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I love days like today when the students do an amazing job teaching each other. I divided them into two groups to study the parables in Matthew 25. One group studied the parable of the 10 virgins and the other studied the parable of the talents.

After they drew pictures of the parables, they explained what happens in them. They also answered how the parables relate to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, how they apply to us today, and how we can better prepare for the Second Coming because we know them. The students did an excellent job.

From Elder Harold B. Lee, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we learn that the virgins symbolize “those who were professed believers in Christ” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1951, 26).

President Spencer W. Kimball said:

“In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures—each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store” (Faith Precedes the Miracle [1972], 256).

There is another parable in Matthew 25-- the parable of the sheep and goats. We discussed this a few weeks ago when we studied our scripture mastery scripture Matthew 25:40.

We finished the class by reading Mosiah 26:25-27 and with a testimony that if we apply what we've learned from these parables, we will be prepared for the Second Coming.