Aaronic Priesthood Manual 17 Personal Journals

OBJECTIVE

34820, AP 1, 17: Personal Journals, Objective, 56

Each young man will understand the importance of keeping a personal journal.


PREPARATION

1. Materials needed:

a. Scriptures for each young man.

b. Paper and pencil for each young man.

2. Come prepared to relate a personal experience (see the beginning of the lesson).

3. Prepare a copy of the handout “Hints for Keeping a Journal” for each young man (see page 58).

4. During the week, ask two or three young men to come prepared to share an experience or journal entry about themselves.

Note to the adviser

Before attempting to help young men appreciate the value of journal keeping, you must first understand its importance. Seek the Spirit to help you feel the value of this lesson and to gain inspiration as to how to present it. If you have not already done so, take time this week to write in your own journal and share your feelings about this experience with the young men.


SUGGESTED LESSON DEVELOPMENT


Each of Us Should Keep a Journal

Adviser presentation

Tell the young men of an interesting or spiritual experience you have had. Tell it as interestingly as possible, and then tell them how and why you hurried to write it in your journal. If you did not keep a journal at the time, tell them why you wish you had been able to preserve it. Or you could read an entry from one of your ancestors’ journals that the class might enjoy. Express how grateful you are that this experience was written down so that you and others could know that ancestor better.

Invite the assigned young men to share their experiences or journal entries.

• How many of you keep a personal journal?

Scriptures and discussion

Have a young man read Moses 6:5–6.

• Why do you think that since the beginning of mankind we have been commanded to keep records?

Let the young men respond; then tell them that King Benjamin gave one very important reason to his son.

Have a young man read Mosiah 1:4–5.

• What reason did King Benjamin give for keeping accurate records about our dealings with the Lord?

Quotation

Explain that President Spencer W. Kimball challenged everyone to keep a journal:

“Get a notebook, my young folks, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies” (“The Angels May Quote from It,” New Era, Oct. 1975, p. 5).


Record Keeping Is an Important Principle

Story

“I can remember as a child wanting to know what my mother was really like. … I wanted a mother so much.

“I had had a mother, of course, Mary Black Rawlins, but she had died when I was only nine weeks old, and she was only twenty-six. When my father came home from work one afternoon, he found her lying on the kitchen floor, a victim of heart failure. Those who knew Mother best found it too painful to talk about her, so I never found out much about her.

“Then, when I was seventeen, my father’s mother came to visit me. She told me that my mother had known about her heart condition when she had married. She had known that if she had a baby she would probably die. But my mother, undaunted and determined, felt strongly that she should have a baby. She decided that I, the child born to her, was worth life itself. When I learned that, the love I had for my mother swelled, for I knew that she had loved me too, loved me enough to willingly give her life for me.

“It was then that my father brought to me a journal that my mother had written. She had kept it each day for one short year of her life. I had now in my hands one year of my mother’s life. She had been a school teacher in Wyoming that year, and through her own words she became for me a real person at last. She cried, she struggled, she laughed, she grumbled, she learned of her heart condition, and I … I shared it all with her!

“That record, that precious, loved record—it’s all I have of her. What if she had not kept it?” (“For Your Remembrance: A Presentation on Record Keeping” [audiovisual presentation, 1975 MIA June Conference]).

Discussion

• What important reasons for keeping a journal are brought out in this story?

• Who might read your journal?

• How might it benefit them?

Explain that journals are a special way of sharing our lives with our children and grandchildren.


Each Aaronic Priesthood Holder Should Keep a Personal Journal

Adviser presentation

Explain that we all tend to think that the things we have done or are doing now are not interesting enough to record. But in future years—whether to us as we grow older, to our children, or to our grandchildren—those things may be exciting glimpses into our life and our world. With each new generation come new ideas, new spiritual experiences, and new opportunities for growth and development.

Suggest to the young men that a personal journal is an ever-growing record of who we are, where we are going, and what we are accomplishing. Our journals are an excellent place for us to record our goals and our daily attempts to become more like the person the Lord would have us be.

Readings, chalkboard, and discussion

Ask several young men to read aloud, and then paraphrase, the following suggestions on journal keeping. Summarize the ideas on the chalkboard.

1. What kind of journal should I use? Select a journal in which you can record your daily activities. It might be an inexpensive, expandable looseleaf or a hardbound diary. The main requirements are good quality paper and a protective cover. You could also use a computer.

2. How often should I write in my journal? Your own personality, interests, and time will determine how often you will write in your journal. You need not catch up on all past events each time you make an entry. Record highlights or notes from past happenings; then continue with the present. The more often you write, the more accurate your record will be. Some write daily, others two or three times a week. Set a goal and work toward it.

3. What should I record? (Ask a young man to reread the statement by President Kimball.)

4. How can I be creative in my journal keeping? Perhaps you could occasionally list your tastes in clothes or food or reading, your present religious feelings, your problems, your opinions about school or government, or the current state of your finances. You might want to add sketches, designs, photographs, or poems to your entries.

Activity

Tell the young men they are going to have an opportunity to write something to include in their journals. For those who have already been keeping a journal, they may include this as an entry when they get home. Give each young man a piece of paper and a pencil. Ask them to write their experiences of the previous day, making sure to include their feelings about whatever they did. If there isn’t time to finish the assignment in class, encourage them to finish at home. Remind them that a journal should be a place where they record the significant events and feelings of their lives.


Conclusion

Challenge

Challenge the young men to continue writing in their journals either daily or weekly. Then periodically check with them over the next several months and encourage them often.

Handout

Give each young man a copy of the following handout, which he may want to put inside the cover of his journal for reference.

• What are some helpful hints to remember when keeping a journal?