October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Clark G. Gilbert › Children

30-minute lesson · Children · Ages 3–11: Primary or home

Truth and Love Walk Together

From “Teach Truth with Love,” by Elder Clark G. Gilbert · Sunday afternoon session, October 2026 General Conference

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The big idea

I can say what is true in a kind way, like Jesus.

Objective

Children will be able to say the lesson's truth in their own words and show one way to say something true with a kind voice.

Before you teach

  • Read Elder Clark G. Gilbert's talk, Teach Truth with Love, especially the story of the visit where he listened first.
  • Bring a flashlight, paper, and crayons.
  • Clear a space where children can hop and walk safely.
  • Be ready to sing Jesus Said Love Everyone.

Lesson plan

Thirty minutes in 7 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.

3 min0–3

Welcome and song

  1. Greet each child by name and invite a child to pray.
  2. Sing Jesus Said Love Everyone together, with simple actions.
  3. Say: Today we will learn that I can say what is true in a kind way, like Jesus. Have the children repeat it with you once.
4 min3–7

Two feet

  1. Have the children stand with room around them. Say: This foot is TRUTH. Hop on it carefully to the other side of the room. Is hopping easy or wobbly?
  2. Say: This other foot is LOVE. Hop back on only that foot. Still wobbly.
  3. Now walk across on both feet. Say: Elder Gilbert, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, taught that truth and love always walk together. We need both feet.
  4. Have the children march in place and say with each step: truth, love, truth, love.
6 min7–13

The story of listening first

  1. Seat the children and tell the story simply: Elder Gilbert went with a stake president to visit a home. When they arrived, five people were waiting inside, and each one had a different worry.
  2. Continue: Elder Gilbert asked where they wanted to start. He wanted to speak up, but the Spirit kept prompting him to wait. So he listened and listened, for nearly two hours. He began to understand them. Then he invited them to come to stake conference that evening, and every one of them said yes.
  3. Act it out. Choose one child to be the visitor and up to five to be the people in the home. The visitor cups a hand behind an ear and listens while each person says, I have a worry. Then the visitor says, Will you come to church with me? and they all answer, Yes.
  4. Repeat with new children so more have a turn. Ask the questions below.
Ask
  • What did Elder Gilbert do first?
  • How do you feel when someone really listens to you?
5 min13–18

Kind voice or grumpy voice

  1. Explain that the same true words can be said in a kind way or an unkind way. Children stand up tall if they hear a kind voice and crouch down small if they hear a grumpy voice.
  2. Say each of these true sentences twice, once grumpy and once kind, in mixed order: It is time to clean up. Please do not push. That is not how the game goes. I want to choose the right.
  3. Let the children take turns saying one of the sentences in a kind voice while the others stand up tall.
  4. Share Elder Kyungu's words from this conference (see aligned quotes) in simple terms: we use words that help people understand and feel peace.
4 min18–22

Be a light

  1. Dim the lights if you can and turn on the flashlight. Ask: Does the flashlight have to shout to help us see? It simply shines.
  2. Say: Elder Gilbert taught us to be a light. When we love Jesus and choose the right, other people can see it.
  3. Pass the flashlight around the circle. Each child holding it finishes this sentence: I can be a light when I ... Help younger children with ideas such as pray, share, tell the truth, or help a friend.
5 min22–27

Draw it

  1. Give each child paper and crayons. Invite them to draw themselves saying something true in a kind way to a friend or someone at home.
  2. As they draw, move from child to child and ask: What are you saying in your picture? How are you being kind? This is your check for understanding.
  3. Help each child write or dictate the words at the top: Truth and love walk together.
3 min27–30

Remember and do

  1. Have the children hold up their pictures and say together: I can say what is true in a kind way, like Jesus.
  2. Tell them Elder Gilbert said he knows the Lord will help us as we strive to teach truth with love. Testify that Jesus loves them and will help them.
  3. Invite each child to choose one thing to do this week: listen first, or use a kind voice. Ask them to take their picture home and tell someone about it.
  4. Tell them that next week you will ask who listened first or used a kind voice, and close with prayer.

Key passages from the talk

“For disciples of Jesus Christ, truth and love always walk together.”

Elder Gilbert’s talk, paragraph 20

“I know the Lord will help us as we strive to teach truth with love.”

Elder Gilbert’s talk, paragraph 20

Scriptures

  • 1 John 4:19 After the listening story, have an older child read it aloud. Ask: Who loved us first? How can we love others first, as Elder Gilbert did by listening?
  • Moroni 7:45 During the kind voice game, have an older child read the first line and listen for the word kind. Younger children repeat the word together.

Other voices that agree

“let us use words that encourage understanding and peace”

Elder Kyungu · Using the Language of Peacemakers, paragraph 13

Three things to remember

  • Truth and love walk together.
  • I can listen first and use a kind voice.
  • Jesus will help me say what is true with love.

Ways to act this week

  • When someone is talking to you this week, listen all the way to the end before you answer.
  • Say one true thing in a kind voice each day, such as asking for a turn or reminding someone of a rule.
  • Be a light by doing one thing that shows you love Jesus, and tell your family about it.

Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.

Music

  • Jesus Said Love Everyone
  • Kindness Begins with Me

Adapting the lesson

  • Ages 3–7. Keep the story to four or five sentences and act it out twice. Spend extra time on hopping and marching, and repeat the words truth and love walk together after every activity. Let helpers hold the flashlight with the youngest children and write the words on their drawings.
  • Ages 8–11. Have them read 1 John 4:19 and Moroni 7:45 aloud and lead the kind voice game by making up their own true sentences. Ask a harder question: When is it hard to be kind and truthful at the same time, and what could you do? Let one of them retell the listening story for the younger children.

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.