I just wanted to let you all know that I used the "Wasted" article from the March 1990 New Era for my lesson last Sunday. The girls loved it! I had each of the teens responses about each of the sections it talked about split up, and had each girl read what each person said about how they started, how they felt while they were on drugs, etc.

The clincher for them was when I told them all these kids came from good LDS homes, two were the kids of bishops, etc.  They couldn't believe that, so it really got them into the lesson.

It was a great help for me, because I've never used drugs so am certainly not a drug addict, and have no idea what that's all really like for myself. Same with the girls. They're all good kids, so the section on how to help someone on drugs was nice. Having those teens responses and input on many things made the lesson a big success.

I ended with the quote sent last week about not feeding the foxes. I ended just before we were supposed to, but the girls kept the lesson going until 5 minutes past the hour.   To me that was a good sign, rather than having them race out the door.

One other thing: I printed out papers with each of the headings in the lesson at the top, and as the girls read what each person said I would write little notes of what each person said (with their name next to them). That way we could go back and compare the different stages of each person. For example, they start out of curiosity, then end up so that drugs is their whole life, or that they didn't think they were addicted, but yet they were stealing, lying, arrested, etc. I hadn't looked at it that way until during the lesson, and it made it even more interesting. Plus, sometimes the girls would say, "Now which one thought they could easily stop and still get married inthe temple?" and we could look right back and answer that.

Here’s the foxes quote:

Your Personal Checklist for a Successful Eternal Flight
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock Of the Seventy
Ensign November 1993

Live the commandments. Never feed the foxes! What does that mean? Breaking commandments is like feeding foxes. In England where we live, my wife and I had heard that foxes were right in town. We wanted to see a fox. A neighbor told us that if we left food for the foxes we probably would see one. Our butcher gave us some bones. Each night we would place some bones out in the backyard. Soon a fox came to eat. Then a few more. Now we have at least five foxes racing through our flower garden, digging up the lawn, and leaving a shamble every night, sort of like a furry Jurassic Park. What started out as a curiosity is now a problem, and sin is much the same.

An indiscretion can begin a process that can make a mess of a whole life. Remember, if you don't start feeding the foxes, they will never tear up your yard. If you avoid making the seemingly small and harmless mistakes, your life will be free of many larger problems later on. Be a courageous young man by living straight. Create happy memories for yourselves and those around you.

Contributed by: Charlotte in Iowa cmmeyer@caves.net

The best lesson I ever "gave" on drug abuse was when my oldest child was only 6 years old and we were watching "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" on TV. When the main character went through his hideous transformations my son said, "What's happening to him?" and I said, "He took drugs." That made a major impression on my son and now he is almost 16. He has good friends and has no interest in drugs or any of the other WOW problems.

Contributed by: LehiGreens@aol.com

I am planning on using "traps" as a little mini-theme. I've got an old fashioned bear trap and I'm going to talk about how much easier it would be if we just avoided traps (drugs) and not get caught in them. It hurts much worse to get out of these traps when we should just avoid them all together. I may even use mouse traps somehow for a type of hand out.....not sure yet.