Has given me an earthy home, with parents kind and dear: A proud mother and father leave the nursery area, each carrying a petite twin and heading into the lifetime experience, where Lead me, guide me, walk beside me is the plea of children who hope to be reared in homes where gospel principles are lived and taught. A minisection of the Conference Center backs a small gathering area where children can touch a screen to call up a special child-centered talk by the late President Gordon B. Hinckley, sharing with them his own childhood love for sleeping under the stars and encouraging them to accept principles such as tithing and temple work.

A special feature is a cross section of the walnut tree President Hinckley nurtured and which became a very special podium in the Conference Center that he so loved. Smudges of fingerprints on the "touching area" attest that many children are anxious to have this tactile connection to the beloved prophet.

A large rug designed with Bible themes can be converted to any number of games and stories. A rainbow arch is a reminder of the "I Love to Look at Rainbows" song many LDS children choose to symbolize their baptisms. A picture of children being baptized is evidence of progression in the quest to "Help me find the way, Teach me all that I must do ... "

The final section of the exhibit focuses on the Savior, with a Nativity scene in which children may don costumes and join in the celebration of the birth of the Savior. A section from the Nauvoo Temple emphasizes the desire for eternal life in a celestial world. Children can alternate plastic pieces to design a stained-glass window, participate in making quilts for a humanitarian project or create an art design of the well-known CTR — Choose the Right — logo.

In all, the exhibit is a fun journey to show the process that enables children of God To live with him some day.

If you go ...

The Museum of Church History and Art, 45 N. West Temple, is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is closed only for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Free.

---

E-mail: tvanleer@desnews.com