YW Idea: Word Pendant Tutorial

I love when I find ideas that would be perfect for the YW.  Today I was checking out a few blogs and found this idea from Then She Made...

This idea would be perfect for a YW activity or camp.  I love, love, love it and I'm going to make a few with my daughters just for fun!

Giveaway

This is Michelle again and I am feeling a little generous. I am giving away one of these:
I am excited! Here is what you have to do:

• You have to leave a comment as to which temple is your favorite and why.
• You also need to leave a way to contact you in case you are the WINNER!
• You must live in the continental United States.
• You must share the love and reference this post to some friends (or at least try to).
• One entry per household.

I will pick the winner at random. All enteries must be received by 8:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time on Thursday January 21, 2010. The winner will be posted on this blog by January 22, 2010.
If I receive more then 100 comments then I will give away 2. So spread the word!
Also come visit me on my blog http://www.capturinglifesmomentsbymichelle.blogspot.com/.
Visit me on etsy: http://www.michelleaw.etsy.com/
--I will post more pictures that can go on the plaque on my blog. I don't want to overtake Melinda's. So go here to see more pictures http://www.weinbergers.blogspot.com/.
Thanks!!!

Courage Washers

Fun washer tutorials are all over online. I watched THIS one and knew I wanted to do something more with washers. I'm not sure if these people are the ones who came up with putting paper on the washers but it was helpful.
For the courage washers I followed my own tutorial HERE. I made mine into a necklace but there are so many things you can do! Maybe a bracelet or a key chain? Perfect for a YW activity or camp :)

If you know me you know I don't like to wait for things to dry so I did things slightly different from the video tutorial above :) I made this necklace in about 5 mins. Can't beat that. I'm *thinking* about selling these as kits in my etsy shop. The washer would be hand stamped and included. I can't tell you enough how fun this was to make. I want to make some more but now that I'm working with the scouts what would I do with them?!

Thanks to my friend Michelle for taking the pictures above. She is fabulous and I love how the pictures turned out. If you haven't gotten a chance read about her project below :)

Service Project: What Have I Done for Someone Today?

I love goals. I believe I can credit this to the personal progress program. Working on personal progress I started setting goals at a young age. To this day I love setting goals. Some of us are good at setting a big goal and just going for it. Some of us need to set mini goals to achieve our big goal. I do both:)

Today I'm going to share an idea for keeping track of goals for the year long service project. This idea came from a talk President Monson gave titled "What Have I Done for Someone Today?". (November 2009 Ensign)

"I was overwhelmed when this year for my birthday I received hundreds of cards and letters from members of the Church around the world telling me how they had fulfilled that birthday wish. The acts of service ranged from assembling humanitarian kits to doing yard work.

Dozens and dozens of Primaries challenged the children to provide service, and then those acts of service were recorded and sent to me. I must say that the methods for recording them were creative. Many came in the form of pages put together into various shapes and sizes of books. Some contained cards or pictures drawn or colored by the children. One very creative Primary sent a large jar containing hundreds of what they called “warm fuzzies,” each one representing an act of service performed during the year by one of the children in the Primary. I can only imagine the happiness these children experienced as they told of their service and then placed a “warm fuzzy” in the jar. " (You can read the full article HERE)

Isn't President Monson wonderful? He makes me smile :) I love the idea of a "warm fuzzy". I knew exactly what he was talking about as he gave this talk. One of these...

As I was thinking of ideas of how groups could keep track of their goals for our service project in a fun way this primary's ideas came to mind. It's perfect! We are knitting, crocheting and making blankets to help keep people warm. Putting a warm fuzzy in a jar after you make an item to help keep someone warm makes perfect sense. Plus who can resist a warm fuzzy?? My kids love them and even I think they are adorable.

Another thought came into mind as I thought about the warm fuzzy. Often when people talk about feeling the Spirit's influence they describe feeling a warm feeeling inside. I believe helping people physically to be warm by crocheting them a hat will help each of us have that warm fuzzy feeling inside too.

So....Go out and find your group a big glass jar and find some warm fuzzies. I found mine at a local craft store.

Some of you may want to measure mini goals. Use smaller fun vases (maybe personalize them with their names) and they can dump them into the larger jar once they fill their personal one. You can find cheap jars at IKEA or even the Goodwill.

Please keep track of your completed projects and inform me of your numbers. I would love to make something up for President Monson when we are done. I think he will love to hear what our beautiful YW have done :)

I'm working on my map right now and just waiting for pictures of your groups. It's OK if everyone doesn't end up in the picture. Believe me...I know how hard that is! We are up to 22 different wards from around the world. It will be fun to see in the pictures how different our groups are.

Just a few other details. If any activity days groups are interested in joining our project they are certainly welcome. Those girls are our future YW. Also I've altered the hat patterns I sent to all of you a few times. If you need it to be a smaller size let me know :)

YW Christmas Lesson

I know it's a little late for a Christmas lesson this year but maybe you can use it for next year :) My friend Jessica was in charge of our Christmas lesson. She slightly edited this TALK into parts for the YW leaders to read.


JESSICA: It is an oft told tradition at Christmas that the true spirit of Christmas is found in giving rather than in receiving. The selfless bestowing of gifts and time to others is indeed a blessing to each of us! The Christmas Story, after all, is woven together around the giving of self, life, love, priceless treasures, faith, hope and promise! And, while I wholeheartedly agree I would like to argue that the JOY of Christmas is actually in receiving. Let me explain. When I was a little girl people told me that the true spirit of Christmas was the spirit of giving, but I didn’t believe them. I knew that the true spirit of Christmas was getting. I could hardly wait until Christmas morning when my mother would stand at the door to the living room that separated me from a wonder of toys. She would peek through and tell me Santa had been here and express her surprise that he had given me so much. Then I was obliged to eat breakfast, make my bed, brush my teeth and get dressed. The anxiety and anticipation this caused is impossible to describe. By the time I attacked the neatly wrapped packages and saw the delights they contained, I was filled with a joy and relief I have not found comparable to any joy on Earth.


I remember the year I grew up. That was the year Christmas lost its magic and I began to say, like the adults around me, “The true spirit of Christmas is giving”. I found there WAS satisfaction in giving but the magic never returned and each yeas as the tree was decorated and the lights were hung on the front porch I wondered if Christmas wasn’t a whole lot better when I thought more about what I received and less about what I gave.
The years went on and I became a woman giving to my children and secretly envying their sheer delight at receiving the marvelous gifts of Christmas.
A few years ago I read very carefully the story of the first Christmas in the Americas. To my wonder and delight I discovered I had been right as a child - the true spirit of Christmas WAS the spirit of receiving. Since then the wonder of Christmas has returned. Let me take you in your imagination back to Zarahemla in the year 5 b.c. . and let us live together the most marvelous Christmas story ever written.


MELINDA: The year 5 bc is an interesting and challenging time to be a Christian. Our generation is an unstable one. We have seen the people shift from wickedness to righteousness and back to wickedness again. We have seen the slow erosion of our laws until Nephi II, our great prophet and chief judge, gives up the seat of government, weary with his inability to cause positive reform. He decides the only way to reform and save his people is in “bearing down in pure testimony” as his ancestor Alma had done.


MICHELLE: We have seen the rise of the Gadianton robbers. They have filled the judgment seats. They have assassinated their opponents, and they wield great power. About ten years ago we saw Nephi bring the people to their knees in repentance through a prolonged famine that ended for a time the self-destructive wars of our people. But the people quickly forgot the lesson and have been slipping ever so quickly back into their materialistic and proud ways.


KARIANN: Most marvelous of all, we have witnessed the end of an era of interracial wars between the Nephites and Lamanites. As youth, roughly twenty-five years ago we witnessed the conversion of the entire Lamanite nation through the preaching of Nephi and his brother Lehi. We are adults now with families. Nephi is older, though still actively leading the Church and preaching the gospel. But there are dark clouds on the horizon. The strength of the Gadianton robbers is growing again and the intensity of faith seems to be waning in the church. As prosperity flourishes the lessons of the past are forgotten. It is an interesting and challenging time to live.

MELINDA: Recently there has been a Lamanite prophet named Samuel preaching in the streets and markets of Zarahemla. Though we don’t know it he is about to test our faith and the faith of all the Christians in the land.

MICHELLE: The Nephites, unwilling to listen to the exhortations of Samuel, have cast him out; but as we enter the city, we notice a large crowd in a state of great excitement gathered near the walls. There on the wall stands Samuel. He has returned. His message has not changed from his earlier warnings.

KARIANN: An Acquaintance of ours approaches us as we listen. He is one who has relinquished his faith and is caught up in the materialistic greed of a Gadianton society.

WENDY: What do you think of this Lamanite?

KARIANN: He is a prophet.

WENDY: So he proclaims. Then you believe in his predictions?

KARIANN: We accept all the words of a prophet.

MELINDA: As we listen Samuel begins to speak of Christ, predicting his birth after five years pass. This is not a new or strange prophecy, for Lehi predicted the Savior would be born six hundred years after he left Jerusalem. Those with faith and a calendar know He will come in five years, but our acquaintance asks us,

WENDY: Do you believe this, that Christ will come after five years?
MELINDA: Yes. It has been prophesied from the very beginning by many prophets.

MELINDA: Our acquaintance comments with a mocking tone about the convenience of having Christ born across the sea, in another land, making true verification impossible. And had Samuel not continued under the inspiration of the Lord, our faith would not be tried; but Samuel continued.

SAMUEL: “And behold this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of His coming. For behold there shall be great lights in Heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.
“Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sigh; for ye shall know a the rising of the sun and also of its setting therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night, nevertheless the night shall not be darkened, and it shall be the night before he is born.
“And behold there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.”

JESSICA: Let us pause a moment in our narrative. I have often wondered how I would have accepted the pronouncement. I am sure I would have looked at the sun with a certain uneasiness. I am sure I would have watched it set that night and felt with a growing fear the darkness settle over the land. I cannot think of a single prophetic utterance in all of scripture so completely remarkable as this one. What boldness and courage it took to utter it! What faith and courage it took to receive it!

MICHELLE: As we try to comprehend the impact of this prophecy our acquaintance, with a certain delight turns and asks:

WENDY: You certainly don’t believe that do you?

MICHELLE: We hesitate. If only Nephi II had uttered it, not a Lamanite prophet newly arrived in Zarahemla. Our acquaintance notices our hesitation.

WENDY: Because, of course, it is absolutely and utterly impossible for the sun to go down and it remain as light as day. You know that, don’t you?

JESSICA: I would like to believe that I would have had the faith and the whispered assurances of the spirit so that I could have answered the critics and the mockers. I would have wanted to say “Yes, I believe Samuel has spoken under the direction of the Holy Ghost and that this sign will come.
Perhaps our skeptical friend would have answered:

WENDY: Then you’re a bigger fool than I imagined. But for your sake I hope it comes.”

MICHELLE: There is the hint of a veiled threat in his words that we do not yet comprehend. We listen with uneasiness to the rest of Samuel’s message but the words “one day and a night and a day” haunt our thoughts. The crowd becomes more and more agitated. Suddenly they are shooting arrows and slinging stones at the figure on the wall, but they cannot hit him and the words of Samuel continue. When they approach to bind him, his message delivered, Samuel leaps from the wall to return to his own people. “He was never heard of more among the Nephites.”

JESSICA: What reflection is contained in that single last line in Helaman! In the coming months and years, how often would we have wanted to hear Samuel assure us that his words were inspired, that he knew the sign would come, that he was sure of God’s promise and the coming of the Christ child? But he would not be seen among the Nephites again. How often would our scorning friends have picked at our faith, during those months and years, seeking to enlarge the tiny doubts we try to keep from entering our minds.

WENDY: Where is your Lamanite prophet? Why do you suppose he’s never returned? He didn’t stay to see the sun set, night after night, did he? But I imagine even a Lamanite prophet knows when he has uttered foolishness. Give up this ridiculous belief. It will always be dark when the sun sets. How can it be otherwise?

KARIANN: The Lord knows how to test his people. There is, however, one thing that we have on our side - Nephi. He is still the prophet, and he assures the faithful “ of things which must shortly come.” The Nephi to whom God gave all power is with us. The Nephi who humbled these same people with famine leads us. The Nephi who stood face to face with the corrupt lawyers and Gadianton robbers, predicting their assassinations, revealing their evil plans, and bearing witness of their sins, stands at out head. With Nephi our fears are calmed; but ever night we watch the sun set and every night the darkness returns.

JESSICA: When would the fears and doubts, the straining for faith, have become almost unbearable? The first year? The second? The third? What would have been our thoughts as the opposition grew and their mocking becomes increasingly threatening? How strong would our faith have been when the fifth year began and the sun set and the night came? How would our fears have increased when the power of the unbelievers became great and they proclaimed a day on which all the believers who did not renounce their faith would be put to death if the sign didn’t come? I wonder how I would have felt as I watched the twilight deepen night after night and thought of my children sleeping and the fate that awaited them if the night grew dark one time too many.
More and more we would have turned to Nephi to hear his calm assurance of faith - “The sign will come, the sign will come.” But there would have been other voices; and though we would have tried to shut them out, at night in the stillness they would have come and repeated the question asked so often, “How can there be light when there is no sun?”

MELINDA: Sometime during that last year a new factor enters the test. Nephi II, the strength of our people, is taken by the Lord. He gives his son Nephi III charge concerning the plates and “departs out of the land, and whither he went no man knoweth.” OH how this knowledge greeted us! The doubts it sparked anew! If Nephi II had died, we could have mourned his loss; but there would have been no awakened opportunity for doubt. But when he just disappears it is hard to deny new suspicions!

WENDY: “Where is your great prophet Nephi? Has he abandoned you to your deaths as Samuel did? Why do you think he left the way he did, sneaking into the wilderness to save his own life? Even he knows the sign is an impossibility. Are you still so stubborn in your old traditions that you can’t face reality? There will be no Christ!”

MICHELLE: On and on the mocking and challenging continue, and as we eagerly wait for the sunset each evening the smiles of silent reproach widen on the faces of those who anticipate the appointed day of destruction.

JESSICA: How would we have felt those last week as as we “watched steadfastly for that night and that day”? Would not our prayers have been fervent and deep and full of meaning? How does it feel to have hope dashed with every setting sun? How would we have felt those last days while our enemies prepared themselves for the coming slaughter?

KARIANN: On the last day Nephi, with deep concern, kneels and cries “mightily” for his people. The Lord speaks peace to him saying, “On this night shall the sign be given.” But Nephi cannot spread those words of comfort in a single day. The people’s faith will be tested to the last rays of the setting sun.

JESSICA: The scriptures are not clear on the method of destruction planned for the believers. Perhaps they were rounded up into the center of their cities or outside the walls where at sunset they would be put to the sword. Perhaps mob rule prevailed and every man sought out his neighbors. As believers, with our families we would have watched from our homes the setting sun. If given a final chance that afternoon to save our lives by renouncing our beliefs in the Savior, would we have done so? Would we have thought that if the sign didn’t come, life would have no meaning, for a life without Christ is no life at all?

MELINDA: Holding the hands of our families we step into the open light of late afternoon and watch what may be our last sunset. There is that moment when the sun hangs trembling at the brink of the horizon. It slips out of sight. There is a moment of hesitation, watching, hoping, and questioning. “is it getting dark? Are our lives forfeit?” Then there is the moment when the realization enters our hearts that the darkness if not gathering. It is getting, on the contrary, lighter and lighter!

JESSICA: If we can picture that moment, if we can transport ourselves past barriers of time, place and culture, we will hear a sound. It is the sound of Christmas. It is the sound of weeping, the sound of gratitude, the sound of joy and triumph and faith renewed and vindicated. It is the sound of mankind receiving with a love beyond words the incomparable gift of the Son of God into the world. It is the true spirit of Christmas - which isn’t the spirit of giving at all, but the spirit of receiving. Receiving the love of our Father and His Son, and in its reception with thankfulness giving God the only gift He seeks, that of a broken heart and contrite spirit. What a moment and what a sound that is! May it’s sound ring through all our Christmases. May we hear it again and again.

MICHELLE: What a night that would have been! With what “wondering awe” would we have searched the sky as the hours passed and the light grew as bright as noonday. We would have gathered in small groups of joy and happiness, almost not daring to believe what our eyes testified was true. Perhaps we would have sun the hymns of our belief. It would have been a night never to be forgotten.

KARIANN: With what emotion would we have greeted the rising sun after long hours of rejoicing? And when the star appeared, our wonder would have been born anew. I do not believe that an unlearned farm boy from New York could create such a story. I do not believe any kind of fiction could describe in such simple and undramatic language a moment, a time, a test, a faith as sublime as the Nephite Christ mas story. There WAS such a night of wonder and gratitude.

JESSICA: As a child I felt the wonder of Christmas in a worldly way. As a woman the wonder has turned to a deep appreciation and reverence. It is my hope that we may feel this wonder all of our lives. Especially on those nights when we watch the sunsets that settle the world into darkness.

(Jessica was nice enough to give me her notes for her lesson they are as follows...)

I LOVE this story! When I, like the author, really read it, and realized for the first time the wonder of it I was filled with joy! I was filled with gratitude , respect, and admiration for those Nephites who had the courage to remain faithful in the face of execution, for the realization that we are blessed today to also have a prophet like Nephi who pleads with the Lord in our behalf and mostly especially for a re-awakened understanding of what Christmas is all about. It is about our choice to receive the most awesome gift - the Love of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The opportunity to hear Him and follow Him and THEN, through this to show our gratitude by giving - kindness, charity, love, generosity, sacrifice, humility, faith, courage, obedience….gifts most precious to our Savior because not only will they change us but they will also bless the lives of everyone around us.

Growing up we, like most everyone, had Christmas Eve traditions. A wonderful dinner, a special FHE which always included my Dad reading the Christmas story to us from the Bible, setting out our stockings in our own carefully selected places. One thing I always loved though was when we read the story of the empty stocking. It is from one of my families favorite Christmas movies…an old black and white classic called The Bishop’s Wife. At the end, the Bishop reads to his congregation a story called the Empty stocking.

JODY: read the poem

After we had read this story we would each take a few minutes to write something we could do during the coming year that would be pleasing to the Savior - a gift of sorts. We would reflect on what we had written the year before and then add the new promise to the stocking. That little stocking is still bulging with those little slips of paper from my childhood and now there is a small decorated box under the tree at home where Steve and I, with our children, continue this tradition each Christmas Eve.

Over the next 5 minutes I’d like you each to think of something you can personally work on, do, accomplish, whatever it might be this year to bring you closer to Christ. Write it on your slip of paper and put it into your stocking. Then, keep your stocking somewhere where you will notice it daily throughout the rest of the Christmas season. Each year, when you unpack your Christmas decorations I would encourage you to, again, display this little white stocking, think of the Nephite Christmas story, and reflect upon your progress. Then start again working on the same goal or choosing a new one for the coming year.

I hope that we can all remember the message in the Nephite Christmas story…that the spirit of Christmas is most definitely about and begins with receiving!

At the end each girl received a homemade felt stocking with the poem. It was a good lesson :)

Climb a Mountain

I did this next idea with 2 of my beautiful maimaids as a personal progress project. Again I'm pulling it from my family blog to share. It was really hard but well worth it. These two girls often talk about this experience. What an accomplishment! I wish I had a picture of their YWIE poster. I think people were amazed!


Friday was the day. The mission: To climb Mt. St. Helens and two YW have their projects for YWIE completed. Mission a success! As I was climbing the mountain I was thinking what value climbing a mountain would fall under. Individual worth really sums up the whole experience. You have to reach deep within yourself to accomplish climbing a mountain and these two fabulous girls did it!

Here is our group.... Yes I'm the one who look like the dork:)

The girls look so happy in this picture. There were times we weren't so happy.

Seriana got blisters on both feet early on. She still made it to the top. She is amazing!

I didn't hear Nicole complain once. I'm so glad she got to come! When you work this hard you need a lot of breaks...

My husband is adorable. He even admitted climbing the mountain was hard. Good job honey!

The picture below is the last stretch. I think some people might go crazy there. You can see the top. It looks so close but you are exhausted and getting there sure isn't easy. As I was climbing there was a guy in front of me climbing on his hands and knees. He was really struggling. At one point I heard Jayson yell "Your almost there man! keep going!". When he made it strangers were yelling congrats to him. Climbing a mountain is kind of like life. Some times it's really hard. We struggle and sometimes have to get down on our hands and knees to make it. It's always nice to have those people cheering you on. I think when we make it to the top it will be worth it:)

The girlies at the top. What an accomplishment!

We forgot about how much work it was to get up there. This is what part of the climb down looked like....

What a beautiful world we live in!

Climbed the same mountain twice....my next adventure is knitting :)

YW Retreat

***Slowly but surely I'm transferring all of my YW ideas from my private blog to this one. If you have seen an idea before, I'm sorry It's a repeat! I just want to have all my ideas on this blog also. THANKS!***

Our YW are always saying they never get to go anywhere. So we decided to make it happen. My friends sister who owns a cabin in Mossyrock gave us a major deal that fit our budget! We decided to make the trip a fun retreat.


The first day we decided each taught a class the girls rotated through. The classes were things that the we had noticed that either girls were struggle with as a group or maybe just needed to be reminded of. My lesson was about reverence. I combined a bunch of ideas from sugardoodle. I am including my outline below but it isn't in a certain order. I usually feel out the group and then use the ideas that apply to them.

CHALKBOARD DISCUSSION:

Talk about what the meaning of reverence (a very predictable beginning with the very predictable answers) and listed what amounted to the definitions we learn in Primary.

QUOTE:

Read President Kimball’s definition of reverence: “We must remember that reverence is not a somber, temporary behavior that we adopt on Sunday. True reverence involves happiness, as well as love, respect, gratitude, and godly fear. It is a virtue that should be part of our way of life. In fact, Latter-day Saints should be the most reverent people in all the earth.” (We Should Be a Reverent People, [pamphlet, 1976], p. 4.)

CHALKBOARD DISCUSSION:

Reverent behavior vs. Irreverent behavior

Then we talked about why we should be reverent. I asked what it felt like. As they answered, I listed things like "peaceful" and "quiet" and then someone mentioned that the Holy Ghost is near when we are reverent so we listed "Holy Ghost" among other things. We also talked about irreverence and how people act when they aren't being reverent. We listed "loud" and "angry" and "scared" and "confused" among other things. This was a very short list. Our Reverent list started having things like "sacred" and "holy" and pretty soon we were talking about where we would rather be. We looked at the world and identified the non-reverent list with how the world is. We looked at the reverence list and decided that *this* is where we wanted to be. We wanted the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We wanted personal revelation. We wanted safety and peace. When we were finished, we realize that Reverence is a condition, a state of mind.

ACTIVITY

First I told the YW what reverence is and that we were going to do an exercise to help them experience it. I asked them to sit quietly and do everything I told them. (After you read through this, you might try the exercise yourself.) I asked them to close their eyes. Then I asked them to imagine themselves in the following scenario:

You are walking down a path in a meadow. The meadow is filled with beautiful flowers. Birds are singing. The sky is blue and the sun is warm. You feel quiet and happy. As you walk, you realize that someone is approaching you from far down the path. You walk toward each other for a while. Now you can see him clearly. You stop as you realize it is the Savior. He continues to walk steadily toward you. As he nears, you fall to your knees. He stops before you,
reaches down to take your hand, and lifts you to your feet. Then he embraces you. As his arms fold around you, you feel his spirit wash over your entire body. He steps back, and as you look into his eyes you see his gentle love and concern for you. You stay there for a moment just looking into his eyes. then, slowly, you turn and go back the way you have come. You walk back through the meadow and into your seats in this room. Now, open your eyes.

THOUGHT:
If we love the Lord, we will have reverence for him, we will have reverence for his house, we
will have reverence for the home, for ourselves, and for his priesthood.
(Marion G. Romney, “Reverence,” Ensign, Sept. 1982, 3)

THE MEANING OF REVERENCE…

Help them realize that it is more than being quiet.
It is a feeling of love and respect for Heavenly Father, Jesus, and their creations, as well as for sacred places.
It grows as we learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus and their love for us.
Have you ever thought what it means to be reverent? Reverence is a special feeling of Respect and Love. It is a feeling close to our Heavenly Father. It is caring about others, showing respect for them and being courteous to them. When we love our Heavenly Father, our families, friends, leaders, and teachers, we will respect them. We show our special feeling of love and respect for others by REVERENCE. When we listen to our parents, teachers, and leaders and do what they want us to do because we respect and love them, we are being reverent, as Heavenly Father expects us to be.

QUOTE:

"As leaders, we see some patterns related to reverence that, if not corrected, may open up chinks in your spiritual armor. For example, we have noticed a growing trend in the Church to arrive late at sacrament meeting, priesthood, and other meetings. Bishops and stake presidents report some members coming in as late as half an hour after the meeting has started. Occasionally there may be a legitimate excuse for not arriving on time (such as having an emergency appendectomy), but in most cases it is because you simply plan poorly or do not care enough. The ideal would be to arrive five or ten minutes early so you can sit in the chapel quietly listening to the prelude music and preparing yourselves to worship. Our sacrament meetings belong to the Savior. When you arrive late, it not only interrupts the reverence of others, but it is a sign of your own disrespect and apathy." -Elder Ballard in the July 2004 Ensign

As a reminder to be reverent I made the girls t-shirts.


I really can't sum up how much fun we had. I think the girls managed to stay up all night. For sure we made some fun memories :)

Year Long Service Project....Wanna Join???

2010 is going to be a year of service for our young women. When we first were called into YW we felt strongly the YW needed a lot of love and attention. We focused on that for a while and now it is time for them to give some of that love back to the community! We are going to pair this service project with the advice from our leaders to go back to the basics. The basics we are going to teach are sewing, knitting, crocheting and being creative :) They will put these skills to use by making hats, scarfs, gloves and blankets all year long and giving them to people who could really use them. We will be giving them to homeless men, women and children. With the economy the way it is now there are more people in need than ever! Let's do some good :)

I'm going to go more into detail of what the exact plan is below but first I have a proposal. As I was thinking about this whole plan I started thinking about how wonderfully cool it would be if we could get other YW groups to join us in this next year. Either join us in making warm stuff (hats, scarfs, gloves, blankets) and deliver it to a homeless shelter in your area or send us the warm items you make and we will deliver them. During this process we will keep in contact, send each other pictures and that fun jazz. The yw will love it! Working with other YW groups for a good cause all over the US...maybe even in different different countries...what a excellent thing to be a part of of! I think this will be a life changing experience for all of them.

I will be doing all the hard work for you! I will send you the patterns of what we are doing. I'm busy altering patterns so you will have one for men, one for women and a kid size. The patterns will all be beginner/easy. Don't know how to knit or crochet? I bet you could find someone in your ward dying to teach you how. If needed I can do a youtube tutorial on the exact items we are making and send it to you or you can just focus on tying flannel blankets (flannel is on sale at Joann's for $2.49 right now!!) If you live close enough come on over and I will teach you:) If you are interested please contact me at beachellfamily02@hotmail.com. I will give you even more details if you are interested. Spread the word...If you know someone you think might be interested pass on my e-mail!
(BELOW: This is one of the hats we will be crocheting. I have altered a few different ways to where the yw will get to choose a style.)
THE PLAN:
Early December of this year we will be having a Sunday lesson about service (I will post details later). It will be at this lesson we will announce our plans for next year's service project. Hopefully they will walk away from this lesson feeling inspired and motivated :)

The first few months of the year (Jan, Feb, March) we will take the YW in small groups to the Portland Rescue Mission where they will serve dinner to homeless men, women and children. My point in this is I want the yw to have personal experience serving people in need. After serving these people hopefully they will realize there really are people without homes, cold and that are hungry. When they are knitting that scarf or hat they will be able to visualize that scarf is for someone who really needs it.
Early in January we are having someone who volunteers at the shelter and also someone the shelter has helped come and talk to our YW.

Also in January the teaching process will begin. We will have 4 different groups: a knitting scarf group, crocheting hat, crocheting gloves and a tying blanket group. The first activity will be all about learning the basics. We are dedicating one activity a month and 2 retreats to this project. Our hope is the girls will start working at home on their projects also. I will also give you our retreat details as we get closer. We have one planned in January and one planned in August.

We will be working away until the end of the year. In December we will take the girls to deliver the items they have made. I think we will be helping a lot of people not only stay warm but keep them smiling! Most importantly we as leaders will be doing what the YW program is for, helping the YW "come unto Christ" though service. I can't think of any better way to "stand for truth and righteousness". Make it a great day!!!!

YW Friendship Night

If you read my personal blog you have heard me talk about my ward's YW and how they do a beautiful job of portraying what friendship should look like in a youth program and in life in general. Every once in a while we have a slight problem but most of the time I find myself wishing I had grown up with these girls. What a difference it would have made! I think the family is most important but friends come in as a close second. Everyday I think about how these girls are changing each other lives for the better.

With these thoughts in mind our YW presidency thought it would be fun to have a night about friendship and tell our YW what a great job they are doing. We reserved the gym/cultural hall and projector. The girls were asked to wear pj's or comfortable clothes and bring something comfy to sit on such as a beanbag. Most brought pillows and blankets. There was some prep work involved. We decided to have the girls spotlight each other. We paired them in a way they would get the opportunity to get know someone they weren't close to. They were told they were going to get a set of questions to ask their person. They would answer those question to help prepare them for the second set of questions. These are the first set of questions...

Friendship Questionnaire


Name__________________________

Person Assigned___________________

1.) What do you like to do in your free time?

2.) What are your favorite book, song, and movie?

3.) If you could travel anywhere for a trip, where would you go, and why?

4.) What is your favorite type of food and your favorite place to go out to eat?

5.) Who is the person that you admire the most and why?

6.) What have been your top 3 favorite places you have gone to? (Trips, museums, beaches, ect…)

7.) What is something that you have done that you are really proud of?

8.) If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be? (living or that have passed away)

9.) What is a dream of yours that you would love to do?

10.) When you graduate from High School, what are your plans? If College which one and what do you want to major in?

These are the second set of questions. These are the ones we asked the girls to speak about at the activity...

Friendship Questionnaire

With the knowledge that you learned from the questionnaire, about your assigned person, you will need to write a 30 second spotlight about that person. You will need to answer these questions:

1.) What was the most interesting thing that you learned about your assigned person?

2.) Name something that you found out that you both like or have in common.

3.) Name something of value about this person that you see in her, that she might not see in herself.

Please make sure you really write up something nice and meaningful about your assigned person. Think about how you would like the person doing you, and do the same for your person. For example, don’t just say she can play a musical instrument and that you both like pizza, and I think she has nice hair.

Write about how nice and friendly she might be to everyone, or that she has the talent to see the good in everyone. Really put thought into this, and get to know this person.

After each girl had been spotlighted (oh...we made them use the microphone. It was fun and we could actually hear the quiet girls) I had prepared a slide show with fun pictures and music. I would post it but it's 20 minutes of fun that's interesting only to my ward. We turned off the lights and turned the music way up. They loved it. The YW were laughing and cheering for the pictures. Some of the songs I used are...

*Thank You for Being a Friend by Andrew Gold

*You've got a Friend by Carole King

*Lean on Me by Bill Withers

*Stand by Me

*I'll be There for You by The Rembrandts

*Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae

The YW left saying it was one of the best activities they had been to. Good friends tend to make activities fun :)