"Hey, Molly, where are you in the Book of Mormon?"
I thought rapidly. Where did I leave off? When did I even read last? Ashamed, I mumbled a random chapter, and resolved to start reading again.
Has anything similar happened to you? A Personal Progress experience, parent, leader, teacher, bishop inquires about your scripture study and you're like, "Uh oh... I was supposed to do that?"
There's nothing wrong with drifting from the path -- as long as you realize it, and get back on it. If you want to make your scripture study a little less boring, try these 5 creative methods of study.
1. Comic and Create
This is my favorite method of study. It may be just me, but I find it very fun to sketch what's going on in the Book of Mormon. I just make little stick figures, and have fun illustrating the Nephite world. If you're a real artist, you can try making a professional comic book, sort of like the Book of Mormon children's readers. But if you're just an average Mormon citizen, it can be fun to draw cute little stick figures. You can use my free scripture comic template here. I would upload a picture of some of my own comics, but will abstain for fear of getting judged on my stick-people abilities (and disagreed on with the fact that the Nephites were at least just a little bit tan. Cough, certain brother out there.) The other method that falls under this category is stop-motion movies. If you're going to judge, move on to #2. But let me tell you, movie-making for Book of Mormon stories is fun and rewarding. Any of the creative methods above has helped me see the Nephite world come alive, and see them as the images I've drawn, not just boring old names.
2. Red-Headed Hostess Products
The Red-Headed Hostess has a plethora of products you can use in your scripture study. I love to doodle, and her journals are made exactly for that. The products can get pricey, but I have learned that this summer, 2018, you can get 15% off purchases of $10 or more with the code SUMMERSTUDY2018. I think they do those sales every summer, but anyways... Here are some of her study products I recommend.
3. Free Seminary Study Guide
While the Red-Headed Hostess products are cool, they can be super pricey. So if you want a free, digital version, try the LDS At-Home Seminary Study Guide. It goes with the Book of Mormon, and you can find it on the Gospel Library app. It has open ended questions, reading, talks, pictures, and lots of things for you to do. I like that this is a)free and b)digital!
4. Reading Goals and Challenges
I love the site LDS Scripture tools. It has Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, New, and Old Testament reading calculators to help you achieve certain goals, such as doing your Virtue project before PP ends, reading all of the standard works before your mission, etc. You put in the start date and finish date of reading these and it does everything else for you. Other challenges you can do while reading the Book of Mormon are looking for references of women in it, or references to Christ, kind of like what President Nelson did when he read all of the verses about Christ in the standard works. Challenges can be good, but make sure that your intent is right. As I was typing this I was totally reminded of the talk "Living With Purpose." I encourage you to watch it, but basically, the class is challenged to read the Book of Mormon. One of the students read the Book of Mormon very fast just so he could "win the contest." So be careful that you're not just trying to speed read with this! ;)
I love the site LDS Scripture tools. It has Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, New, and Old Testament reading calculators to help you achieve certain goals, such as doing your Virtue project before PP ends, reading all of the standard works before your mission, etc. You put in the start date and finish date of reading these and it does everything else for you. Other challenges you can do while reading the Book of Mormon are looking for references of women in it, or references to Christ, kind of like what President Nelson did when he read all of the verses about Christ in the standard works. Challenges can be good, but make sure that your intent is right. As I was typing this I was totally reminded of the talk "Living With Purpose." I encourage you to watch it, but basically, the class is challenged to read the Book of Mormon. One of the students read the Book of Mormon very fast just so he could "win the contest." So be careful that you're not just trying to speed read with this! ;)
5. Utilizing Gospel Library
The Gospel Library app is very cool. While some of you may just go online on your phones whenever you need to access the scriptures, I encourage you to use the app as you study. You can read a chapter, then highlight your favorite verse, or write a summary of the chapter and what you learned. You can save bookmarks, create links, tags, and all sorts of cool stuff within the app.
Scripture Reading Trackers
I've created some trackers you can use to read the Book of Mormon. They're mostly just to let you know where you are, rather than try to fly through the book. You can hang them up wherever you want as a nice reminder. Enjoy!
Book of Mormon Reading Tracker
One is the Virtue Value Project version and the other version is a generic one.
New Testament Reading Tracker
I found that most Bibles are black and gold, so that's our color palette for this one!
Old Testament Reading Tracker
I am so sorry about this one. It's a long story, but basically I was forced to copy and paste the books from the Primary Old Testament song! Whoops... maybe I can try to redesign later when my design software is actually working.
Plus...
I love the Comic and Create method I've made a comic template you can use! Get it here. Enjoy!
Happy reading!
Molly Mormon
The Gospel Library app is very cool. While some of you may just go online on your phones whenever you need to access the scriptures, I encourage you to use the app as you study. You can read a chapter, then highlight your favorite verse, or write a summary of the chapter and what you learned. You can save bookmarks, create links, tags, and all sorts of cool stuff within the app.
Scripture Reading Trackers
I've created some trackers you can use to read the Book of Mormon. They're mostly just to let you know where you are, rather than try to fly through the book. You can hang them up wherever you want as a nice reminder. Enjoy!
Book of Mormon Reading Tracker
One is the Virtue Value Project version and the other version is a generic one.
New Testament Reading Tracker
I found that most Bibles are black and gold, so that's our color palette for this one!
Old Testament Reading Tracker
I am so sorry about this one. It's a long story, but basically I was forced to copy and paste the books from the Primary Old Testament song! Whoops... maybe I can try to redesign later when my design software is actually working.
Plus...
I love the Comic and Create method I've made a comic template you can use! Get it here. Enjoy!
Happy reading!
Molly Mormon
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