  (Esther 7)

Children:  I have a son named Darius who will succeed as King.

Where did you grow up:  In the city of Shushan near the palace of the King.

Hobbies:  Preparing banquets, spending time with my family, and reading.

Anything else interesting about you:  I am the wife of King Ahasuerus, chosen by the King for my beauty to replace Vashti, the former Queen, who was dethroned after refusing to come unto the King when he called.  After a lengthy purification process that lasted over a year I was presented to the King with a number of other maidens and was chosen by the King to be his Queen.  I did not reveal that I was a Jew until much later when it was necessary to save my people.  (Esther 2)

Women of the Scriptures - Zipporah

Women of the Scriptures - Zipporah

Favorite pastime:  We are all helping to gather material to build the Tabernacle.  I spend a lot of time preparing animal skins and goat hair for the use of the builders.  (Exodus 25:3-8)

Favorite place to eat:  We never stay in one place for very long.  I look forward to the day when we reach the promised land that is flowing with milk and honey.  (Exodus 13:5)

Favorite food:  I miss the abundance of lamb that we had when we were in Midian, I used to like Manna and Quail but I’ve had my fill of it lately.  (Exodus 16)

Education:  I was educated by my Father, Jethro, a high priest of Midian.  He was a great leader and even instructed Moses a time or two.  The Melchizedek Priesthood was given to Moses by my Father. (D&C 87) 

Favorite thing about where I live:  No matter where we go the Lord rains Manna and Quail down upon us so that we have food to eat and often produces water from the rocks or sweetens bitter water with special branches.

Favorite thing to do with my family:  With Moses being the head Prophet of God and leader of all His people I spend very little time with him as he is always handling some quarrel or lack of faith of the Israelites.

Children:  My two sons are Gershom and Eliezer.  (Exodus 18:3-4)

Where did you grow up: Midian.  That was where I met Moses when he wandered in to Midian after fleeing Pharaoh.  He saved us from some jerk shepherds who chased my sisters and I away from the well where we were drawing water for our family, but Moses stood up to the shepherds and then helped us draw water.  My Father invited Moses to stay with us and gave his blessing for Moses to marry me.

Hobbies:  I have spent a great deal of time learning the customs of my husband’s people and teaching them to my children.  Much of the care of my children is left to me because Moses is so busy judging the people.  However, thanks to my Father, Moses is learning to delegate.  (Exodus 18)

Anything else interesting about you:  I circumcised my first born son by my own hand when the Lord came to reprimand Moses because he had not followed the Abrahamic Covenant by having the boy circumcised. 

Women of the Scriptures - Sarai/Sarah

Women of the Scriptures – Sarai/Sarah

Not really a picture of Sarah but possibly similar to what she would have looked like

Favorite pastime:  Nothing, in all my many years, has been greater than spending time with my son, Isaac.  I waited 90 years to have a child and I am not missing a moment to be with him, especially after Abraham took him up the mountain and almost sacrificed him.  (Genesis 22)

Favorite place to eat:  We eat best when we pass by a city and can trade for spices and honey.

Favorite food:  I make cakes with fine meal and we often eat them with milk and butter.

Education:  In Ur we were wealthy but wicked people and I was taught to pray, worship and sacrifice to idols.

Favorite thing about where I live:  We have traveled thousands of miles from my homeland of Ur to Haran, all around Canaan and even to Egypt.  I prefer the cities where we are often blessed with fine goods.

Favorite thing to do with my family:  This might sound odd but on several occasions when Abraham and I have entered a large city (Egypt and Gerar) he has insisted that we tell the King that I am his sister because he is afraid that the King will see my beauty and kill him so that he might make me his wife.  Since we were both born of the same Father this is not entirely a lie.  Both times we have done this God has protected us and we have been richly rewarded by the Kings in order for them to regain God’s favor.  (Genesis 12 & 20)

Children:  After many years of being barren and giving Hagar, my handmaiden, to Abraham so that he might have a son, God finally remembered his promise to me and I bore Isaac. (Genesis 21:2)  I even sent my maidservant, Hagar and her son Ishmael away for fear that Ishmael would harm my son (and I was a little bit jealous and regretful of my earlier hasty decision to allow Abraham to have Hagar to wife).  (Genesis 16 & 21)

Where did you grow up:  In Ur of the Chaldees, East of Canaan near Babylonia in Southern Mesopotamia.

Hobbies:  Baking, traveling (not sure if it’s a hobby but I have done it for so long that I have gotten very good at packing and repacking and learning to travel light!)

Anything else interesting about you:  I was born with the name Sarai.  However, with the new promises from God of being blessed with a son and becoming the ‘mother of nations’ came a new name.  I am now called Sarah.  (Genesis 17:15-16)