October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Ciro Schmeil › Youth
Stop Filling a Bag with Holes
From “Consider Your Ways, and from This Day Will the Lord Bless You,” by Elder Ciro Schmeil · Sunday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
When we put our covenants with God first, Jesus Christ shares our load and God blesses our efforts.
Objective
Youth will explain what the Lord meant by “Consider your ways” in Haggai and will pick one change this week that puts their covenants first.
Before you teach
- Read Elder Schmeil's talk; mark the paragraphs on the sacrament and on Haggai.
- Cut the bottoms out of two paper bags. Crumple about twenty sheets of scrap paper into balls.
- Bring a blanket or large towel and a tall stack of hymnbooks or other books.
- Have paper and pens for anyone without a phone.
- Write on the board: Consider your ways.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
The bag race
- Start right after the prayer. Split the class into two teams and give each a bottomless bag and half the paper balls.
- One person on each team holds the bag in the air by its top. The team has thirty seconds to fill it. Most balls will fall straight through. Count what stays in.
- Laugh with them, then ask the question below. Take two quick answers and move on.
- What in real life feels like this: lots of effort and not much to show for it?
Find it in Haggai
- Tell them the bag is from the scriptures. Elder Schmeil, of the Seventy, built his conference talk on it.
- Give the setting in the talk's terms: the Lord had commanded the Israelites to rebuild the temple, but they did not make it a priority.
- In groups of three, have them open Haggai 1:5–7, 9 on their phones or in their scriptures and find two things: what was going wrong, and the reason the Lord gave. First group to find both stands up.
- Then have everyone read Haggai 2:19 and find what the Lord said once they started rebuilding.
- Read Elder Schmeil's summary: “Although they were doing much, they were not accomplishing much because God’s holy house was not a priority in their lives.”
- The people were working hard. So what was the real problem?
- Why would the Lord promise a blessing on the day they started, before the temple was finished?
Carry it together
- Lay the blanket on the floor and stack the books in the middle. Ask one volunteer to pick up the whole load alone by gathering the blanket and carry it across the room. Stop them if it is too heavy.
- Now have a second person take the other end of the blanket and carry it across together.
- Have someone read Matthew 11:28–30 aloud. Explain briefly that a yoke joins two together to pull one load.
- Read Elder Schmeil's sentence: “It is through covenants that we become yoked with the Savior Jesus Christ and our burdens become lighter.”
- The books did not get lighter. What changed?
- When has something hard felt lighter because you prayed, took the sacrament, or kept a promise to God?
Answer the text
- Read this made-up situation: a friend texts you Saturday night to say they are skipping church tomorrow because they messed up this week and would feel fake taking the sacrament.
- Read aloud what Elder Schmeil taught about the sacrament prayer: we do not need to be perfect to partake; we need to be willing to take His name upon us, remember Him, and keep His commandments.
- Read Elder Renlund's words that Elder Schmeil quoted (see aligned quotes), and President Oaks's short line from this conference (see aligned quotes).
- In pairs, give them three minutes to write a reply to the friend in their own words, kind and honest, using something from what you just read. They can type it in their notes app.
- Invite two or three pairs to read their reply. Thank each one. Add that a bishop is glad to help anyone who is unsure about partaking.
- Elder Renlund said this hesitation will come to each of us. Why do you think it comes?
- What does being willing look like on a week when you have not been at your best?
Consider your own ways
- Point to the board. Explain that this part is private; no one will be asked to share.
- Invite those with phones to look at their own screen time or calendar for the past week. Others can list on paper where their time went.
- Ask them to write, just for themselves, an answer to the two questions below.
- Read Elder Schmeil's words: “God knows what is best for us and is eager to bless us.” Tell them this is not about guilt. The people in Haggai's day were blessed from the day they turned around.
- If someone looked only at where your time went this week, what would they say comes first for you?
- What is one small thing you could move so that your promises to God come first?
Pick one and start
- Ask each person to choose one change from the list of ways to act, or their own, and write it where they will see it, such as a phone lock screen note.
- Read the promise from the talk: “He will magnify our efforts as we consider our ways and make the proper adjustments to make and keep covenants with Him.”
- As a quick check, ask one volunteer to explain the bag with holes to the class in fifteen seconds.
- Share your testimony in a sentence or two. Tell them you will open next week by asking what they changed and what they noticed. Next week, ask.
Key passages from the talk
“Although they were doing much, they were not accomplishing much because God’s holy house was not a priority in their lives.”
“It is through covenants that we become yoked with the Savior Jesus Christ and our burdens become lighter.”
“God knows what is best for us and is eager to bless us.”
“We need to be willing to take upon us His name, remember Him, and keep His commandments, and in return we have the promise to always have His Spirit with us.”
Scriptures
- Haggai 1:5–7, 9 Groups of three race to find what was going wrong for the people and the reason the Lord gave.
- Haggai 2:19 Everyone reads it and finds what the Lord said once the people started to rebuild.
- Matthew 11:28–30 One youth reads aloud after the blanket demonstration; discuss what a yoke does to a load.
- Ether 12:27 Offer as a follow-up for the week: read it and look for the two things the Savior asks of us before weak things become strong.
Other voices that agree
“the time will come, in each of your lives, when there will be a hesitation to go to church and partake of the sacrament. If it hasn’t happened yet, it will. But know this: if you follow the Savior’s direction and go and partake of the sacrament, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, blessings will pour upon you that will keep you firm, that will keep you solid, that will keep you established on that firm foundation that is Jesus Christ.”
“We are all a work in progress.”
Three things to remember
- Busy is not the same as blessed; what I put first matters.
- My covenants connect me to Jesus Christ, and He helps carry what I cannot.
- I do not have to be perfect to take the sacrament; I need to be willing.
Ways to act this week
- Move one thing in your week so a promise to God comes first, such as scriptures before scrolling or prayer before you leave for school.
- On Sunday, put your phone away before the sacrament hymn and think of one thing the Savior has done for you.
- If a friend has stopped coming, send a kind message this week and offer to sit with them on Sunday.
- Read Ether 12:27 and tell the Lord in prayer one weakness you want His help with.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Come unto Jesus
- Lord, I Would Follow Thee
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with two or three youth: do the bag race against a timer and write the reply to the friend together.
- Large class: run several bag teams at once and have pairs share replies with another pair, not the whole room.
- Short on time: keep the bag race, Haggai, and the last two segments; mention Matthew 11:28–30 in one sentence.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.