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Plans, Interrupted

A waiting-room challenge, then one teen’s year going off script, worked through with Zacharias, Mary and Joseph

  • 🔥 Youth 14–15
  • Week 1
  • 📅 Sunday, January 3, 2027
🤔 Forehead Guess🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

When God’s plan interrupts mine, I can keep being faithful while I wait, ask Him honest questions, and answer like Mary: “Be it unto me according to thy word.”

I can trust Heavenly Father when my plans get interrupted, stay faithful while I wait, and protect other people’s dignity the way Joseph did.

Study it yourself firstRead Matthew 1; Luke 1 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Matthew 1; Luke 1)
Know the chapters

The New Testament year opens with two impossible pregnancies. Zacharias, a priest, and his wife Elisabeth were “righteous before God,” in Luke 1:6. They’d prayed for a child for years with no answer, and now they were old. Zacharias finally drew the once-in-a-lifetime lot to burn incense in the temple. There the angel Gabriel told him, “thy prayer is heard,” in 1:13. Zacharias asked how he could know it was true, in 1:18. He couldn’t speak again until John was born. Six months later, Gabriel told a young woman in Nazareth named Mary that she’d be the mother of the Son of God. She asked, “How shall this be?” in 1:34. She heard the answer and said, “Be it unto me according to thy word,” in 1:38.

Fourteen- to sixteen-year-olds are old enough to have real unanswered prayers. Maybe it’s a family that’s struggling, a friendship that fell apart, or a loneliness nobody sees. Maybe they didn’t make the team or get the part. Elisabeth and Zacharias show what faithful waiting looks like. They kept serving, kept praying and kept going to the temple. In his October 2020 talk “Waiting on the Lord,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an apostolic promise. Our prayers are heard and answered, even when the timing or the answer isn’t what we wanted. His words are in the quote below. Don’t promise that faith guarantees the exact blessing someone wants. Promise instead that God hears, knows and will answer in His way.

Joseph is a quiet hero this week, and he speaks straight to a generation that lives online. He learned Mary was expecting a child that wasn’t his. Matthew 1:19 says he was “a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example.” He had reason to feel hurt and every chance to expose her. Instead he planned to handle it privately and kindly. Then an angel came in a dream, and he “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him,” in 1:24. In a world of screenshots and call-outs, choosing not to make someone a public example is real discipleship.

The chapter also echoes the restored Church. Zacharias held the office of priest and served in the temple, and an angel ministered to him. His son John would later hold the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood. In 1829 John restored them to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in Doctrine and Covenants 13. Teachers and priests in your class hold that same priesthood today. Finally, point to the Savior’s titles in these chapters. Jesus means “he shall save his people from their sins,” in Matthew 1:21. Emmanuel means “God with us,” in 1:23. And He’s “the Son of the Highest,” in Luke 1:32.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Luke 1:13, 1:18–20, 1:34–38 and Matthew 1:19–24. Run the Waiting Room hook. Read Jordan’s case from the screen and ask each scene’s question. Compare Zacharias’s and Mary’s questions, then say Luke 1:38 together. Finish with a Real Talk question and a short, honest testimony about waiting on the Lord.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Jordan’s six case scenes once. Then you can tell them naturally, like a friend’s story.
  2. Mark Luke 1:6–7, 13, 18–20, 34–38 and Matthew 1:19–24 in your scriptures.
  3. Think of something you waited on the Lord for, or are still waiting for. You’ll share a short, honest version at the end.

If your class is wild

  • It’s January, and the class may have just reshuffled. Start with names and one easy question, like “Best thing you did over the break?” That helps the new fourteen-year-olds feel part of the group.
  • Teens can smell a lecture. Ask more than you tell, and wait ten full seconds after a question before rescuing anyone.
  • Some youth are praying about things that hurt, like divorce, a sick family member or feeling alone. Jordan’s case lets them talk about it at a distance. Never ask anyone to share their own unanswered prayer.
  • Give leadership to the ones who test you. Let the loudest youth read a case scene or run the Waiting Room hook.
  • Don’t let Jordan’s story end too neatly. The honest point is that the plan didn’t get fixed, but Jordan kept going with God anyway.

The 25-minute plan23 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Steps that mention Teach Mode, the Sound Board or other class games refer to the Gospel Sparks app; on the web you can play Forehead Guess and Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

The Waiting Room

3 min

A quick stand-and-sit game gets everyone moving and makes them feel how long Zacharias and Elisabeth waited.

  1. SAY“Everybody up. I’m going to name how long you’re waiting for something. Sit down the moment you’d give up.”
  2. Climb slowly. A text reply. Ten minutes. Three days on read. Your driver’s license. One real friend at school. Twenty years for an answered prayer.
  3. Ask the last few standing why they stayed up. Ask a couple who sat early what made them quit.
  4. SAY“Today we’ll follow someone your age whose plan fell apart. And we’ll work through it with four people in Luke 1. Their plans got rewritten too.”
🌪️ If they all sit instantly to be funny, laugh with them and say: “Okay, so none of you would have made it as Elisabeth. Let’s see how she did it.”

Class screen: ⏳ The Waiting Room: sit down when you’d give up · Everybody up · How long would you wait?

2. Story

Case Study: Jordan’s Year Goes Off Script

8 min

A realistic situation lets the youth test what Luke 1 and Matthew 1 teach against the kind of year they could actually have.

  1. SAY“Meet Jordan. He’s made up, but his year might sound familiar. After each part, you tell me what he should do.”
  2. Read each scene as the screen shows it, then ask its question. Take two or three answers before moving on.
  3. When a scene names a verse, have a pair find it and read it aloud.
  4. After the last scene, ask: “Which person from Luke 1 was Jordan most like by the end?”
🌪️ If someone jokes that Jordan should just quit, take it seriously for a second. Ask, “Some people do. What would help him not quit?”

Class screen: 🔀 Jordan’s plan fell apart. What should he do? · Six scenes · You decide what happens next

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: Scriptures for each pair (their own, a classroom set, or Gospel Library)

  1. SAY“Meet Jordan. He’s made up, but his year might sound familiar. After each part, you tell me what he should do.”
  2. Read each scene as the screen shows it, then ask its question.
  3. When a scene names a verse, read it one phrase at a time. A volunteer repeats each phrase.
  4. After the last scene, ask: “Which person from Luke 1 was Jordan most like by the end?”
3. Scripture

Scripture Spotlight: Two Questions, Two Answers

4 min

Comparing Zacharias’s and Mary’s questions teaches that God welcomes honest questions and helps the youth make Luke 1:38 their own.

  1. SAY“Jordan asked God a hard question. So did two people in Luke 1. Let’s see what happened to each of them.”
  2. Pairs read Luke 1:18–20 and 1:34–38. Ask: “Both asked the angel a question. So why did one end in silence, and the other in ‘be it unto me’?”
  3. Help them see it. Zacharias wanted proof before believing. Mary believed and wanted to understand. The question isn’t the problem. What’s behind it is.
  4. Say Luke 1:38 together in two halves with the motions, then once with the screen hidden.

Class screen: 🙋‍♀️ Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. · Luke 1:18 vs. Luke 1:34 · What was different?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: Scriptures for each pair (their own, a classroom set, or Gospel Library)

  1. SAY“Jordan asked God a hard question. So did two people in Luke 1. Let’s see what happened to each of them.”
  2. Read Luke 1:18, then Luke 1:34. Ask: “Why did one end in silence, and the other in ‘be it unto me’?”
  3. Help them see it. Zacharias wanted proof before believing. Mary believed and wanted to understand.
  4. Say Luke 1:38 together in two halves, then once with the screen hidden.
4. Talk it over

Real Talk

5 min

Honest questions connect Elisabeth, Mary and Joseph to what the youth are actually living.

  1. SAY“No wrong answers here. I just want to know what you actually think.”
  2. Show one question at a time and let the silence sit for ten seconds. After the first one, read Elder Holland’s promise from the lesson notes.
  3. Share your own answer to at least one question. If something heavy comes up, thank them and follow up after class.
💬 Ask the class
  • Elisabeth and Zacharias kept serving and praying for years with no answer. What helps someone keep going when a prayer seems to go nowhere?
  • Joseph refused to make Mary “a publick example.” People get made into a public example all the time, online and at school. What would a just person do instead?
  • Mary said yes before she knew how things would turn out. Where might God be asking you for a yes right now?
  • The angel said, “With God nothing shall be impossible.” A friend asks if that means God gives us anything we ask for. What would you tell them?

Class screen: 💬 Real talk: when God’s plan isn’t your plan

5. Testimony

Be It unto Me

3 min

End quietly, with one private step toward trusting God with something they’re waiting on.

  1. SAY“I want to tell you about something I waited on the Lord for.”
  2. Share your story briefly. Tell what helped you stay faithful, and that you know He hears.
  3. Hand out cards. Each person privately writes one thing they’re waiting on. On the back they write, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
  4. Show the challenge on the screen. Invite someone to say the closing prayer.

Class screen: 🕊️ Thy prayer is heard. Be it unto me according to thy word. · Write it privately · Take it to Heavenly Father this week

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: One index card or sticky note per person, and a few pens

  1. SAY“I want to tell you about something I waited on the Lord for.”
  2. Share your story briefly. Tell what helped you stay faithful, and that you know He hears.
  3. Invite everyone to think of one thing they’re waiting on. Then they silently add, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
  4. Show the challenge on the screen. Invite someone to say the closing prayer.
6. Wiggle break

Plot Twist Corners

4 minBONUS

Walking to a corner for each dilemma gets everyone moving and shows the choices in Luke 1 are the ones teens face.

  1. SAY“Four corners, four people. Elisabeth stayed faithful while waiting. Zacharias went from doubt to trust. Mary said yes to something hard. Joseph protected someone’s dignity.”
  2. Read a situation and everyone walks to a corner. Try “prayed for months and nothing’s different,” “asked to do something scary,” or “a friend’s secret you could spread.”
  3. One person per corner makes their case in a sentence. Then ask: “What would you actually do?”
🌪️ If they just follow their friends, have each group argue for a corner they didn’t pick.

Class screen: 🔀 Plot Twist: which person from Luke 1 do you need to be? · Elisabeth · Zacharias · Mary · Joseph

7. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A quick team quiz reviews the whole lesson.

  1. SAY“Two teams, one captain each. Huddle for ten seconds. Then only the captain answers.”
  2. Tap Scripture Showdown.
  3. Use the steal rule. If a team misses, the other team can steal by naming the verse.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

Class screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown!

Case study

Case Study: Jordan’s Year Goes Off Script

Luke 1:5–64; Matthew 1:18–25 ↗

Scenes

  1. 🗓️🙏 Jordan has the whole year planned

    Jordan is fourteen, and he has the year mapped out. Make the soccer team this time. Keep his grades up. And finally have a group to sit with at lunch. He prayed about it all summer. He’s been doing everything right. Seminary. Church. Scriptures most nights.

    🙌 Ask: “What do you think Jordan is expecting from God right now?”

  2. 📋😶 The list goes up. Cut again.

    The team list goes up on Friday. Jordan reads it three times. His name isn’t there, for the second year in a row. His friend made it. Jordan says “it’s fine” and walks to the bus without talking to anyone.

    🙌 A youth reads Luke 1:6–7. Ask: “What do Zacharias and Elisabeth have in common with Jordan?”

  3. 🌙❓ A prayer that is mostly a question

    That night, Jordan kneels by his bed. But the prayer comes out as one question. “How do I even know You’re listening?” He isn’t sure he’s allowed to pray like that. He gets back into bed, feeling guilty. And still waiting.

    🙌 Ask: “Is Jordan’s question okay to ask God?”

  4. 🎤😬 Then he’s asked to give a talk

    On Sunday, a member of the bishopric asks Jordan to give a talk in sacrament meeting next week. The topic? Trusting the Lord. Jordan almost laughs. It’s the last thing he wants to talk about. And he could easily say no.

    🙌 A youth reads Luke 1:38. Ask: “What would a Mary-style yes look like for Jordan?”

  5. 📱🔥 The group chat wants a screenshot posted

    On Monday, someone in the group chat drops a screenshot. It’s an embarrassing private message from the kid who got Jordan’s spot on the team. “Post it,” everyone says. “He deserves it.” And Jordan is the one with the most followers.

    🙌 A youth reads Matthew 1:19. Ask: “What would Joseph do in this group chat?”

  6. 🌱⏳ Three weeks later

    Jordan still isn’t on the team. Lunch is still awkward. But he gave the talk, shaking. He deleted the screenshot and told the chat to drop it. Some nights, his prayers still start with a question. But he keeps showing up.

    🙌 Let it sit a second. Ask: “Nothing got fixed. So what changed?”

Key verse

Luke 1:38 ↗
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
In plain words: I’m the Lord’s servant. Let it happen the way He said, even if it isn’t the way I planned.
🙌 Say it in two halves: one side of the room says “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,” the other answers “be it unto me according to thy word.” Swap sides, then say it all together once with the screen hidden.

More verses

Luke 1:37 ↗
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
In plain words: Nothing God has promised is too hard for Him.
Luke 1:13 ↗
“Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard”
In plain words: Don’t be afraid. God heard the prayer you’ve been praying for years.
Matthew 1:19 ↗
“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”
In plain words: Joseph was a good man. Even when he was hurt and confused, he refused to shame Mary in public and planned to handle it quietly.
Matthew 1:21 ↗
“thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
In plain words: His name is Jesus, because He is the one who saves us from our sins.

Forehead Guess words18 words

  • 👴 Zacharias
  • 👵 Elisabeth
  • 👼 Gabriel
  • 🙋‍♀️ Mary
  • 🪚 Joseph
  • 👶 John the Baptist
  • 🏛️ Temple
  • 💨 Incense
  • 🏡 Nazareth
  • ✍️ Writing Table
  • 😴 Dream
  • 🧺 Handmaid
  • 🤝 Emmanuel
  • 🚫 Impossible
  • 📜 Priest
  • 📱 Screenshot
  • ⏳ Waiting Room
  • 🔍 Magnify
Clues for each word
  • Zacharias: Old priest who couldn’t speak until his son was named
  • Elisabeth: Waited years for a baby and stayed faithful
  • Gabriel: Angel who stands in the presence of God
  • Mary: Said “be it unto me according to thy word”
  • Joseph: Just man who wouldn’t make her a public example
  • John the Baptist: The baby whose name was written on a tablet
  • Temple: Where Zacharias burned incense when the angel came
  • Incense: Zacharias burned it at the altar while people prayed
  • Nazareth: Mary’s small town in Galilee
  • Writing Table: What Zacharias asked for so he could write a name
  • Dream: How the angel came to Joseph
  • Handmaid: Mary called herself this: a servant of the Lord
  • Emmanuel: A name that means “God with us”
  • Impossible: With God, nothing is this
  • Priest: Zacharias’s priesthood office; priests hold it today too
  • Screenshot: Today’s way to make someone a public example
  • Waiting Room: Where Elisabeth and Zacharias sat for years
  • Magnify: Mary said her soul does this to the Lord
▶ Play Forehead GuessFull screen, 60-second timer, works on any phone.

Scripture Showdown10 questions

  1. What was Zacharias doing in the temple when the angel appeared?
    • A. Burning incense
    • B. Reading the law
    • C. Cleaning the altar
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Burning incense Luke 1:9–11. His lot came up, and the angel stood by the altar of incense.

  2. What were Gabriel’s first words of good news to Zacharias?
    • A. “Arise and go”
    • B. “Thy prayer is heard”
    • C. “Be thou silent”
    Show answer

    ✅ B. “Thy prayer is heard” Luke 1:13. The prayer he’d prayed for years had been heard all along.

  3. Why couldn’t Zacharias speak until John was born?
    • A. He was sick
    • B. He took a vow
    • C. He didn’t believe the angel
    Show answer

    ✅ C. He didn’t believe the angel Luke 1:20. He asked for proof instead of believing, so he waited in silence.

  4. What question did Mary ask Gabriel?
    • A. “How shall this be?”
    • B. “Why me?”
    • C. “Can I tell anyone?”
    Show answer

    ✅ A. “How shall this be?” Luke 1:34. She believed and wanted to understand, and then she said yes.

  5. Finish Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be…”
    • A. Hidden
    • B. Impossible
    • C. Forgotten
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Impossible Gabriel pointed to Elisabeth as proof: the woman called barren was expecting.

  6. Joseph was “not willing to make her a publick” what?
    • A. Wife
    • B. Promise
    • C. Example
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Example Matthew 1:19. He chose to protect Mary’s dignity even before he understood.

  7. What did Joseph do when he woke up from his dream?
    • A. What the angel told him
    • B. Asked the priests
    • C. Left for Egypt
    Show answer

    ✅ A. What the angel told him Matthew 1:24. He obeyed right away.

  8. What did Zacharias write on the writing table?
    • A. “God is great”
    • B. “His name is John”
    • C. “I believe”
    Show answer

    ✅ B. “His name is John” Luke 1:63. His mouth opened immediately, and he praised God.

  9. What does the name Emmanuel mean?
    • A. Prince of Peace
    • B. Son of David
    • C. God with us
    Show answer

    ✅ C. God with us Matthew 1:23. Jesus came to be with us.

  10. Who later restored the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery?
    • A. Gabriel
    • B. John the Baptist
    • C. Zacharias
    Show answer

    ✅ B. John the Baptist Doctrine and Covenants 13. Elisabeth and Zacharias’s miracle baby, all grown up.

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“I offer you my apostolic promise that they are heard and they are answered, though perhaps not at the time or in the way we wanted. But they are always answered at the time and in the way an omniscient and eternally compassionate parent should answer them.”

— Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Waiting on the Lord,” October 2020

Read it after the first Real Talk question, or right before your testimony, when you talk about waiting on answers to prayer.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • Did You Think to Pray? Hymns, no. 140

    Elisabeth and Zacharias kept praying for years, and the angel’s first news was that their prayer was heard. Find it ↗

  • How Firm a Foundation Hymns, no. 85

    A hymn about trusting the Lord when life gets hard, like Mary and Joseph when their plans were rewritten. Find it ↗

  • Joy to the World Hymns, no. 201

    It’s still the Christmas season, and Luke 1 is the start of the story of the Savior’s birth. Find it ↗

This week’s challenge

Faithful in the Waiting Room

Take the thing you wrote down to Heavenly Father every night this week. While you wait, do one faithful thing a day, like Elisabeth and Zacharias did. Read a chapter, help at home or show up for seminary. And once this week, when you could make someone a public example, online or in person, choose Joseph’s way instead.

Text the parents

Today in class we studied Luke 1 and Matthew 1. Elisabeth and Zacharias waited years for an answer to prayer. Mary said, “be it unto me according to thy word,” in Luke 1:38. Joseph refused to make Mary a public example. Ask your teen: how was Zacharias’s question to the angel different from Mary’s? And where do people get made into public examples today?

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🔁 Then and Now: Restored · 5 min

  1. Read Luke 1:5–17 together. List what sounds like the Church today. Priests, temple service, prayer, an angel, a promised miracle, and a food law in verse 15.
  2. Read Doctrine and Covenants 13. John the Baptist restores the Aaronic Priesthood, with the keys of the ministering of angels.
  3. Ask the teachers and priests: “Which of these is part of your priesthood today?” Then ask everyone where they see the same pattern now.

🏷️ Title Hunt · 4 min

  1. Pairs race to find titles of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:21, 23 and Luke 1:31–35. Look for Jesus, Emmanuel, Son of the Highest and Son of God.
  2. For each title, ask: “What does this teach you about who He is and what He does for you?”
  3. Challenge them to find one more title in their seminary reading this week.

🎶 Great Things · 5 min

  1. Read Mary’s praise in Luke 1:46–55. Point out verse 49. The Lord had done “great things” for her.
  2. Give everyone about sixty seconds. They list three great things the Lord did for them this year, big or small.
  3. Ask: “What might it mean for your soul to ‘magnify the Lord’? Is that something you can do on a normal Tuesday?”

🌳 The Surprising Family Tree · 5 min

  1. Read Matthew 1:1–6. Look for the four women named before Mary: Thamar, Rachab, Ruth, and “her that had been the wife of Urias.” That’s Bathsheba.
  2. Ask: “These women had complicated stories. Outsiders, hard choices, messy families. Why might Matthew put them in the Savior’s family tree?”
  3. Talk it through. No one’s story is too messy for the Lord to work through.

🤐 Speechless · 3 min

  1. Pair up. Partner A gets about twenty seconds to send a message with gestures only, like “My ride forgot me.” Then swap.
  2. Ask: “How frustrating was twenty seconds? Zacharias went about nine months. What do you think he thought about all that time?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

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