Becoming a Nephite

Lehi and his family eventually arrived in the Promised Land. We celebrated by honoring the birthday of our country, a land of liberty foretold by Lehi himself. We took part in a pretty intense neighborhood fireworks show. One of the aerials fell after the first burst and sent a blast down the street, one across the street into a neighbor's garage, and then a final blast up the street. Fortunately we all returned home unscathed.

In the book of Second Nephi, Lehi gets old and passes away. It doesn't take long for things to get nasty as Laman and Lemuel are plotting to kill Nephi. We read in Chapter 5 how the Lord warns Nephi to flee into the wilderness and take Sam, Zoram, Jacob, Joseph, his sisters, and anyone else who heeds the word of the Lord.

Shem illustrated the family for us  and the kids giggled and enjoyed Dad's artistic touches. (See the finished picture below.)

Next I took the paper and explained how they followed the instructions to leave and they SPLIT. Then I ripped the paper in half.

(Click to enlarge)

The kiddos couldn't wait to rip more paper so we talked about several other scenarios where we might need to "split." For example, if someone offers you a cigarette...SPLIT!

If you are watching a movie and something bad comes on...SPLIT! 

If you are tempted to steal some candy...SPLIT!

If you hear people saying bad words...SPLIT! 

If someone tries to touch you where your underwear is...SPLIT!

The kids even took a turn with their own examples.

Mason: If your friends are being mean...SPLIT!

 Adam: If someone starts showing pictures that are inappropriate...SPLIT!

And my favorite...

Kate: If someone wants you to go with them 

to start a house on fire...SPLIT!

The righteous people SPLIT from the followers of Laman and Lemuel and went with Nephi into the wilderness. They became Nephites. We wanted to be Nephites too, so the next morning we left for the wilderness.