When Life Gives You Lemons

We made lemonade out of lemons today as we studied the Saints arrival in Commerce, Illinois  and began to settle and build the city of Nauvoo after being expelled from Missouri.
The land was a swamp infested with mosquitos and many of the Saints contracted malaria, including Joseph Smith.
In spite of these circumstances, they cared for one another, worked to build their new home, dug ditches, and drained water from the swamps to the river, which made the land more usable and greatly reduced the mosquito problem.
Eventually, they built homes, businesses, schools, and other structures, including the Nauvoo Temple, which was considered by some to be one of the finest buildings in the country.

The Saints decided to improve the circumstances around them, which improved them as individuals, drawing them closer to Jesus Christ.

We discussed the lemons in our lives and how we can over come them and turn them into lemonade (strengths)

I gave each student a whole lemon and asked them how they could turn it in to lemonade.
A few answered, add sugar, etc.
Finally one said, cut the lemon.
I asked with what?
The student asked for a knife so I gave her a plastic knife and told her to cut it. At first it was difficult, but she got the job done.
She started to squeeze the lemon with her hands, with the juice dripping in to a cup.

We related this to using the tools that are available and making the best of our circumstances.
Then I brought out:
First, a better knife
Second, a hand juicer
Third, an electric juicer

We discussed each tool and how they would all get the job done, we just had to use them and have a positive expectation.

Each student  juiced their lemon with one of the tools, poured their lemon juice in a cup and added water.
I told them that was lemonade and to go ahead and return to their seats and enjoy it.

Quickly, they pointed out that it was sour and they needed sugar, to which I brought out a jar of "ATTITUDE": aka sugar.
I gave each of them a spoon and we related this to the positive attitude necessary to improve circumstances.
We did a lot of relating the Saints' circumstances to our own lemons vs lemonade experiences.
We concluded that a strong faith in Christ helped them through trials (lemons) just as a strong faith in Christ will help us do the same.

Adapt this lesson for teaching overcoming trials.