2 Nephi 3:19 And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are

expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be

as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith.

Several months ago, I found myself weighed down by the world that we lived in.  I was struggling to see past the Goliath's surrounding me and my little family.  One morning I was talking to my sister about my state of mind and she said to me,

"Turn it off."

"What?" I responded.

She said, "Turn it off!",  after a short pause she continued.  "Angela, turn off the noise!  Turn off the news.  Turn off every outlet that is pulling you down."

My response to that was.  "Chelsy, if I turn it off then how will I know what to protect my family against.  I need to stay informed."

She looked at me with a glint in her eye and said, "Then start choosing your information sources better.  Everything you need to know is in the scriptures.  Every warning.  Every sign.  Every symbol.  If you are reading your scriptures you will be prepared.  You don't need a media outlet to warn you.  You need to be tuned in to Heavenly Father's radio tower."

At that moment a light went on in my heart that screamed.  "EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE TUNED INTO HEAVENLY FATHERS RADIO TOWER".  Yes, I know that we are taught this principle from the time we are children, but for me it hit like it never had before.

We live in the last days.  No one knows the time or the place.  But, we all know that we need to be living today as though today is the time and the place.  I realized that the only way that I could be living that way was if I was tuned into Heavenly Father's radio tower.  I further understood that tuning into his tower was not as easy as turning a dial. I needed to turn to the scriptures.  I further felt that I needed to get the message out.  I felt an intense desire to not only ratchet up my scripture reading but that I needed to do everything that I could to help others to do the same thing.  This moment was the birth of the Summer Scripture Reading Challenge.  That day I decided to not only challenge myself to read the scriptures, but I wanted to invite as many people as I possibly could to join me.

The following week I started working on scripture reading charts and started collecting ideas on how to implement my plan.  In the beginning, I hoped that I would be able to rally a few hundred people to join the challenge.  However, I placed my will in Heavenly Fathers hands.  I prayed to Him with the promise that I would do the work to organize the challenge.  But I told Him that I needed Him to bring me the children.  I took my first step into the darkness and miracles started to happen.  During the following weeks I began to put together charts, set up my website so that it could distribute downloads, set up goals and try to come up with incentives that would motivate participants.  Throughout this time, each time I hit a road block, Heavenly Father provided a solution.  The two biggest road blocks were the need for exceptional art that would inspire the children and the need for incentives that would motivate the children. Yet, both were resolved as Heavenly Father brought people into my life that were uniquely qualified to solve each problem.

Since the Summer Scripture Reading Challenge was announced we have had over 10,000 charts downloaded in 10 languages.  And the stories started pouring in.  Parents began to email me with sweet things that their children said and faith promoting experiences that their families were having.  As these messages began pouring in, I realized that the miracles that had occurred in my life to get the challenge started were only the beginning of the story and that the true story was happening in households all over the world.

Share Your Challenge Experience

We want to collect "the rest of the story"!  We want to hear your experiences and cute things that happened during the scripture reading challenge. These faith promoting experiences can be a source of inspiration for all of us to continue in our work of sharing the gospel in our families.  Please share your experiences and we will post them on Scriptures 4 Kids for everyone to enjoy.

We want everything!

• Cute things that your children have said.
• Faith promoting moments and experiences
• Even share your long stories about how the scripture challenge has impacted your life

You can email your story, images or anything relevant to your submission to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can use the form below.

You can type you story in the text box below or you can type it up in a Word or text document and attach it.  If you have any images that you would like included with your stories please feel free to attach a jpg or jpeg image.  Your story, experience or thought will be published in a blog format.

Please share your story.  Please email your story and pictures to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Book of Mormon Kids Say The Cutest Things

Scott Hoopa shares:

I was listening to the song 'I can only imagine' by Mercy Me. It is about what we will do when we see Jesus face to face. I turned to my son (6 years old) and asked him what he was going to do when he saw Jesus. He said 'Play Golf'.

Isabel Lowe shares:

After reading in 3 Nephi about the Savior calling 12 apostles, 3 year old Isabel shouted "Hey, Jesus didn't have a phone!"

Book Of Mormon Kids Feel The Spirit

Jackson Sylvester shares:

We were watching a Living Scriptures movie and my son turns around very serious and said, "Mom they threw rocks a Jesus.  You can't do that!  God will be very mad!  I agreed.  We kept watching and then the part about earth quakes and the waters going crazy came and he turned and looked at me and said,  "See, they made God very mad.  You don't throw rocks at Jesus mom.  He was very upset to know that people really had done that Then he said,  "Jesus and God are my best friends.  I would just hug them."  I got all teary eyed.

Children Really Do Listen When You Read The Book of Mormon!

Angela Zundel shares:

We have a family with 6 children ranging in age from 14 down to 6 months. We have loved reading the scriptures every night, and will continue this activity now that we see how important it is and it has now become a habit. Our 4 year old twins sometimes had a hard time staying focused, and to be honest,I oftened wondered if they were listening at all! Then one day I was calling them for lunch and found them hiding under a blanket. I asked "what are you two doing?" and they replied "SHHHH Mom! We're hiding from the Lamanites!" I guess they do listen! :)

We read regularly as a family at night time but not much has been getting into my just barely 3 year old. I really have felt strongly that at a young age she needs to have a love for the scriptures and learn from them so as to be immovable as she grows and be a true deciple of Christ. With the chart and your scripture movies it really seems to be sinking in. As she plays with her toys she re-inacts the stories of Lehi's dream and the brass plates. She tells us that one of her friends is Nephi. It also encouraged us to set goals for ourselves for the summer. To continue to grow during the summer months. We set goals that were physical, spritual, educational, and one that was service. She now knows how to ride a bike, knows all the letters in the alphabet, and saught for many service opprotunities during the summer and has memorized the first artical of faith. Thanks for the motivation to center our lives around the Book Of Mormon and Christ's life

Even Little Kids Can Read and Understand The Book of Mormon

Marlaina shares:

Our little family has been doing the Scripture Reading Challenge this Summer. We have two boys ages 2 and 4 and they have loved it. Your site helped me to realize that just because they can not read does not mean that they can't study the scriptures and learn about the stories in them. So I added Personal Scripture Study to our family schedule along with Family Scripture study. In the morning after the kids were dressed, had breakfast and had taken care of their morning chores they could have personal scripture study for 15 minutes. (Would set the clock by placing a cling stick on our clock so they could keep track of how much time they had.) They had 4 choices: 1) Use the Scriptures for kids site and listen to the scriptures or watch the videos. 2) Read and look at the pictures from any of the scriptures we have at home including the Children's Scriptures Stories 3) Watch the Scriptures Story DVD's on the TV 4) Listen to the Scripture Story Podcast from the Mormon Channel. They would usually chose either the Scriptures for Kids site or watching the scripture movies on TV.

Our 4 year old now can "read" his Scripture Stories to us during Family Scripture Time. He can tell us the story of King Benjamin, Lehi's Dream, and the events of the the birth of and Death of the Savior and a few others. Our 2 year old knows what the scriptures are and he knows that we as a family have a habit of studying the scriptures daily. He also knows that he will get a cup of milk if he can sit down and listen to the scriptures. :) Thank you so much for your all of your work and your wonderful site. You idea of creating a website so small children can learn the scriptures has blessed our lives. Thanks for helping me know how to teach my children the stories in the scriptures even though they are still so small.

Kids Love To Read The Book Of Mormon

Heidi Wiltbank shares:

My daughter (age 9) was so inspired by this challenge, she spent most of the day reading the scriptures. She has 2 older brothers and she tries to be better than them always. The neatest thing to see was that she would take the scriptures into her bedroom, put them on the music stand, and sing the words of the scriptures. I had the kids earn time to play video games by reading the scriptures and other things. My oldest child (15) gave a talk in sacrament meeting about studying the scriptures and he referred to your program (he writes his own talks). I was inspired by his talk. He even showed them his chart as an incentive to get the congregation to read. Thank you for your challenge and for the work that you have put into this program! Our family is better because of this.

Lori shares:

One night, I had been getting after my children to "get in bed and go to sleep." I had asked them numerous times to do so (It's summertime and the bedtime rules are quite flexible around here). Finally, when I was about to give one last request, I went into my daughter's room and was surprised with what I saw. My 9 yr old daughter, who doesn't really care for church anyway, was her laying in her bed, reading her scriptures with a flashlight! I was impressed. A few days before this, I had printed out the scripture reading challenge for my three younger children, not really sure if any of them would actually finish the challenge. I was so surprised to see my little girl reading her scriptures, and not only that night, but many nights as well. It has been a great blessing for her and our family!

Shanda Sleater shares:

My six year old sons reading has improved like CRAZY this summer with this scripture reading challenge. He even brings his scriptures to church on Sunday and reads to himself during sacrament meeting.  It's AMAZING! My three year old daughter WOULD NOT read scriptures with us, and I'm talking about the picture book ones put out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. With this challenge, she now LOVES to read the scriptures- THANK YOU!!

Raeval Evans shares:

After I found your website and told me kids about the challenge, my 8 year old son really got into it and he started reading his scriptures everywhere. That first Sunday, he spent all of Sacrament reading his scriptures. He wouldn't even put them down to take the sacrament and was reading as he tried to pass the trays. The bread was no big deal, but as he tried reading and passing the water tray, he ended up a little damp. However, that never stopped him. He just kept reading wet and all. The oldest loved the idea so much that she decided to read the whole Book of Mormon and do that challenge. It has been quite a learning experience for each of my kids. My younger three who cannot read yet enjoy family scripture time every night. I love when the kids ask questions about what we have been reading, because that is a sign to me that they were actually listening and learning something. It has been a wonderful experience for my whole family. Thanks so much for this wonderful idea and this fantastic site.

Luke shares:

My son just turned 3 this summer and when we heard about this program we decided this would be a great opportunity to start reading scriptures as a family. In just a few short weeks, he knew the routine and would proclaim, "and it came to pass" as soon as we would get out the Book of Mormon. He looks forward to reading every night and won't go to bed without it.

Julie Beckham shares:

Scripture time was usually a fight with my three sons, ages 8, 4, and 2. However, over the course of the summer reading challenge, they now look forward to scripture time and beg me to keep going when our fifteen minutes are up. They also are remembering the stories better and talk about how they want to be more like Jesus.

Rita shares:

When we started this challenge my children fought turning TV off for scriptures but soon it began to be just part of their day. While talking with my kids one day I mentioned Brigham Young and my 7 year old lit up. He said I was reading about him this morning and pulled out his Church Scripture Stories: Doctrine and Covenants and showed me the specific story. He is so proud that he finished both the D&C and the Book of Mormon in these condensed forms. What a moment as a mom to know that my kids not only are reading but remembering the stories of Jesus. We have conversations often with even our 5 and 3 year old explaining the doctorine in these stories. My kids love to talk about how Jesus loves them. So thank you for this challenge

The Book of Mormon Comes First!

Lori Fletcher shares:

I am a very tidy homemaker and I like things uncluttered.  But when I printed of the challenge charts I wasn't sure where to put them. All the kids wanted it on the kitchen pantry door. The first week I was annoyed because it didn't look like they belonged on the door right where everyone could see them taped all crooked from each child. But now that summer is almost over and there are smiley face stickers on all the charts.  I find myself not wanting to take them down! It was a great reminder to look at the charts each day where we spend most of the day. I'm so proud of my kids and their colorful charts! Thank you!

It's Hard To Live Without The Book of Mormon!

Amber shares:

Thanks for the scripture challenge--along with it, our Primary Presidency gave us readings to do each day throughout the summer, so it was a great combination. Anyway, we read each morning, first thing before we were required to do anything else--that was a great thing. And we enjoyed the peace that a family finds when we obeyed the council to study each day. I hadn't realized how much we were benefiting as a family, until my boys went to "Grammy Camp" for a week, and I opted not to do scripture time for that week with my little girls. What a mistake! I felt myself slipping further and further, and becoming more and more agitated each day. I KNEW I needed to read, but rationalized that a few days wouldn't hurt, but it wasn't until the middle of the night one night that I'd become a total wreck and finally opened the scriptures. Wouldn't you know--it was all the things I needed to be reminded! Gotta Love HIM!

Kimberlee shares:

Through this experience our family has become closer together and I have notice that my children are kinder to one another and that there is a different feeling present in our home when we have been reading our scriptures. Thanks for providing this program for families everywhere. I look forward to telling my kids to go and read their scriptures. I can also send my to younger girls on to the website and have the stories read to them while I am busy with our newborn.

We Are Grateful for The Book of Mormon

Marcy shares:

Our family has definitely benefited from your challenge! We all decided it would be a great one for this summer and we found that even the kids were reminding us all to make sure to read each day. We did it every day with only missing one day in the 60. We started reading the Book of Mormon as a family about 4 years ago and got to Helaman. In the last 60 days, by just reading 15 minutes, we finished the whole book! We have now decided to keep going and make our own challenge and rewards for the next 60 days! Thanks so much for getting us started!

Danita Beers shares:

Because of the scripture reading challenge my children and I have decided to continue doing it. It has helped my children develop a habit of reading their scriptures daily and I noticed that their reading skills have improved. Reading their scriptures not only blessed them spiritually, but also mentally.

Jan Miller:

I have been trying to get my children to have personal scripture reading, but nothing seemed to work. I heard about the scriptures4kids program and decided to give it a try. My eleven-year-old daughter said that even though she finished the 60 days, she would like to continue reading - because she likes it!! Sometimes it just takes something to get them started. Thank you.

Elgaaen shares:

We read the scriptures every night as a family. This summer I wanted to do a little more with my kids on this. So I decided to have a morning devotional. We sang a hymn and discussed the meaning. Sometimes we sang the hymn all week long. I challenged my kids to memorize some of them like. Have I done any good in the world today & Did you think to pray. We read the scriptures at the bottom of the hymns and went through some principles in my old missionary discussions. It was really fun to not only read the scriptures as a family but to also discuss the stories and how we can be better and face the daily challenges each day like being a good example, serving others and being more Christlike. Thanks for the challenge.

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