Young Women's General Conference

Loved the Young Women's General Conference!  I was able to attend with my daughter and soon to be Beehive, Melissa.

I was surprised to find the chapel not full of young women and their mothers from our Stake.  There were probably a total of maybe 35-40 in attendance.  Most of the girls in my ward had dates or parties to go to instead of the conference.  It's unfortunate that they were not able to hear the uplifting and encouraging talks.  I especially loved to hear from President Monson.  His talk focused on three words - Believe, Obey and Endure.  I thought I'd make a little clip art that also works for the Arise & Shine Forth theme for this year.  I think it turned out pretty good.

May we all have the faith to believe, obey and endure!

Arise and Shine YW Activity

Well, it seems that planning for Young Women activities has taken over my thoughts.  I am always browsing for ideas for activities or handouts.

We just had an activity on the "Arise and Shine Forth" theme for this year.  I showed the video and music video that the Church produced http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FXrFpgxdly4&list=PLA313CC396ABEBB1C, then I talked to the girls about what a "standard" is - something to look up to, like a flag or banner that stands for something.  I brought examples like the American Flag (our standard of liberty) and a homemade "Title of Liberty" and we discussed Moroni's "Title of Liberty" from the Book of Mormon.  I also had a pennant banner like for a birthday party - something that helps people find their way to a party.

Then I had them make their own "standard" or banner for our "Arise and Shine Forth" theme for the year that they could look to and remember what they should stand for.  I used the symbol from the music video, a couple I found online and one I made.  Then we added glitter and the garland to make them cute.

Then I encouraged them to make additional pennants with ideas of what they could do to "shine forth".

When they were finished, I had them write their testimony on a card and tie it to a balloon which we took outside and let "arise" and "go forth" to the nations.

I think the girls enjoyed the activity, and I think that the ideas got through.  It took an amazing amount of time to create and prepare for one little hour of presentation, but I hope it was worth it.

Youth Night at the Temple

I haven't been to do baptisms at the temple since I was a kid.  So I was looking forward to our Young Men/Young Women combined activity tonight - we went to do baptisms for the dead at the Jordan River Temple.  Jeremy was one of four boys and two girls who came - this was a good turnout for our ward. 

We went early to try to beat the rush.  It started snowing just before we leftEvidently it gets very busy on Tuesday nights, but we got there about 6:30 p.m. and the kids hardly had to wait at all.  It was nice, too, that someone in our ward gave Jeremy some family names to bring for the young men to do.

It was amazing to me when the Bishop was able to perform the baptisms for our youth, and then one of the Young Men's leaders was able to do the confirmations.  Jeremy is about a half a foot taller than the Bishop who struggled just a bit to raise him up from the water.  One time the witnesses signaled that he didn't get completely immersed, I guess his hair stuck out (amazing when his hair is only about an inch long); so they he had to do it again.

After they were all finished, the Bishop offered to get them dessert in the temple cafeteria.  The kids were delighted!  It was a lovely end to a very special night.