Campbell Family Church

Since churches were closed at the beginning of the quarantine (along with schools, restaurants, libraries, museums...) we have been participating in church at home.

J and I have tricked to mimic a typical church experience - I print programs with an activity page on the back for the kids, J provides the sacrament, we have a speaker (by J or Hulk), share testimonies, sing songs while I play piano, and then do a primary lesson (by me) for Hulk and Viking Girl while J puts Teddy Bear down for a nap.

We have really enjoyed this experience.

Last year, our church came out with a new teaching program called Come, Follow Me. It emphasized the importance of teaching the gospel at home and then coming to church prepared to participate in the lessons by sharing thoughts or experiences related to the topics.

J and I have felt that church, like school, is meant to facilitate teaching in the home (not replace). It is our job to teach our children (and ourselves). Church fills in the gaps. You learn a lot through discussion and church provides a place for you to come and to talk and learn from other people. It is a community where we can come together for support and help each other but the majority of learning should be done at home.

Come, Follow Me also gave focus to the lessons we were trying to teach the kids.

So we've really appreciated the program. Especially now, when all church is at home. I particularly appreciate how the lessons we have been going over during this quarantine are uniquely appropriate to the current situation.

In the spirit of honesty, before the quarantine we only sat down with the kids to go over the Come, Follow Me lesson once or twice a week. We wanted to do more but always seemed to get side tracked by something else. During this quarantine we have gone over the lessons almost every day (I think we've only missed one day).

Today, our ward participated in Sunday School through a Zoom conference. That was a great experience. As an introvert that prides herself in being independent I had not realized how much I missed my church family and listening to their insights on the gospel until then.

I am grateful for a modern prophet and leaders who were inspired to shift gospel learning to the home, to change the Visiting/Home Teaching programs to a ministering program that did not require home visits, and to remove the one year waiting period members who were married civilly in the United States had before they could be married in the temple. I feel like all of those changes have prepared us for this unique point in our lives.