Walking in a Worksheet Wonderland

Today I started my first post-Relief-Society adventure: teaching the adult Sunday school class.

As you may recall, I held this same calling when I was in the singles branch, but this time around I am going to do things a little different. My goal for this stint as gospel doctrine teacher is to avoid the visual aid overload that ended up cluttering my life the last time. You do remember what happened the last time, right?

The Last Time I Taught Sunday School, THIS Happened...

I am pleased to say that I did a good job sticking to my visual-aid-less goal for my first lesson today. Of course, about an hour before Church started, I started jonesing for a poster fix. Seriously. It was like I could hear the poster board calling to me. I suddenly became convinced that there was no way I could effectively teach a lesson without the smell of marker fumes hanging in the air.

I  started making a baptismal covenant chart before I managed to pull myself together, but I am happy to say that when I pulled into the church parking lot, I didn't have a single visual aid in my car.

Not a one!

What I did have was a whole pile of worksheets!

Yes, worksheets are my new Sunday school obsession. They are just as fun to make, come in handy for the lessons, and are MUCH easier to store than a bunch of poster board thingies. How much do I love making Sunday school worksheets? 

 I don't teach again until the 15th, but I already have the lesson 7 worksheet done. 

Do I have a worksheet problem? Maybe.

Do I CARE that I might have a worksheet problem? Nope. Not one little bit.

If nothing else, it will give the kidlets a bit of a break from the English and communications and creative writing worksheets I make for them.

I'm sure the Sunday school folks can start expecting thank-you notes from the kidlets any day now.

As much as I enjoy this year's New Testament lessons, I have to admit that I am really looking forward to when the new Come-Follow-Me-esque lessons for adults.

LDS Adults To Get New Sunday School Class Outlines

Then I can steal even more ideas from Kar! Awesome Sunday School Lessons for Youth

An Observation

I have been very privileged over the past ten months to have had the opportunity to prepare and teach Sunday school lessons based on the principles taught in the Doctrine and Covenants.

I have learned so much about Church history and gospel doctrines as I have prepared to teach my fellow branchers, and I have been blessed with a better understanding of the Great Plan of Happiness and with many beautiful insights into my personal place in the building up of God's Kingdom on the earth.

Of course, if you would like to hear about any of those increased understandings or beautiful insights, there are plenty of open seats in Sunday school. Today, in this post, I will be sharing one of my not-so-spiritual insights that I have been pondering the last few months, the sort of telestial observation that my family has become somewhat infamous for. And that observation is....


...that the names of figures in Church history sound an awful lot like the names of Harry Potter characters.

Really.

Quite a few of the Potter-worthy names show up in the Doctrine and Covenants themselves, while others are mentioned in books like "The History of the Church: Period 1," and "Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants".

Sure, the volumes of Church history may not be filled Dudley Dursleys, Hermione Grangers, or Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledores, but I think you might be surprised at similarities in nomenclature in two of my favorite subjects.

A quick perusal of a book on LDS history will provide you with a nice list of names like Elias Higbee, Pomeroy Tucker, Aurelia Rogers, Artemus Millet, Abner Cole, and Samuel Bogart...

... who should not be confused with Elphias Doge, Gildroy Lockheart, Amelia Bones, Amycus Carrow, Aberforth Dumbledore, and the very unfriendly boggert that resides in the wardrobe in the Hogwarts faculty lounge.

Church history has Albert Rockwood, while Harry Potter has Albert Runcorn. You can learn about Cornelius Gillam in your institute of religion class, and then learn about Cornelius Fudge in children's lit.

You could ask your religion professor to instruct you about the life and times of Hepzibah Richards. Then you could ask your twelve year old neighbor to enlighten you about the fictional life and times of Hestia Jones.

Armondo Dippet: Harry Potter

Algernon Gilbert: Church History

Sirius Black: Harry Potter

Cyrus Dallin: Church History

Thurlow Weed & Wandle Mace: Church History

Marcus Flint, Alfred Cattermole, Pius Thicknesse: Harry Potter

You can learn about Bathsheba Smith and Minerva Teichert at LDS.org, and you can learn about Bathhilda Bagshot and Minerva McGonagall at Muggle.net.

And do any of you want to hazard a guess as to which books you might find the names Dedalus Diggle, Philo Dibble, Philastus Hurlburt, or Phineas Nigellus?

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have an institute lesson on the great apostasy and restoration to prepare. And after that, I am going to start working on my thesis comparing the birth dates of the religious reformers of the 1400-1600's to the home addresses of the campers in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

And after that, I might just get a life.