Relating everyday objects to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The last Sunday in February I had the opportunity to have the majority of the youth in our ward over to our house. We had good Bishop's Youth Committee meeting for about 30 minutes and then at 7:00 pm it turned into a Bishop's Youth Discussion.

Let me start out by saying I was very anxious for this discussion. I love the youth so much and I am so thankful that I get the chance to work with them so closely. I have had the chance to work with great youth leaders (both current and past) in the ward and I am thankful for their good and dedicated service.

I was given the challenge by the Youth Leaders to relate every day objects to the gospel in some way. The youth were to bring an object from home and once they got to my house they placed the object in a pillow cover. I did not see any of the items prior to them being pulled out of the pillow case.

As each item was pulled out, I took a few seconds to a minute or so to consider the item and try to think of a way to relate the object to the gospel. My firm belief is that much of what we do and come in contact in life can be related to the gospel in some way. The first item that was pulled from the bag was a Jedi Fighter Plane from the Star Wars movies. For me that was a good one to start with and was actually pretty easy. I was able to talk to the youth about the Star Wars movie and how Master Luke Skywalker was in training to become a Jedi Knight. Luke was told something very specifically by his trainer. He was told to "Use the force". I was able to relate using the force to the Holy Ghost and how we should use the feelings and promptings of the Holy Ghost to help us make decisions.

There were many great items, some of which I think I had to stretch pretty far to relate. Some of the items were:

Rubix Cube - We are all different and imperfect just like the cube is when it is messed up, but with the help of our Heavenly Father, our earthly parents, our family, friends, and leaders we can become perfect just like the cube does when someone finally figures it out.

Po the teletubby - This one was a bit of a stretch but what I know of the show, the teletubbies come running down a grassy hill and the bright sun comes up behind the hills. I thought of a young Joseph Smith as he went to a grove of trees, I imagine filled with grass, and prayed to Heavenly Father to know which church to join. As he prayed he was a light that was brighter than the noon day sun.

There was a purple monkey, yoda, a button, a coin, a lay from Hawaii, among other things.

We spent an hour plus talking about the gospel in a relaxed informal way. I enjoyed myself and hoped we could go on but we got to the bottom of the pillow case, had desert and the youth went home.

I thought it was a very successful evening and look forward to the next discussion we will have on March 29th.