This Family Home Evening lesson is based off of Elder L. Tom Perry talk, “Raising the Bar” given in the October 2007 General Conference. It was put together by Paige O. from my FHE Swap group. She originally had a different activity for the lesson but I couldn’t find visuals to easily add so I changed the activity to a word search.

Raising the Bar FHE PDF

Here’s a portion of the lesson outline. Download the pdf file for the full lesson and visuals.

PREPARATION: Make copies of the word search, one for each member of the family. Cut out the “bars” and high bar visual. Put tape on the back of the bars so it will be ready for the lesson.

OBJECTIVE:To help family members understand the importance of preparation for full- time missionary service and/or member missionary service. Young sisters make tremendous missionaries!!If you have daughters, they can be encouraged to serve a full-time mission too.

OPENING SONG: I Hope they Call Me on Mission(CS pg. 169 )

OPENING PRAYER:

SCRIPTURE: D&C 11:21

INTRODUCTION– Success Comes from Preparation. Show the picture of various successful and skilled people. (doctor/surgeon, dancer, pilot & professional athlete). Talk about the different people in the pictures– what they do and the skills that each of these people might need to be successful in their profession.

Ask the following questions to stimulate the discussion:Do you think these people became good at what they do without working at it? What are some of the things that each of them had to do to prepare themselves to be able to perform these activities? Do you think that once they developed some good skills that they quit practicing? What would happen if they said, “I’m good enough. I don’t need to practice or study anymore…”? Do you think that the dancer could perform in front of a large audience without practicing the dance? What about the athlete? Would he be able to play well in his game if he never practiced and continued to work on his skills? Would you want the surgeon to do surgery on you if he had not worked very hard in medical school? What about the pilot? What if the pilot had only studied some books on flying planes, but had never actually flown one? Would you want him to fly a plane you were traveling on? All of these people had to prepare to be successful. They had to study, practice and work hard to be good at what they do. To become a successful and effective missionary also requires a lot of preparation. Heavenly Father loves his missionaries because they are his servants. He wants them to teach the Gospel because he loves his children and wants ALL of them to have the blessings of the Gospel.Heavenly Father needs the very best – faithful, valiant, and well prepared missionaries to take His message to the world.Why is it important that everyone prepare to be a missionary?