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Posts Tagged ‘duty to god’

I had two of my kids give talks in church this Sunday. Andy spoke for the first time is Sacrament Meeting and gave a good talk on how to be a good friend and how to make friends. When he was asked the give the talk, the first counselor in the bishopric told him he could talk about families or, he could do something from the Duty to God book. We chose the Duty to God book so that he could check off two, count them, two requirements at once. He chose to do requirement #1 under the Citizenship section of the Deacon’s DTG book. This requirement states, “Explain to a parent or leader how to be a friend; maintain friendship; resolve conflicts between friends.” We helped him find some good quotes from church leaders and he put the pieces together and added his own commentary. You could tell he was nervous but he did a great job. I was concerned that he would just get up there and read the whole thing but he looked up quite a bit while giving the talk.

My Dad always said that when giving a talk, you need to “Speak Loudly and Distinctly”. I don’t know where he got this phrase, but I use it with my kids as well. They are probably just as sick of hearing it from me as I was hearing it from my Dad, but it stuck in my brain and it is good advise.

My Daughter gave a talk in Primary. My wife helped her put together a short talk about the Proclamation on the Family. She talked about how she liked it when we had family home evenings. One of her favorite FHE’s is when we paint our windows for Halloween. I think I posted something about us painting the windows last year. If I find it, I’ll post the Link Here.

Both my Daughter and Son did a great job speaking. I’m proud of both of them. I love the fact that the Church encourages our youth to learn how to speak in public. I know that it helps their confidence and prepares them for speaking assignments when they are older.

Last weekend my son and I went on a campout with out his Troop.  This was not a normal camp out, it was a Camporee.  A Camporee is a camp that is organized and carried out by the District.  The Falls District in the Snake River Council to be exact.  We camped at a nice little place called Frenchman’s Island near Burley.

The boys setup camp Friday night and then attended a campfire program.  While they were at the campfire, I decided to hang back and try my hand at cooking rolls in my dutch oven.  I had planned ahead by making some dough in my breadmaker.  After burning the bottom of my first batch, I decided to put more coals on the top of my dutch oven to hopefull cook from the top down.  This worked a little better but I still need to do a little fine tuning to get it right.

After the scouts returned, cooked some hotdogs, ate a few rolls, they were off to their tents.

In the morning, we were off to learn some skills from a bunch of volunteers from the Council.  They learned about knots, lashings, wildlife, campsites, building latrines, and staffs.  As I listened to some of the instruction, I thought to myself how important some of this training was.  Where else would these young men get this training?  They wouldn’t learn it in school, nor at home.  Thanksfully, the LDS church uses the Boy Scout Program as the activity arm of the priesthood.  The Aaronic Priesthood teaches gospel principles to these boys and the Boy Scouts provides the activities in which to put them in practice.  By learning about how to keep a campsite clean and how to build latrine, Andy was able to pass off one of his Duty to God requirements.  The two programs go hand in hand.

Sunday morning, I went over the “Duty to God” program with my two sons.

Duty to God

They have two years to complete each section of the program as they grow in the Aaronic Priesthood. Although the requirements in the DTG do not take the place of the Scouting Program, they do match up in many ways and add a level of depth spiritually that we like to teach to these young men. Some of the requirements include hiking a certain distance, giving a talk or teaching a lesson in church and teaching younger people a new game.

After reviewing all of the requirements with each of them, I am very pleased to see that they are over half way done. I was very worried about my oldest son because he had just turned 15 which means he only has a year left until he becomes a Priest. Once he is a Priest, he has a whole set of new requirements he needs to meet. After completing all three programs (6 years), he would earn a Duty to God Award.

Great job Coby and Andy for your continued work on the DTG (Duty to God) program.