Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 27 The Saints Are Expelled From Jackson County

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 27 THE SAINTS ARE EXPELLED FROM JACKSON COUNTY

CLASSROOM PREP

Write on the board the chorus from Hymn 44 "Beautiful Zion, Built Above"

"Zion, zion, lovely Zion;

Beautiful Zion;

Zion, city of our God!"

OPENING ACTIVITY

Baking soda and vinegar activity from the manual

or

Bring in a few different knots already tied with rope

(you can find some that are very intricate and beautiful)

Today we're going to be talking about how the Lord not only always keeps his promises, but how He is bound to keep them when we follow what He wants us to do.

We're going to hear a lot of stories today about how the early Saints encountered trials and struggles and had to endure to the end.

LESSON

There is a lot of material to this lesson! So draw as many things as you can.

Prophets in Book of Mormon prophesied that a holy city called Zion where everyone would be righteous, would be established on the American continent!

Have you heard that word before? Zion?

There are hymns that talk about Zion.

Do you know what it means? The pure in heart

The D&C describes Zion as a place of peace and safety for everyone, where Jesus shall dwell after he comes again and where the bad people will not come.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

In July 1831 Joseph Smith received a revelation that Zion would be located in Missouri!
Remember a lot of church members were already in Missouri?
The revelation said it would be in a part of Missouri called Jackson County.

What county do we live in right now?
What is a county?

Not only that, but a temple would be built in a city in Jackson County, a city called Independence.

In August 1831, so one month later, Sidney Rigdon dedicated the land of Jackson County for the gathering of the saints and Joseph Smith dedicated the temple site.

Remember we learned about what it means to “dedicate” something?

As part of the dedication of the land, the members attending the dedicatory service promised to keep the laws of God and to help their neighbor do the same.

Many church members wanted to move there to help build Zion!

Wouldn’t you too? What if you were living somewhere else and you heard about this great city that was going to be created with a lot of good things for church members, including a temple?

So they bought as much land as they could for farms and homes!

At this time, there was peace there.

No thieves or crime, etc. and everyone was worshipping God.

Parley P Pratt said, “There has seldom, if ever, been a happier people upon the earth than the Church of the Saints now were.”

Time passed and some became disobedient.

Some were disappointed Joseph hadn’t moved to Missouri too and they began to criticize him.

Some argued with their leaders or ignored their leaders.

They thought they could do a better job!

Doesn’t this remind you of the man who thought he could write a revelation better than Joseph?

The Saints allowed jealousy and disobedience to enter their lives.

They were told to repent and remember to read the Book of Mormon and obey the commandments.

Most did repent.

They pledged to keep the commandments.

When they repented, the Lord told Joseph Smith that “the angels rejoiced over them.”

Remember how the people in Missouri were mad at the church members?

They wanted them to leave?
They were still mad. They were afraid of them, and sometimes when you get afraid it can turn into anger and people do things they wouldn’t normally do.

When they began to move into Jackson County, the city of Independence was just a little town with only about 20 houses and just a few stores.

So think about maybe your street with a few stores added in, and that’s a town!

Not many could read or write!

Most Church members who moved in, however, could read and write.

Some people were hearing the Saints say that God had given them land in Jackson County.

So people were fearing that members were going to take over and drive everyone out!

The preachers were also afraid! They thought their church members would join the Saints.

The preachers tried to stir up fear and contention among the people.

Do you think it was easy to get them to be afraid? Yes, because they already were!

Now in 1833, a large mob of about 300 men met in Independence to plan how to get rid of the Saints.

Leaders heard about this! They prayed for the Lord to stop their plans.

Their prayers were answered!

The mob, unable to agree on a plan, got drunk and ended up fighting each other!

However, later in 1833 they met again in Independence.

This was the mob we had talked about before, remember 400-500 met and wanted the Saints to leave?

Do you remember what happened?

They pledged to get rid of the Saints “peaceabley if we can, forcibly if we must”

They formed a mob and destroyed William W Phelps’ printing press.

Remember you wanted to know what happened next after Mary Elizabeth and Caroline gave the pages to his wife?

A few days later, a mob of armed men burned the Saints’ crops and destroyed some of their buildings.

Six church leaders were very brave and offered to surrender if the mob would leave everyone else alone.

The mob refused.

The church leaders signed an agreement to leave Jackson COunty if the mob would leave them alone.

The Saints were angry and they were afraid.

They were not happy they had been persecuted and they wanted to get revenge.

Joseph Smith received a revelation that they should not seek revenge.

Instead they should patiently endure and work within the laws of the land.

The Saints did obey the laws of the land.

They asked the government to stop the persecution.

Things just got worse.

The government didn’t help and even some government people were in the mob!

They did have some friends who wanted to help them but they were afraid of the mob too.

In November 1833, a small group of the mob and church members began to battle.

The mob was bigger and had more weapons than the church members.

QUICK STORY WITHIN THE STORY

During a battle with the members of the mob in Jackson County, Church member Philo Dibble was shot in the abdomen.

He was not expected to live—in those days people wounded this way usually bled to death or died from infection.

The Saints were fleeing Jackson County, and Philo Dibble’s friends did not want to leave him, but he was too injured for them to take him with them and it was too dangerous for them to stay.

One friend, Newel Knight, sneaked past members of the mob into Philo Dibble’s home, quickly gave Philo a priesthood blessing, and then rode away.

The next day Newel Knight met Philo Dibble, nearly recovered, ten miles from his home.

Philo told Newel that when he received the blessing, the pain left and his body “discharged a large amount of infected fluid, along with the bullet and even some cloth from his shirt.”

Because of the priesthood blessing, Philo recovered completely.

He crossed the plains to Utah and was a faithful member of the Church for the rest of his life.

BACK TO MAIN LESSON

However, with all the Church said all Church members should leave the county for safety.

Over the next two days, more than 1000 Saints fled.

It was very cold!

They were getting hurt as they fled, but they knew Heavenly Father still loved them.

One night they saw amazing meteor showers in the sky.

It was very beautiful as the streaks of light curled into shapes through the night.

They thought this was a sign that Heavenly Father would take care of them.

Members of the mob heading to chase the Saints were also seeing those meteor showers and were so surprised that they turned back to their homes and didn’t bother them for 10 days!

The Saints were never able to return back to Jackson County.

They knew if they were faithful and obedient, they would eventually receive all the blessings promised.

While they couldn’t establish Zion, it will be built at one point to prepare for the Savior's second coming.

PEBBLE ACTIVITY

Idea from here http://www.mormonshare.com/lds-object-lesson/pebbles-in-the-mouth

How do you think the Saints were able to keep a good hopeful attitude in the midst of so much heartache and sadness?

We’re going to do an activity where we will try it out.

Hand out a pebble for each child and give each child a lollipop (or other candy that takes awhile to eat).

Go on a little walk outside.

Ask how they’re feeling after, what was their experience like on the walk?

Anticipate they will focus on the discomfort from the pebble etc.

Some may say they focused on the candy etc.

Discuss how we can try to overlook difficulties and be grateful for what we do have!

And discuss how sometimes we only focus on our difficulties and forget the good stuff!

BOUND GAME

Have D&C 82:10 on the board

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Choose one child to “bind” with a roll of toilet paper

First have everyone work to wrap them up in toilet paper like a mummy so the child can’t move their arms or legs (don’t cover the face). Make sure the child is going to be ok with this before starting!

After they are all bound, then start memorizing the scripture.

Use the chalkboard method where it’s written on the board or it’s on the board with each word on its own paper or index card, taped or up with a magnet.

Read through it a few times out loud. Then erase or take away a word. See if everyone remembers that word.

The more you memorize, the more they are slowly unbound (take off some of the toilet paper, but only a little at first so they stay really bound for most of it!

VIDEO: THREE OPTIONS

Because I Have Been Given Much
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-12-07-because-i-have-been-given-much

Dayton's Legs
https://www.lds.org/children/videos/other?lang=eng#daytons-legs

God Will Lift Us Up
https://www.lds.org/children/videos/other?lang=eng#god-will-lift-us-up

Sharing the peace and happiness we feel with others can help us focus on our blessings.

PRACTICE KNOT TYING

Extra time? Use thin rope for them to practice some knot tying!

Many different knots online.

If you have Cub Scouts or 11 year old Scouts in class, they may know some they can teach.

TAKE HOME

Candy or licorice rope with the D&C 82:10 printed out