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Olive Trees in Progress

For our Come Follow Me lesson this last Sunday, our grandchildren were going to be visiting so I decided to make it a treasure hunt.  They're pretty little, so anything to hold their attention would have to be active.

I listened to this podcast last week (https://bookofmormoncentral.org/come-follow-me/book-of-mormon/come-follow-me-2020-jacob-5-7) and got some ideas. 

The first scripture was read inside the house:  Jacob 5:3  For behold, thus saith the Lord, I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like unto a tame olive tree, which a man took and nourished in his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay.  I asked, Why are we like trees?  We talked about that, then I asked the question, Where can we find some trees?  The front yard!



We went to the front yard and found the second paper in a peach tree.  The paper had this scripture:  
Jacob 5:4 And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not. 

We talked about how does the Lord prune us and dig about us and nourish us?  I had put some tools around the base of the tree so we did a little pruning and digging.  In our digging, we found a third paper:

Jacob 5:23:  And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: Look hither; behold I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first. But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto mine own self.  

I asked the kids, where can we find another tree?  We went to the backyard.




We found another peach tree and then a paper that said:
Jacob 5:47  But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh.

We talked about how the Lord is always helping us and how can we produce good fruit?  Then asked the question, Where can we go to plant seeds that will produce good fruit?

We went to the garden box and planted some pea seeds.  I don't know how much they got out of the lesson but we had a good time.









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