Tithing & Fast Offerings

Today my Primary lesson was on the Widow’s Mite.  I got this picture from THIS website, and LOVED it b/c when Dad and the boys went to Jerusalem, Dad brought me back a necklace of a widow’s mite.  It’s one of my most favorite pieces of jewelry.  I’ve always loved the story of the Widow’s Mite and have been thinking all week about how to convey it’s message to my Primary kids.

I was inspired to come up with these little snack baggies full of M&M’s for my lesson.  I was going to give all the kids equal amounts, and would have if they were younger.   However, I think my 11 year old class is old enough to understand, so I gave them all different amounts.  I wrote the following occupations on the outside of the baggies and put more M&M’s in the bags in the professions that tend to make more $ in the real world.  I had the kids just grab a bag out of a bucket w/ out seeing what was what.

Doctor
Lawyer
Dentist
Hospital Administrator
Nurse
Social Worker
Teacher
Construction Worker
Secretary
Police Officer
Bank Teller
Cashier
McDonald’s Burger Filpper
Unemployed

Then I had them count up how many M&M’s they had and I wrote it all on the board.  We talked about how much each person would need to pay in tithing and how you can’t really pay 16.2 M&M’s, so we should always round up and be more generous.  I had all the kids put their “tithing” in a bucket.

Then, we talked about fast offerings and how it should be the equivalent to what you would have spent on the 2 meals you are skipping.  I was again stressing how we should be generous instead of stingy.  I was saying that technically I could say that Autumn & I eat a package of Ramen noodles for breakfast and lunch and those are only 50 cents each, so I could justify only paying $2 for fast offerings.  Just as I was saying ramen noodles, the kids let out a yell of excitement and the Bishop happened to be walking by.  He stuck his head in to see what was going on and I explained that we were talking about fast offerings and tithing and using M&M’s.

I finished telling them that we should be generous and give what we can.  Next I had them all fill out a tithing slip and we talked about the different things they can donate money to such as missionary funds, Perpetual Education Fund, etc.  I was pleasantly surprise with how well they all did.  Especially the kid who got the unemployed bag and was generous in his giving even though he had the least amount to give.  We talked about how just b/c someone is unemployed doesn’t mean they are lazy and how ALL jobs are important.  Not everyone needs to be a doctor or lawyer.

We wrapped up by talking about how the law of tithing is helping to prepare us to live the celestial law of consecration someday.  I was worried the kids might be silly and not get the point of the lesson, but they did great and it was a fun learning experience for all of us.  At the end, I divvied up the M&M’s and gave those that didn’t have very much the most.

After church, we came home and changed clothes and then went over to Mom & Dad’s house.  Mom had made a roast and carrots and potatoes, which was SO GOOD.  Eddy & Jose came to finish up the bathrooms.  We usually wouldn’t have let them come work on a Sunday, b/c that’s not resting from their labors and keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, but there’s a language barrier there and Eddy wanted to finish b/c Mom & Dad are going out of town and he wouldn’t be able to finish in time b/c of his normal job during the day.  They were there until pretty late and it was so sad to see him go b/c he’s like family to us.

We just hung out and watched TV, played a few games of Rummikub, and just enjoyed spending time together.  Autumn & Andrew got along great and spent quite a few hours playing nicely together.  Dad got home from work and had to go work on the schedule and Mom didn’t want him to b/c he’d been gone most of the day.  She grabbed him and pulled him onto her lap and laid a big fat smooch on him.  We were laughing and then pretended to be grossed out.  But, I truly am thankful that my parents are so in love after all these years and hope I can find that type of love someday (sooner rather than later).  We’ve got a big day ahead of us, so we all went to bed around 10:30.