Prayer:

Scripture: Galatians 5:13

Opening Song: "A Smile Is Like the Sunshine" pg. 267 Children’s Songbook

Objective- to teach service to the family

Lesson:

Sunshine Club

By Mary Frederickson

Friend, June 1994

"Am I ever bored," Natalie said on Monday morning as she and her sister and brothers sat under the maple tree in their backyard, drinking lemonade. "School’s only been out two weeks, and I’ve already run out of things to do."

"Me, too," Travis agreed. "Later we’ll have swimming lessons and summer camp, but right now, what?" He was the oldest Carter child. They ranged in age from Johnny, who was six, to Travis, fourteen; with nine-year-old Natalie, ten-year-old Roger, and twelve-year-old Susan in between.

"I’ve been thinking," Susan said slowly.

"Hooray!" Roger teased.

"Seriously," Susan went on, making a face at Roger, "why don’t we form a club?"

"We’ve already had lots of clubs," Johnny groaned. "And I never got to be president of any of them."

"Not a regular club—a special one, one that isn’t just for fun, but to help people too."

"Sure!" Travis exclaimed. "We could have a good-deed club, or something like that. We could secretly do nice things for people."

"We’ll need a name and a general plan," Natalie pointed out.

"Why don’t we each think of a different good deed. That way we’ll do one for each day of the week," Roger put in.

"Let’s call ourselves the Sunshine Club," Natalie suggested.

"OK!" the others chimed in.

"Let’s pick ideas from oldest to youngest," said Susan.

They all agreed. Then Travis announced that he already had an idea for that day. "Remember Jeff, the boy who was burned in that house fire last week? We heard about it in sacrament meeting and in Primary. We could each write him a letter and send a get-well card."

After lunch the children wrote notes to Jeff. Johnny cut out pretty pictures from a magazine to help fill his page, and Natalie included a poem she liked. Travis found a card with a happy verse in the family greeting-card box.

The children rode their bicycles to the post office and mailed the large envelope. "That was fun, wasn’t it!" Johnny whooped as they pedaled home.

After supper, the Sunshine Club met hastily on the back porch. They decided to announce their activity at ten each morning and to try to complete it during the afternoon.

On Tuesday, Susan suggested they pick flowers from their garden, make bouquets, and take them to the retired people’s center. That afternoon, while Susan and Roger cut flowers with Mom’s permission, the other three children found old jars that they cleaned and covered with foil or pretty wrapping paper.

"Off we go," they cried as they headed into town, pulling a wagon loaded with colorful blossoms. At the retirement center, they split up and each delivered three small vases of flowers.

Roger was having a hard time deciding what to suggest for Wednesday. But when Mom said she would be gone all day, his eyes sparkled. "Today the Sunshine Club stays home to help Mom."

"But we always help," Johnny said, disappointed.

"We do our regular jobs—but I mean special ones."

So that afternoon the children washed all the windows and the kitchen floor. Then they made some corn bread, heated up some stew, and sneaked out of the kitchen just as Mom came home. She was pleased to see the shiny clean windows and glossy floor and to smell supper on the stove.

"My, how wonderful to have so many mysterious elves around our home," she remarked at supper. "This stew is delicious, and the corn bread tastes great!"

Thursday morning when the children met, Natalie appeared about to burst. "We’ll collect aluminum cans today and give the money we make to the homeless shelter." All afternoon they knocked on doors asking for old cans. They searched along roadsides too. A large stack of cans grew in their backyard.

When Dad came home, he volunteered to take the cans to the recycling center.

"Thanks, Dad," Travis said. The others nodded their thanks too. They all helped load the plastic bags filled with cans into their van. Natalie went into the center with Dad and proudly brought back a check for their efforts. "It’s not much, but every little bit helps," she said.

On Friday morning, Johnny looked happy. He had finally decided on a project. "Let’s go through our toys and clothes. Richard’s family is having a hard time since his dad was hurt. We could give them some of our things."

"What a great idea, Johnny," Susan said. "I’ll write a note, and we can sneak up and deliver the things without them seeing us."

The children were amazed at the many nice things they found that would be just right for someone in Richard’s family. They decided to give puzzles, a teddy bear, a ball, a baseball mitt, books, and some outgrown clothes that were still as good as new.

Mom came by and added two good blankets and some canned food to the pile.

"Wow," said Johnny. "This looks great!" The children carted their box to Richard’s home. They left it by the front door with a note that said:

To Richard’s family—

Here is a gift to let you know we care.

The Sunshine Club

The children hurried home. That evening after supper they again sat under the maple tree.

"Boy, am I tired!" Johnny announced.

"But it’s a good kind of tired," Susan said.

"Yes," Travis agreed. "And this sure hasn’t been a boring week."

"The club won’t stop, will it?" Natalie asked.

"Oh, no," the others chorused.

"That’s good," Roger asserted. "I already have a lot of new ideas for the Sunshine Club."

Moon and Morning Stars

Friend, Apr. 1973

This game is played in sunny and shady places by children in Spain. One player is chosen to be the moon, and he stands in the shade or shadows of trees and buildings. The moon can’t go into the sunshine.

All the other players are morning stars. They can be in the sunshine, but if they go into shade or shadows, the moon tries to catch or tag them.

While the stars are playing in the sunshine, they sing this little song:

The bright moon and morning stars!

Where the light shines bright

We dance and play.

But who will dare the shadow?

When the moon finally tags a star, that player becomes the next moon.

SUN CATCHERS

What You Need:

1. Draw a large circle (around 10" in diameter) on the cardboard.
2. Cut the circle out.
3. Draw a number of triangles (about 8-10) for the sun rays.
4. Cut the triangles out.
5. Draw where the eyes will be on the cardboard circle and cut them out.
6. Paint all of the pieces and let them dry.
7. When the pieces are dry, tape the triangles to the circle so that the tape is on the unpainted side.
8. Draw and cut-out a rectangular piece of cardboard as a way to hold on to the mask. Tape this to the circle as well.
9. Next, decorate the sun mask by adding a nose, mouth and any other bits of fabric, yarn or tinsel you would like to make the sun shine!

Closing Song:

Closing Prayer: "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" pg. 60 Children’s Songbook

Refreshments:

1/2 pt. heavy cream
Few grains salt
1 tsp. pineapple juice
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups mini marshmallows
Fresh or canned pineapple slices

In a chilled stainless steel mixing bowl, combine the heavy cream, salt, pineapple juice and vanilla extract. Whip until soft peaks form. Fold in the mini marshmallows, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The marshmallows will sweeten the cream as it sets.)

Just before serving, trim the outer edges of the pineapple slices to resemble sun rays. Place each pineapple slice in the center of a plate and top with a generous dollop of marshmallow cream. Serves 6 to 8.