Helaman 11 Let There Be a Famine

Make a picture timeline. Draw a timeline on the whiteboard, or give each person a piece of paper with a year written on it. Have each person draw a picture of the events that year as they are read. You'll probably want to spread this over more than 1 day.

• 72: Contentions increase; wars occur (v1)
  
• 73: Nephi prays for famine instead of war (v3-4)
• 74: Famine continues (v5)
• 75: People begin to repent and Nephi prays to the Lord on their behalf for rain (v6-10)
• 76: Rains; crops thrive (v17)
• 77: People prosper; church spreads; peace (v20-21)
• 79: Some strife but people heed the prophetic warnings (v23)
• 80: A war commences by dissenters (v24)
• 80: Plundering and robbing (v25)
• 81: Destruction by the robbers cause some to remember the Lord (v33-34)
• 82-85: People forget the Lord (v36-37)
  

How quickly do the people forget the Lord? Why did the Lord allow the robbers to "carry on this work of destruction." Why did Nephi ask the Lord to chasten the people with famine rather than bloodshed? Did it work? Why or why not? Why did the people go back to their old ways so quickly?