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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Winning at scripture study

I'm not sure what toy McDonald's is giving out with their happy meals now but when Andrew and the kids were making their way across the country and back again they were giving out little minion translators (for the record, I don't think they're swearing) so we have quite the collection. For a while they were all turned on in the toy box and any time anyone bumped the toy box it would set off a domino effect of minions crying out from their hiding places.

"Aaaaayiiiii!"

"Poopaye!"

"Sa la ka!"

"Bi-do!"

"Ay! Para tu!"

One by one we dug them out and switched them off. We thought we'd found them all until one night Andrew dropped a Book of Mormon as he was getting the scriptures down for family scripture study and it landed in the toy box setting off an, "Aaaaayiiii!"

The kids thought that was so funny they spent several minutes dropping their scriptures and screaming, "Aaaaayiiii!"

Because we're reverent like that.


As I've mentioned, on nights when we don't feel like we have the wherewithal to do a proper scripture study session (the kind where we actually open up the scriptures and read from them together), we work on memorizing scriptures with the kids (which I suppose is a proper scripture study session in its own way).

Recently we've been working on James 1:5–6, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

We've worked out a cadence of sorts for verse six, which was slightly less familiar to us than verse five (we hear verse five a lot as Mormons).

"But let him ask in FAITH! Nothing WAVERING! For he that WAVERETH is like a WAVE of the sea DRIVEN with the wind and TOSSED!"

And after we all say, "And TOSSED!" Benjamin hollers, "...into volcano!"

Without fail. Every single time. Straight into a volcano. That'll teach us to have wavering faith.

A few nights ago we were playing a little game where we go around in a circle, each saying one word of the scripture, like this:

"If," said Rachel.

"Any," said Andrew.

"Of," my turn.

"You," now Miriam.

"Lack," Benjamin.

"Wisdom," said Rachel again.

We continued like this around and around until we'd finished verse five, which, as I said, was already quite familiar to us. It was up to Rachel to start verse six but she...wavered. She couldn't think of the next word—"but."

I happened to be standing up, bouncing ZoĆ«, so I turned around and spanked my rear end, thinking this would be an excellent hint but(t) it went right over her head. The kids all thought it was hilarious anyway and were doubling over with laughter. However, not one of them could tell us what the next word of the scripture was when Andrew asked them, so then we had to tell them that the next word was "but" and then they all started laughing again because it was even more hilarious once they actually got the joke.

Just wait until they're asked to recite this scripture in Sunday school one day...

They'll recite the first half like perfect little angels and then wheel around, slap themselves on the behind and declare, "But let him ask in FAITH! Nothing WAVERING! For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed . . . INTO VOLCANO!"

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