Zion's Camp: An "Oregon Trail" for the Valiant 9 Class

Last Sunday Justin and I got to teach our Sunday School class of 9 year olds about Zion's Camp -- a group of 200 Latter-day Saint men and women who walked 1,000 miles from Ohio to Missouri to bring food, clothing, and other supplies to the saints who were being persecuted in Jackson County.

Lately we've had a bit of a tough time keeping the attention in our class with a simple object lesson and telling the stories and church history accounts. Let's face it - by the third hour of church, kids are almost entirely out of the energy to focus. Sometimes us adults are too.

As we planned this week's lesson, we decided to try something a little different. We were going to take our class on an "Oregon Trail" of sorts, but instead of being a part of that pioneer company, the kids were going to be members of Zion's Camp and we were going to march from Ohio (our classroom) to Missouri (the pavilion outside of the church). Along the way the kids would learn about the trials and blessings that members of their company faced on this long journey.

Photo Credit: LDS Blogs

Justin started the class by playing We'll Shout and Give Him Glory so that the kids knew something was going to be a little different with today's lesson. They came into the classroom and sat down. Some talked a little bit, but most didn't since the music was loud enough that it made having conversations a bit more difficult.

After all of the kids were settled in their seats, Justin turned off the music and welcomed everyone to the meeting. Justin acted like a brother from that time period and asked a student to offer the opening prayer. He told the class of the circumstances that saints were facing in Jackson County and that "Brother Joseph had asked him to hold this meeting and to invite all of them to join Zion's Camp to help our brother's and sister's in Missouri."

He reminded the class that we believe that in the premortal world we all had a choice to make - to follow Heavenly Father's plan or the adversary's plan. We each chose to follow Heavenly Father's plan and that is why we are here on the earth today. Likewise, each member of our class has a choice to make now. Will they come to the rescue of their brothers and sisters in Missouri?

The kids all shot their hands up in the air to join Zion's Camp.

We had them collect their belongings and put up their chairs as we weren't going to come back. We then headed for "Missouri". The trail took us around the church building (indoors since I'm 9 months pregnant and it was 90 degrees outside!) to each of the breezeways. At each breezeway, Justin picked one member of our company to select a "trial" or a scenario of a hardship that the company went through.

The "trials" were items along with a scenario hidden in paper bags that the kids had to open and read.

Trial #1: ACE Bandage

“All 25 wagons were used to carry food, clothing, and other supplies for the Saints in Missouri so all members of your company had to walk. The roads were cracked, covered in rocks, and of bad conditions. After walking so long, your feet became sore and blistered and started to bleed.”

Trial #2: Jar of Water with Bugs (Grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, etc.)

“It was hot and humid all day and all night. Everyone was parched and dying for a sip of water. Unfortunately, men in the company had trouble obtaining clean water. Sometimes you found yourself straining your water to remove insects before drinking it.”

Trial #3: Tupperware with Mayo, Hamburger Meat & Green Food Coloring (or spoiled food)

“Because of the heat, much of the food the company had brought for themselves – or even hunted while traveling – spoiled. But your stomach rumbled and cramped. You were starving so you ate the spoiled food anyway.”

Trial #4: Toy Horses

“One evening there was an argument between Sylvester Smith and some of the other men because of the hardships they were going through. They asked the prophet to settle the argument. Because Sylvester Smith and some of the other men were so rebellious, the Prophet told them, they would have more problems before they left the place where they were currently camped. The next morning almost every horse in camp was sick. The prophet told the men that if they repented and humbled themselves before the Lord, their horses would be made well again. The men did repent, and by noon all of the horses were well except Sylvester Smith’s, which died.”

At each station we spoke about these different scenarios and hardships, with the last trial being selected once we arrived at the pavilion. As the kids sat at the pavilion, Justin told three stories from the manual of some of the blessings the saints received on their journey - mostly regarding protection from the mobs that hunted them. 

He then had the class stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder. He gave everyone's scriptures to the person on one end of the line and we timed how fast they could pass all of the scriptures (at once) from person to person to the other end of the line and back. The kids had a lot of fun trying to beat their time and gradually Justin pulled kids out of the line until only three were left standing with large gaps of empty space between them. It was a lot harder for the kids to pass the scriptures to each other and back with all of the empty space and, ultimately, their time was much longer. 

Justin explained that just as the members of the Zion's Camp had hardships and trials, we do too. And we need each other to support us and we need to support each other in those trials.

The last object lesson he showed them came directly from the manual. He passed around a large piece of wood, rough and jagged from the elements. He had the kids feel the wood and asked if they'd like to use this as a spoon - no one did. He compared this piece of wood to the saints before they joined Zion's Camp - rough and unrefined. During Zion's Camp they faced many trials and were worn down by them, like the wood is worn down by sandpaper. Sandpaper is not soft nor comfortable, but after having been rubbed by the paper (or trials), the wood was polished, smooth, and refined. It was in much better condition than it was when it started. The kids were amazed at the difference between the rough and smooth wood. 

Our trials are not fun to go through, but they help to refine us and turn us into the people our Father in Heaven wants us to be. 

We had a fun lesson and it was nice to be able to get our fidgety kids out of their seats and to actually participate in Zion's Camp. 

Do you have any unique lesson ideas that we could try to spice things up in our class? We'd LOVE to hear!