What happened in my premortal life?
Prepare Yourself Spiritually
Before we were born, we lived with Heavenly Father as His spirit children. In the Council in Heaven, the Father presented to us His plan of salvation, and Jesus Christ was chosen to be our Savior. Satan sought to amend the plan, taking away our agency, and he and his followers were cast out. We accepted our Father’s plan and chose to follow Jesus Christ.
Resources to Help You Prepare
These resources are to help you prepare for the “Learn together” section of the meeting.
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Revelation 12:7–11 (In the premortal life, we overcame Satan by our testimonies of Jesus Christ)
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Doctrine and Covenants 138:55–56; (Noble spirits in the premortal life were chosen and prepared to do God’s work in this life)
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Moses 4:1–4 (Satan seeks to destroy the agency of man and is cast out)
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Abraham 3:22–26 (Our choices in the premortal life made it possible for us to come to earth)
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Dieter F. Uchtdorf,“ The Influence of Righteous Women,” Ensign or Liahona, Sept. 2009, 5–9
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“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145
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“Plan of Salvation,” True to the Faith (2004), 115–17
Questions to Ponder before You Teach
Think about the righteous choices you have made in your life. How have your righteous choices affected you? How will they affect your eternal destiny? How could your knowledge of the premortal life influence your choices?
Think about the young women in your class. What choices are they making? How could their understanding of the premortal life influence them to make righteous choices in this life?
What can the young women do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to this doctrine.
Meeting Outline
1. Counsel Together and Share Experiences
Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes
Lead a discussion about items such as the following:
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Our class: Who is missing today? What visits do we need to make? Who should we invite to an upcoming activity? Who needs our help and prayers?
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Our responsibilities: What assignments do we need to make? What assignments have we fulfilled? How have we invited others to come unto Christ, and how can we invite others now?
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Our lives: Remind the class of the discussion from the last meeting. What experiences have we had with applying what we learned? What experiences have we had in the past few weeks that strengthened our testimonies of the gospel?
If possible, discuss these items beforehand in a class presidency meeting.
2. Learn Together
Led by a leader or teacher or a member of the class; approximately 25–35 minutes
After studying the above resources and following the inspiration of the Spirit, you may select one or more of the activities below to help class members understand the doctrine.
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Invite the young women to study the scriptures in this outline as a class, in small groups, or individually. Ask them to share what they learn about the premortal life and why this knowledge is important to them. Share your own thoughts and insights as well.
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Ask the young women to read the first three paragraphs of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” and identify what they learn about their eternal identity. Invite them to read the section titled “A Unique Feminine Identity” from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “The Influence of Righteous Women,” and ask them to share any impressions they receive about their own identity as daughters of God.
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Invite the young women to read the section titled “Premortal Life” in True to the Faith (pages 115–16) and write questions that could be answered by the information in this section. Have them trade questions with each other and look for answers. Invite them to share any insights they find.
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Ask the young women to read Moses 4:1–2 and look for things they learn about the Savior and Satan in the Council in Heaven. What do we learn about the results of Satan’s actions from verses 3–4? How does this conflict continue on earth today? What is the Savior’s role in this conflict? What is our role? Invite the young women to express their feelings about the Savior and His willingness to follow His Father’s plan.
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Invite the young women to work on Individual Worth value experience 1 in Personal Progress individually or in groups. Give each young woman time in class to create a poster that contains several important truths she has learned about what it means to be a daughter of God. Allow them to share their posters with the class.
3. Plan to Act
Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes
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Ask the young women to discuss any feelings or impressions they had during the meeting. What was meaningful to them? Is there something they can do personally or as a class to apply what they have learned?
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Give the young women a few minutes to record what they will do in the coming weeks to act on their impressions. Invite them to share their ideas.
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Remind the young women that they will have the opportunity to share their experiences at the beginning of the next meeting.