“Testimony Plants,” Liahona, January 2019
Testimony Plants
What does it even mean to have a testimony?
Elisa walked into Primary and sat by her friend Armando.
“Welcome!” Sister Russo said. “Let’s start with a song.”
Elisa sang with her class. “Faith is like a little seed: if planted, it will grow” (Children’s Songbook, 96).
Sister Russo passed out paper and crayons. “Think about what we sang,” she said. “When you plant your seed of faith, it grows into a testimony. Now draw what your testimony would look like if it were a plant.”
Elisa stared at her blank paper. Everyone else started to draw. Elisa peeked at Armando’s drawing. His plant had a straight stem with lots of leaves. It looked like the basil growing on her apartment balcony. Maybe that’s what her testimony looked like too! She gripped her crayon and drew one like his.
“Please open your scriptures to Alma 32,” Sister Russo said.
They read about planting a seed in your heart and feeling it grow. Elisa looked at her testimony plant. Did she have a testimony? What did that even mean? She wanted to ask but felt too shy.
When class ended, Sister Russo came over to Elisa.
“You seem distracted. Is anything wrong?” Sister Russo asked.
Elisa glanced down at her drawing again. “I’m not sure I have a testimony. I don’t really know what that means.”
Sister Russo gave Elisa a kind smile. “That’s OK. Do you remember what faith is?”
Elisa nodded. “Believing in something we can’t see?”
“That’s right!” Sister Russo said. “What are some things you believe in?”
That was an easy question. “I believe in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know They love me.”
Sister Russo smiled. “You just shared your testimony! A testimony is what you believe about the gospel.”
Elisa thought about it. “So I already have a testimony?”
“Yes!” Sister Russo held up her scriptures. “And remember what we read today? You nourish the seed by doing things like coming to church. Then your testimony will grow stronger.”
Elisa felt like she understood. “So that’s why we drew our testimonies as plants?”
“Exactly. Because plants grow little by little,” Sister Russo said. “Testimonies are the same way. They usually don’t come all at once. They grow a little at a time.”
Elisa felt better about the plant she had drawn. When she got home, she wrote “My Testimony Plant” next to her drawing. She hung it up by her bed. She knew her testimony was already growing. And she wanted to keep following Jesus so it could grow even bigger!