Group 1

The Challenge of Public Speaking

Discuss with your group:

  • How do you feel about public speaking? Why?

Read AND summarize the following:

One of Brigham Young’s greatest challenges was public speaking. He said, “I was about as destitute of language as a man could well be” (in Journal of Discourses, 5:97). He recalled a time one week after his baptism when he expected four experienced speakers who were members of the Church to preach, but they did not. He said:

“I was but a child, so far as public speaking and a knowledge of the world was concerned; but the Spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I felt as though my bones would consume within me unless I spoke to the people and told them what I had seen, heard and learned—what I had experienced and rejoiced in; and the first discourse I ever delivered I occupied over an hour. I opened my mouth and the Lord filled it. (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 13:211)”

Respond to the following in your group AND write responses in you Learning Journal:

  • What are the important details from this story?
  • What was difficult about what Brigham Young did?  How could this be like some people today?  What things do you and others find difficult?

Read Doctrine and Covenants 100:5–6 (see also Exodus 4:12; Proverbs 16:1). Then discuss these questions with the group.  Write responses in your Learning Journal:

  • How was Brigham Young’s experience related to these verses?
  • What do you learn about the Lord that could help you?
  • What valuable lessons can we learn from Brigham Young’s example?
  • Write these lessons as doctrines.  You can write them as clear, simple statements.  You could write an “If…then” statement, or a “when we…”statement.

Group 2

Brigham’s Sacrifice to Serve

Discuss the following in your group:

  • What sacrifices does it take to serve a mission?

Invite someone to read the following:

The same year Brigham Young was baptized, his wife passed away. At great sacrifice, he arranged for the care of his two children and served missions to New York and upper Canada, where he baptized several people.  After serving a mission for about a year, Brigham described his arrival in Kirtland, Ohio:

“If any man that ever did gather with the Saints was any poorer than I was—it was because he had nothing. … I had two children to take care of. … I was a widower. … [I had] not a shoe to my foot, except a pair of borrowed boots. I had no winter clothing, except a homemade coat that I had had three or four years. … I had travelled and preached and given away every dollar of my property.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 243)

  • What are the important details about Brigham Young in this story? (Write them down)
  • What was difficult about what Brigham Young did?  How could this be like some people today?  What things do you and others find difficult? 

Invite someone to read aloud Luke 18:18–23.   As a group, look for how Brigham Young’s response to invitations to serve was different from the man who interacted with the Savior in this account.

  • What do you know about the Lord that may help us be willing to make sacrifices like Brigham Young did?
  • In addition to serving missions, what are some other ways the Lord may want us to sacrifice to serve Him?
  • What valuable lessons can we learn from Brigham Young’s example?
  • Write these lessons as doctrines.  You can write them as clear, simple statements.  You could write an “If…then” statement, or a “when we…”statement.

Group 3

Brigham’s Mission to England

Discuss the following question as a group:

  • What are some reasons a missionary needs the Lord’s help?

Invite a group member to read the following:

After remarrying and serving five other missions, Brigham was called, with other Apostles, to serve a mission to England.   Brigham described his mission:

“We landed … as strangers in a strange land and penniless, but through the mercy of God we have gained many friends, established Churches in almost every noted town and city in the kingdom of Great Britain, baptized between seven and eight thousand, printed 5,000 Books of Mormon, … and have left sown in the hearts of many thousands the seeds of eternal truth … : in all these things I acknowledge the hand of God.” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 6)

  • What are the important details in this story? (Write them down)
  • What was difficult about what Brigham Young did?  How could this be like some people today?  What things do you and others find difficult?

Invite a student to read Ammon’s words in Alma 26:12–13. Then discuss as a group:

  • How does Brigham Young’s statement compare to Ammon’s?
  • Why do you think relying on the Lord is essential when striving to serve Him?
  • How have you tried to rely on the Lord as you serve Him?
  • What valuable lessons can we learn from Brigham Young’s example?
  • Write these lessons as doctrines.  You can write them as clear, simple statements.  You could write an “If…then” statement, or a “when we…”statement.