Today in Sharing Time we played Prophet Bingo.  Each child had a Bingo card. (I made the cards on my computer using clip art. (I used Inspirational Images from Bright Impressions.)
 

• Before I would hold up a picture of the prophet (so they could put their marker on it), I would give them a clue about the prophet.
• All of the information (included at the bottom of this e-mail) listed below the prophets' names is a clue (their testimony, a song or information about their life).
• I would let the children guess who they thought the prophet was.
• Once they guessed the correct prophet (or I told them who it was because they couldn't figure it out), I would hold up the picture of the prophet and play their testimony from the videotape "Testimonies of the Prophets."

• I've gathered the following facts about the prophets. I tried to include facts about the prophets' childhood. (My main source was "The Lord Needed a Prophet by Susan Arrington Madsen.)
• The testimonies (on video) referred to are from the video tape "Testimonies of the Prophets." I purchased the tape from the Distribution Center. The testimony listed for each prophet is from the November 2000 friend.

Testimony: We must love others, even our enemies as well as our friends. Be brave.

• When he was 7 years old, he refused to drink alcohol before an operation on his leg. He wanted his dad to hold him instead.
• He walked with a slight limp after the age of 7.
• He loved sports like wrestling, baseball, stick pulling & horseback riding.
• Saw a vision of the Father and the Son in the Sacred Grove.
• A group of angry men tied him up and tried to force a bottle of poison into his mouth, but this prophet broke the bottle with his teeth-chipping his front tooth. The mob choked this prophet until he was unconscious and left him for dead.
• Loved to take his family to musical concerts, the theater, circus performances and boat trips on the Mississippi River.

Brigham Young
Song: The Oxcart Song

Testimony: Truth is obeyed when it is loved. Obey the Word of Wisdom.

• Was called "Lion of the Lord"
• This prophet baked bread, churned butter and made most of his family's meals at the age of 8.
• Because his family was very poor, he had only one pair of shoes during his boyhood-which he only wore inside the church. (He would carry his shoes in his hands until he reached the church lot, taking them off again after the service before he walked home.)
• He made beautiful chairs, beds and cabinets. He also made brooms, fireplace mantels and spinning wheels.
• He studied the church for 2 years before he was baptized.
• His infant daughter was thrown from a wagon and run over, but miraculously survived.

• This prophet was born in England.
• He was a Methodist Preacher before he joined the church.
• He had one penny in his pocket when he boarded a ship to serve a mission in Great Britain.
• A silver pocket watch in his vest pocket saved his life.
• He was nicknamed "Defender of the Faith."
• He sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to the Prophet Joseph Smith prior to his death.

Wilford Woodruff
Testimony on video
Testimony: We need to be guided by the spirit of God. Follow the Prophet.

• When he was 3 years old, he fell into a huge pot of boiling water.
• When he was 5, he fell down a flight of stairs and broke his arm.
• He was kicked in the stomach by an ox.
• He was thrown from a horse-breaking one leg and injuring both ankles.
• He was bitten by a sick dog.
• The Lord protected this future prophet from death and threatening dangers.

Lorenzo Snow
Testimony: The time has now come for every Latter Day Saint. To do the will of the Lord and to pay his tithing in full. Pray and know that prayers are answered.

• As a child, he talked is sister into making a military uniform for him. He called it his "freedom suit."
• He wanted to be a soldier. (Both of his grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War.)
• He gave a copy of the Book of Mormon to Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.
• His best friends were his sisters.
• He almost drowned while serving a mission in Hawaii.
• He built a stage in his home so his children could perform for the family.

Joseph F. Smith
Song: Families Can Be Together Forever

Testimony: I feel in my heart to forgive all men. Have courage.

• His father died when he was 5 years old.
• At age 7, he drove his family's oxen team 200 miles to Winter Quarters.
• His mother died when he was 13 years old.
• At the age of 15, he was called to serve a mission to the Hawaiian Islands.
• A man on horseback came to this future prophet and shouted "We will kill anyone who is a Mormon! Are you a Mormon?" His response was, "Yes siree; dyed in the wool; true blue, through and through!" The man was so surprised. He put his gun away and shook the future prophet's hand and said, "Well, you are the pleasantest man I ever met! I'm glad to see a fellow stand for his convictions." The man jumped on his horse and rode away.
• While he was the prophet, the church started publishing The Friend magazine.

Testimony: I assert with confidence that the law of success, here and hereafter, is to have a humble and a prayerful heart, and to work, work,
work! Be persistent - keep trying.

• He was an only child.
• At age 12, he memorized the Word of Wisdom.
• A classmate called him "that grasshopper dude."
• He shined 40 pair of shoes to earn enough money to buy a baseball.
• He was on a baseball team that won the state championship.
• He won a pair of buckskin gloves in a contest to see who would be first to read the Book of Mormon.

George Albert Smith
Testimony on video

Testimony: All the people of the earth are our Father's children. Have faith to be healed.

• He was known as a daredevil when he was a child.
• He put on musical variety shows for the community.
• He started working for ZCMI at age 13.
• He eventually married the girl whose braids he tied to a tree and dipped in ink.
• He helped put out a fire that was caused by a hot air balloon hitting the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
• As a small child he had typhoid fever. The doctor recommended he be kept in bed and given only coffee to drink. But, he refused to drink coffee and ask for a priesthood blessing instead. The doctor was amazed to see him playing outside the next day.

David O. McKay
Song: I hope they call me on a mission

Testimony: Every member a missionary! Stand for the right.

• At age 7, while his father was on a mission, he milked the cows, fed the livestock & did household chores for his mother.
• He memorized scriptures while riding his horse.
• This prophet was valedictorian-which means he was the top student-at the University of Utah.
• He played on the University of Utah football team.
• He and his family liked playing Rook, Pit and backgammon.
• This prophet loved horses! His favorite horse was named "Sonny Boy."

Testimony: The Church is a world church, the gospel is for ALL men. Study and memorize the scriptures.

• He loved reading and usually had a book in his hands when e was a child.
• He read the Book of Mormon twice before he was 12 years old.
• This future prophet pieced quilts.
• One time he was picking fruit in a tree and his leg got caught in the fork of two branches. While he was waiting to be rescued, an angry wasp stung him.
• As an adult, he would often spend an entire day baking pies.
• He became president of the Church when he was 93 years old.

Testimony: Keep the commandments. Listen to and obey the Spirit.

• He played the piano at church meetings (and for family and friends).
• He played the cornet (trumpet) and baritone.
• He was driven to school in a two-wheeled cart pulled by a pony driven by his mother.
• He went to school with President Ezra Taft Benson.
• When he was a school principal, he made friends with the students by playing basketball with them.
• He enjoyed taking his family to a local drive-in for ice cold root beer.

Testimony: Lengthen your stride. Set hard goals and always do your best.

• Speaking of his stature, this prophet said, "I sit tall but stand short." (He was rather short!)
• He was very strong and could outwrestle any boy near his size.
• While milking cows, this future prophet would says his ABCs forward and backward, recite Articles of Faith and memorize scriptures.
• When he turned 8, he was baptized in a big metal container they used as a bathtub. Four years later, someone suggested that his baptism wasn't right because his father wasn't standing in the bathtub with him. So-he was baptized a second time-in the Union Canal where he often went swimming.
• His family always knelt for prayer before meals. They kept their chairs facing away from the table.
• He read the Bible when he was 12 years old. (It took him 1 year.)

Testimony: Read and study the Book of Mormon. Have integrity.

• He agreed to shave his head when the Boy Scouts under his leadership voted to go on a hike with shaved heads.
• He weighed 11 pounds when he was born & wasn't breathing. The doctor said, "There's no hope for this child to live, but I believe we can save the mother." While the doctor worked on his mother, his two grandmothers fell to their knees and asked the Lord to help them save their precious grandson.They quickly got two pans of water, one cool and one warm, and began dipping the baby first in one pan and then in the other until finally he let out a loud cry. The women wept for joy when they were sure that the baby would live and that his mother was also out of danger.
• He was called "T" in his youth.
• At age 7, he was digging potatoes, thinning sugar beets and caring for the family's 8 work horses.
• He loved to swim in Bear Lake.
• Before he could ask his future wife to marry him, she announced she was going on a mission to Hawaii. He waited for her & they were married upon her return.

Testimony: Let us treat each other with more kindness, more courtesy, more humility and patience and forgiveness. Work hard and be dependable.

• He had a dog named Daisy.
• He was raised in the city, but as a child was very jealous of children who grew up on farms.
• He loved animals & gave a home to many stray cats.
• His mother was the Primary President.
• He was baptized when he was 12 years old in a swimming pool.
• He played the saxophone.

Testimony: They need nearby temples-small, beautiful, serviceable temples. Show kindness and concern for others.

• He received a testimony of Joseph Smith when he was 12 years old. His father took him to the meeting & then his father went to sit on the stand (because he was in the Stake Presidency) and Pres. Hinckley sat on the back row.  Everyone sang "Praise to the Man" and a feeling came over him that made him believe in the power of the Holy Ghost.
• He loved to plant trees.
• He didn't have TV or radio growing up, but he and his family enjoyed sledding and skating at a neighborhood park.
• On his first day of school, this future-prophet hid from his parents because he didn't want to start school. (He wanted to be with his mom.) His parents finally found him and took him to school-he cried the whole way. (But he soon learned to like school.)
• While on his mission he wrote a letter to his father telling him he wanted to come home. His father wrote back and said, "Forget yourself and go to work." This advice changed his life.
• He married a girl he first met when they were children in Primary.