On Angry Birds and Forgiveness.

Today I taught Relief Society for the first time.

I was terrified.

I made myself sick over it this morning.  [And the past 3 weeks for that matter].  

You see, when Tyler and I moved into our first apartment, it was in my parents ward.  Which means, I wasn't just teaching Relief Society to a bunch of random sisters that I barely knew, I was teaching people I knew.  People I've respected.  Sisters who have been my leaders and teachers.  

But surprisingly enough, the lesson went great and I didn't completely toss my cookies during it.

I learned a lot from preparing for it.  Forgiveness seemed like an easy enough topic to teach about, but it was hard to narrow it down.  I finally figured out an idea that resonated with me and I thought the sisters would gain something from.

It may just be the teacher in me, but I love relating gospel topics to real world things.

Which, in this case, meant relating forgiveness to Angry Birds! 

 [who doesn't like Angry Birds?]

There's some fantastic freebies out in cyber world of Angry Birds!  I whipped up some condiment containers with the Angry Birds Cheese Nips in them and slapped on a cute little Angry Bird.  The sisters got a handout I made up to go along with it.  

[Angry Birds Exhibit #1]

[Angry Birds Exhibit #2]

The handout was an idea that I found on Pinterest [of course!] that spurred my idea and remade it to fit my purposes.

Thanks to the guidance of the spirit and thoughtful comments from the sisters in my ward, the lesson directed itself and hopefully everyone learned something from it.

Because I know I did.  The spirit of forgiveness is a wonderful gift that should never be wasted or forgotten.  It's a gift that I will use over and over again and thank my Heavenly Father for it on a daily, minute-to-minute basis.