Liken

A few months ago, we were looking for things to help keep our boys reverent before church. (One o'clock church is not my favorite.) We thought about getting some Living Scripture videos, but they are so expensive. We ended getting a few on Ebay. They boys like them.

About two years ago, my mom had mentioned that they had bought some Liken the Scriptures movies. I wasn't familiar with them at all and thought they sounded pretty weird, like a roadshow that has been recorded and sold or something. I knew that my little brothers liked them, but I dismissed them (without having seen them) as cheesy and lame.

Around this same time, my mom gave my family a copy of the Christmas Liken the Scriptures video. I think it is called "The First Christmas." My kids loved it and guess what? Matt and I did too! It was funny and informative and brought the Spirit into our home. The songs were alternately funny and riveting as you think about the situation that Mary and Joseph were in and how faithful and obedient they were. I think that the message and music of that show went straight to the hearts of my little boys.

I had been hesitant to buy any of the Liken movies, even though I loved the Christmas one. I seemed to think that that one had to be great just because it was the Christmas story and the other one were probably as cheesy as I had originally thought. Matt ended up bidding on some on Ebay and got three or four. We decided that every Fast Sunday we would introduce a new Liken movie and then we could read the story from the scriptures as a family. The first one we watched was David and Goliath. I was absolutely blown away by the amazing talent of the cast, the songs were beautiful and make you think. And it is funny. We have since seen four of the eight that are currently available and we liked all of them, but we LOVED three of them. We liked them so much that we bought the rest of the movies from the company's website. A week after we bought them, they offered a deal where if you bought a movie, you would get the soundtrack free. We were bummed, we wanted the soundtracks. We actually ended up buying a whole new set of movies just to get the soundtracks. (we ended up selling the extra movies to Matt's parents.)
Now the format is like a roadshow. Minimal sets, costumes, etc. but wonderful songs that will make you laugh and cry. The show always opens and closes in present day with a child who has a question or problem they need to solve and so they head to the scriptures to find out what to do. Each show has a theme, like, prayer, fasting, etc. I think these show are so great. I have recommended them to many friends. Some of our family favorites are : David and Goliath, Samuel the Lamanite, and The First Christmas. I have only seen one other, Esther, which I liked alright, but my boys appreciated the other ones more. Check them out! I bet you will love them too! (you can watch little clips of the movies on their website:)
http://www.likenthescriptures.com/

The one about Samuel the Lamanite was a great one to discuss as a family. Derek especially was fascinated by this story. I love Liken!