56. Why Jesus Came Down to Earth

A talk given by seven-year-old Rachael Cleverly on Sunday, December 26, 1982, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. On Christmas night Claudia and I had asked the children, "Why was Jesus born?" They weren’t really sure. Rachael was excited by the answers and decided to talk about them the next afternoon in a talk she had been assigned to give in Primary. The talk was published complete with her original spelling in both the January 1983 issue of the Cleverly Newsletter and the January 1984 issue of Die Lange Zeit. Rachael at the time was a second grader at Bountiful Elementary.

Today I’m going to talk about why Jesus came down to earth.

OK, when we were still up in heven, our hevenly father said, “I know you want to be like me with a body. And I do to, but in order to do that, we’ll have to have a world, but you’ll make mistakes. So I’ll have to get someone to corect them.”

Jesus and Saten were the only ones who volintered. They both wanted to do that. Then Saten spoke up and said, “I’ll make sure no-one is bad.” Our hevenly father did not like his idea. Our hevenly father wants us to choose by our selfs.

Suddenly Jesus said, “I’ll do it your way. I won’t force them. I will let them choose, and give you all the credet.”

Saten was very mad at this point. Our hevenly father kicked Saten right out of heven, and a third of his followers. Saten is still mad. And he tries to make us do bad things.

But the real reasons why Jesus came are to show us an example, to teach us, to pay for our sins, and he died for us so we could live with him agin.

There are two kinds of deth, spirichle deth, and phisicle deth. Phisicle deth is when our spirit departs from our bodies. Spirichle deth is when we do rong, and we depart from God.

And I hope we won’t have spirichle deth, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

53. Honesty

A talk given by six-year-old Rachael Cleverly on Sunday, February 14, 1982, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was printed in the March 1982 issue of the Family Journal.

Today I’m going to talk about honesty. First of all, honesty means not telling lies.

There are at least three ways why we should be honest. First, so you won’t get in trouble. Second, so you’ll feel good inside. Third, so Heavenly Father won’t be sad.

I’m going to tell you a story about Daniel. Once there was a man named Daniel, and he lived in the city near a king. The king loved him very much, and he made Daniel sort of like a prince.
There were some people in the city that didn’t even like him, and they tried to get rid of him. Now Daniel had a rule for himself that he would pray three times a day. And the people who didn’t like him forced the king into making a rule that said you couldn’t pray to your own God but only to the king. And once they caught Daniel praying to his own God, so they brought him to the king, and the king said, “Is it true that you have been praying to your own God?”

Daniel could have told a lie just to save himself, but he told the truth, and he said, “Yes, I have been praying to my own God.”

Now the king hated to do it, but he had to obey the laws, so he put Daniel in the lions’ den. And all night the lions kept their mouths shut. In the morning the king was so surprised when he saw Daniel was still alive. After they got Daniel out, they put the other people in, and that night the lions did not keep their mouths shut.

And I hope we can all be honest like Daniel was. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

51. The Song of the Righteous

A talk given by six-year-old Rachael Cleverly on Sunday, November 15, 1981, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was printed in the December 1981 issue of the Family Journal. Rachael at this time was a first grader at Bountiful Elementary.

Today I’m going to talk about music.

In a revelation to Joseph Smith the Lord said, “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads” (D&C 25:12).

It is very important for us to sing the songs in Primary, family home evening, and at other times. When we sing, it makes Heavenly Father happy.

Songs can also teach us things. Like in the song, “Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning”:

Oh, how lovely was the morning!
Radiant beamed the sun above.
Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,
Music ringing through the grove,
When within the shady woodland
Joseph sought the God of love;
When within the shady woodland,
Joseph sought the God of love.

This song tells us about Joseph Smith’s First Vision when he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.