Come, Follow Me is a resource offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is designed to be used in the home to support personal and family scripture study to build faith in Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation and in the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Come, Follow Me is self-contained and adequate, when used properly. Products and materials designed to supplement this resource, though they may be helpful in some instances, are not necessary for a successful home study program.
From Come, Follow Me:
What do you feel the Lord wants you to know about Him?
Sometimes we can understand the Old Testament better if we supplement our study with verses from the Book of Mormon. For example, the Book of Mormon prophets Nephi and Jacob had access to the writings of Isaiah on the plates of brass (see 1 Nephi 19:22–23), and they used these prophecies to teach about the Savior. To learn how Nephi and Jacob likened Isaiah 48–49 to their people, see 1 Nephi 22. That may help you liken these chapters to your own life.
Watch the above clip from “Mr. Krueger's Christmas,” and try to feel what it would be like to be in the manger with the newborn Christ-child. Express to each other your feelings of how the Savior has changed your lives. What gifts has He given us and how can we show our gratitude? What traditions could you begin or continue that help you and your family focus on your gratitude for the Savior? How can you preserve you feelings as part of your personal and family history for generations to come?
See this example from the Ensign Magazine:Gifts for the Savior. This tradition can begin anytime.
How do we assure that our children and grandchildren know how we feel about the gospel of Jesus Christ? Have we recorded our testimonies and those of other living relatives to give our posterity the strength of our conviction?
To create an opportunity for those you love to be influenced by your testimony now and in the future, you can preserve a hand-written document by uploading it as a photo, and you can record your personal witness of Jesus Christ on FamilySearch using the FamilySearch Memories Audio app or the Record My Story feature on FamilySearch Discovery. You can also share the document or audio recording with others via facebook, email, etc. by tapping the "Share" symbol.
Recording can be done individually or in a family setting or with others. You may want to help young children write or record what they feel about Jesus.
Your testimonies may contain the very words that will help family members strengthen their own testimonies.
"'And we write according to our prophecies' [2 Nephi 25:26] suggests the wisdom of making a permanent record of our testimony of Christ. We understand that the testimonies we bear are 'recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over [us]' (D&C 62:3). Our own descendants and others may look upon and rejoice over our witness of Christ written or recorded for their benefit." Todd D. Christofferson Becoming a Witness of Christ
You and your family might enjoy creating a booklet or an one collection of any testimonies of the Savior that you possess from the records of your ancestors. Consider making a collection of the stories of the first converts in your family lines. See Ten Ways To Discover, Gather, and Share Ancestor Stories.
Print copies here.
As a family, you may want to audio or video record members of your own family taking turns reading from The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles. You could also audio record it directly to FamilySearch using the FamilySearch Memories Audio app or the Record My Story feature on FamilySearch Discovery. You could record excerpts or read it all.
I can help prepare “the way of the Lord.”
From Come, Follow Me:
Think of some ways to illustrate what it might mean to “prepare … the way of the Lord,” as described in Isaiah 40:3–5…How can we help?
“The many prophecies that Israel would be scattered were accompanied by many promises that God would one day gather them.
That day is today—our day. The gathering has already begun. In 1836, thousands of years after Moses gathered the children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, Moses appeared in the Kirtland Temple to commit to Joseph Smith “the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:11). Now, under the direction of those who hold these keys, the tribes of Israel are being gathered from every nation where the Lord’s servants are able to go.
President Russell M. Nelson has called this gathering “the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it.” Hope of Israel
How do you do it? What does it mean to gather Israel? Does it mean restoring the twelve tribes back to the land they once inhabited? Actually, it means something much greater, much more eternal.
“Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.” Let God Prevail
Study about the gathering of Israel in these latter days, and decide how you can be involved, or how you can increase your participation.
President Nelson: "I invite you prayerfully to consider what kind of sacrifice, and preferably a sacrifice of time, you can make to do more family history and temple work..." RootsTech Family Discovery Day
Each week, you will find activities to help gather Israel (on both sides of the veil) in Weekly Family History Activities Although the Come, Follow Me Resource stands alone, having suggestions at your fingertips to do optional, related family history activities can help immensely to streamline your time and extend and enrich your gospel centered home studies. You could have family members select and lead out in an activity for the week. For individuals, there are always suggestions to help you make family history discoveries, gather information and preserve memories, and to connect the past and present. See the following video for ways to use this helpful resource, and give it a try!
In addition to giving Weekly Family History Activities a try (see above) here are some more suggestions to unite your family in the work of gathering:
Elder Bednar: "Missionary work and family history and temple work are complementary and interrelated aspects of one great work, 'that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him'" (Ephesians 1:10) "... The artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and family history work is being erased; this is one great work of salvation." Missionary, Family History, and Temple Work
You might try the following "practice sharing the gospel" activity using family history as a finding and retention tool. Invite other families to join in the fun if you would like.
Divide into companionships and practice door approaches with this guidance from Preach My Gospel: "Talk to people about their families. Help them see how the restored gospel can be a blessing to their families. Offer to help them find the names of grandparents, great-grandparents, or other ancestors. Enlist the help of ward temple and family history consultants."
See also:
Use Research Suggestions from FamilySearch
In Family Tree you may see a purple icon next to an ancestor’s name. That means FamilySearch has a research suggestion for you, which usually includes one or more record collections to search. See Project 4: Discover, Goal 4.
