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Giving the Gift of Purposeful Young Women Activities. Tie It All Together with Love!”

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Giving the Gift of Purposeful Young Women Activities. Tie It All Together with Love!” “GivinG The GifT Of PurPOseful YOunG WOmen AcTiviTies. Tie iT All togeTher WiTh lOve!” Our idea is that on a monthly rotation, each Young Women Value theme be represented at weekly activities in a cycle of: Week 1- Fun Activities “Experience precedes learning” and the goal is to create a base of learning in a fun atmosphere that will be built upon over the next 4 weeks. These experiences will be talked about during week 4 when everything is tied together in a “nice neat bow”. This is a good activity to do with the Young Men. Week 2- Service Activity Service is always a great tool to open the Young Women’s lives to reaching outside of themselves and inviting happiness. Match service activity to the theme of the month to coincide with the fun, skills and spiritual learning. Week 3- Learn a skill Young Women’s is a great place to learn how to do many things for life that will prepare them for living on their own, college, mission, marriage and family. Learn a skill that matches the theme of the month and coincides with the fun, service and spiritual learning. Week 4- Spiritual Growth This is the pinnacle of all the Young Women have experienced, learned about and talked about. This week can still have activities that keep everyone engaged but might be a good time to have a more reverent feel, so that sacred things can be discussed and felt. This is the week when everything is tied together and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and love, encourage self reflection and always use the scriptures, teachings of the living prophets and the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet to point them to temple ordinances and their relationship with their Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. *These ideas, hopefully give inspiration on how to create a framework for “purposeful Young Women Activities”. These ideas are not intended as an absolute on how all activities should be run because each group of Young Women and their leaders are different. Let the Holy Spirit and your love for the Young Women be your guide! We strongly encourage ALL Young Women leaders to familiarize themselves with the Young Women Purpose found in the Personal Progress books. Also, actively seek for personal revelation (refer to President Nelson’s April 1, 2018 final address) and act with courage and love as the spirit helps you understand what the needs of your Young Women are. *Another idea that we’d like to share is to buy the Young Women scripture marking pencils (Can buy on Amazon for under $3/pack). Teach the girls how to mark their scriptures in the color that matches the Young Women Values. So, for example, if they read a passage that reminds them of what they’ve learned about Divine Nature, mark that passage with blue pencil. Then, when they read that passage again, they’ll be reminded of that Young Women value. It’s also a great idea to record those impressions in their journal, as President Nelson taught us at the April 2018 conference so maybe, if the budget allows, buy them a journal too! Resources: LDS.or/youth/activities. This is a great resource and you can submit your ideas to share with others! LDSliving.com/15-summer-mutual-ideas-your-youth-will-love/S/75961 Sugardoodle.net Pinterest under: “YW activity ideas”, “LDS youth activities”, “Mormon mutual activities”, “young women activity ideas”, “LDS young women activities”, “mutual activities” and “personal progress activities”. Week 1- Fun Activities “Experience precedes learning” and the goal is to create a base of learning in a fun, engaging atmosphere that will be built upon over the next 4 weeks. These experiences will be talked about during week 4 for spiritual learning, when everything is tied together in a “nice neat bow”. This is a good activity to do with the Young Men. Week 2- Service Activity Service is always a great tool to open the Young Women’s lives to reaching outside of themselves and inviting happiness. Match service activity to the theme of the month to coincide with the fun, skills and spiritual learning. Week 3- Learn a skill Young Women’s is a great place to learn how to do many things for life that will prepare them for living on their own, college, mission, marriage and family. Learn a skill that matches the theme of the month and coincides with the fun, service and spiritual learning. Week 4- Spiritual Growth This is the pinnacle of all the Young Women have experienced, learned about and talked about. This week can still have activities that keep everyone engaged but might be a good time to have a more reverent feel, so that sacred things can be discussed and felt. This is the week when everything is tied together and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and love, encourage self reflection and always use the scriptures, teachings of the living prophets and the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet to point them to temple ordinances and their relationship with their Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. Faith Week 1- Play glow in the dark volleyball game then eat ice cream in the dark with glow in the dark spoons. Over ice cream, discuss the needs of class members or their families in anticipation of service activity next week. Week 2 – On Sunday before activity, pray for opportunities to serve a friend in the class or their family. Follow through with the revelation received and do a meaningful service project. Talk about how the class can be a light in the darkness. Read Matt 5:14-16 Week 3 - Read about emotional health in FSOY & discuss strategies. Invite a therapist to speak about healthy skills for emotional health. Invite the Bishop to teach how the atonement and the spirit of the Lord can help us find happiness and see light even in darkness. Week 4 - Faith Walk. Create an obstacle course and weave a rope through the course. Instruct the youth to traverse the course in the dark or blindfolded. 1 leader be a good voice for participants to listen to and follow through the course safely. Several other leaders act as discouraging voices to distract from achieving the course completion. At the end of the course, remove blindfold or turn lights on to reveal a picture of the Savior. * Tie 4 weeks together to encourage faith, seeking light and being a light to others. Read Matt 5:14-16 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1 Divine Nature Week 1- ‘Mission: Impossible Hot Lava’ game. In cultural hall, place random items that can be stepped on, on the floor. Challenge the youth to travel together from point A to point B, only walking on random items (tube, plates, buckets, etc). Youth must be touching each other at all times and work together so they don’t fall in the “hot lava” and have to start over again. Discuss that we all need to work together to reach our destination. Prep for next week’s family history activity. Explain that we need our ancestors and they need us, which builds our divine nature and who we were born to be. Watch “Discovering the Divinity Within” by Rosemary W. Wixom/Oct. 2016 General Women’s Conference. Week 2 - Search out names of an ancestor, learn about them & take their name to the temple. Discuss how doing family history helps us find our divine nature and guides our lives. Read D&C 27:9 Week 3 - Invite an expert to teach an artistic skill or talent such as knitting, painting, carpentry, embroidery, woodcarving, etc. Could have several options at once for youth to choose from. Ask youth to share the skills they’ve learned and talk about their experience. Week 4 - Identify arguments people may make that are contrary to the standards in ‘For the Strength of Youth’ pamphlet. Ask youth to make a case for the Lord’s standards using scriptures, FSOY, Family Proclamation, General Conference talks, etc. Role play scenarios in which standards are brought into question and let the youth practice sharing their beliefs. *Tie all 4 weeks together about the comparisons of avoiding hot lava, temple service, learning skills and how important these things are to our divine nature and our identity as children of God. Read “The Family, A Proclamation to The World”. “Our divine nature has nothing to do with our personal accomplishments, the status we achieve, the number of marathons we run, or our popularity and self-esteem. Our divine nature comes from God. It was established in an existence that preceded our birth & will continue on into eternity.” – Rosemary M. Wixom (Oct 2015 General Women’s Conference) Individual Worth Week 1 -Youth break into 2 teams and create a skit or video for each other. Teams perform their skits while eating popcorn. Give awards and challenge the youth that after watching each other perform, they can also watch for the needs of each other and look for ways to help and support each other. Look for ways to encourage activities, help with struggles, etc. Week 2 - After noticing the needs of each other, write notes of kindness, pointing out worthwhile qualities and attributes of each other. Deliver notes and do “blackboard compliments”. Each girl stands in front of a black board, while all else write kind things they notice. Take a picture! Watch, “Rise Up In Strength, Sisters In Zion” by Bonnie Oscarson.
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