Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 6 Joseph Smith Begins to Translate the Gold Plates

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 6 JOSEPH SMITH BEGINS TO TRANSLATE THE GOLD PLATES

(image from deliataylor.com, will be replaced with my own image once we make ours)

CLASSROOM PREP

“I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it”

- Joseph Smith (yes for the second week in a row)

OPENING ACTIVITY

Who knows words in another language?
Put up printouts of “The Book of Mormon” in different languages

Het Boek Van Mormon (Dutch)

Mormon Binaaltsoos (Navajo)

Das Buch Mormon (German)

Te Buka A Moromona (Tahitian)

El Libro De Mormon (Spanish)

Le Livre De Mormon (French)

Here’s I Am a Child of God in many different languages: (3:19 long)

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-03-0020-video-presentation-i-am-a-child-of-god?lang=eng

What language do you think Joseph Smith spoke?

He only spoke English but he hadn’t gone to school much. He wasn’t chosen as the translator of the Book of Mormon because he spoke the language or knew how to read and write really well.

Mormon 9:32

And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.

Usually translators need to understand both of the languages they work with.

He didn’t! The reformed Egyptian characters were very strange to him.

He had to rely on the Spirit of the Lord to help him translate!

LESSON (HAVE DRAWINGS FOR EACH SECTION AND OTHER VISUALS FROM THE MANUAL SET OF ILLUSTRATIONS, TO KEEP THEIR ATTENTION DURING THE STORY)

What happened after they moved to Pennsylvania? 

• Once Joseph and Emma were settled in PA, he began to translate the gold plates. 
• It took him a long time to get familiar with the language and the plates.
• He studied and prayed and the Urim and Thummim helped him understand the characters.
• Martin Harris helped him at his house and became his scribe.
• What’s a scribe? (someone who writes things down for you)
• Joseph would read out loud the translation, and Martin would write down the words.
• Two months passed and he translated the first part on 116 pages of paper.

What happened next?

• Martin’s wife and friends had criticized for leaving his farm to help Joseph.
• He wanted to show them the pages so they would believe he was doing the Lord’s work.
• He wanted to take the 116 translated pages back to Palmyra where he was from.
• Do you think he was worried about what people thought more than what God thought in this case? (yes)

What happened next?

• Joseph prayed for permission for Martin to take the pages.
• No was the answer. Martin asked Joseph to pray again.
• No was the answer again.
• Martin wanted him to ask once more! Joseph agreed.
• Do you think Joseph was more concerned about what people (Martin) thought more than what God thought in this case?
• Yes was the answer but he could only show it to his wife and a few others in their family.
• Martin promised!
• Is Martin a bad person because of all of this? No. 
• Did he intend to do something bad? No.

What happened next?

• Emma gave birth to a baby who died after a few hours. Emma was also very sick.
• Joseph stayed with Emma.
• After awhile he started to wonder about Martin. He’d been gone 3 weeks!
• Emma encouraged him to go to Palmyra to find Martin.

What happened next?

• He went to his parents house and sent a message for Martin to meet him. 
• When Martin arrived, he cried out, “Oh, I have lost my soul!”  
• Joseph was like, “Martin have you lost that manuscript?  Have you broken your oath and brought down condemnation upon my head as well as your own?” 
• Martin had broken his promise! He had shown the pages to other people. The pages were stolen or lost!
• Joseph said, “All is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned. It is I who tempted the wrath of God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer which I received from the Lord; for he told me that it was not safe to let the writing go out of my possession” 
• Both were very very sad. 

What happened next?

• Joseph returned to Harmony and prayed for forgiveness.
• Angel Moroni took the gold plates and the Urim and Thummim for awhile.
• Joseph sincerely repented and was forgiven, and the plates/U/T were returned.
• Satan had influenced wicked people to take the pages 
• Why? They wanted to change the words so people wouldn’t believe the Book of Mormon
• Joseph was told not to retranslate the first portion.
• Was everything lost, then? No. The Lord knew this would happen!
• So way back when Mormon was writing, he told Mormon to include a similar account of those 116 pages in another part of the gold plates!
• Satan and wicked people cannot stop Heavenly Father’s work
• D&C 3:1 the purposes of God cannot be frustrated

DISCUSSION ABOUT LESSON

Are our prayers always answered how we want? No.

What are the answers that we can get? Yes. No. Maybe. Wait. Later. Not now.

What happened to Martin Harris?

He repented. He wasn’t allowed to help with translating, but he helped pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon by selling part of his farmHe was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon (show his name).

TRANSLATION ACTIVITY

Post up big foil-covered cardboard with the below message etched on it:

Everyone gets a blank piece of paper, pen or pencil, and a translation key:

Everyone acts as a translator and writes down the message using the key.

(messages = The Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

Hand out another foil-covered cardboard and a Q-Tip (with cotton end taken off) for each kid to write their own code! This is what they can take home.

ALPHABET GRATITUDE GAME

Sit in a circle with a beach ball

Start with the letter A - the person holding the ball has to think of something they are grateful for that starts with that letter.

Toss the ball to the next person - they have to do B, and so on and so forth

CARDS FOR NEW MISSIONARY WHO JUST LEFT OUR WARD (IF TIME)

You remind me of Joseph Smith because…

*Translation key and message from a Primary 5 Lesson 6 newsletter on Sugardoodle
http://www.sugardoodle.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2959&Itemid=5