Thursday, March 13, 2014

Book of Mormon Marathon

On Friday, March 7th we held a Book of Mormon Marathon.  We started at 3:45pm and ended at midnight.  Our theme was "Lengthen your Stride and Run unto Christ."  Our goal is for every YW and Leader to read the Book of Mormon by Evening in Excellence, held in November.  We wanted to kick off reading the Book of Mormon by having a fun night reading, having special guest appearances, being together and of course yummy food.

Everyone received an invitation, inviting them to this special night.  We knew Friday would be a busy night so asked the girls to come for as long as they could depending on their schedules.  We had girls come and go all night, but had a fantastic turnout.  Amberly Westover took on the whole event as one of her Value Projects and did a tremendous job...

Each YW received a goodie bag filled with a water bottle, snack size candy bars, red pen and pencil, a bookmark for their scriptures, a reading chart and a necklace. The necklace contains two charms and once the YW reads each book they get to add a foot charm. After 5 books they get a number charm with the total number of books read (5, 10, 15 number charms). 
Goodie Bag
Bookmark

Back of Bookmark
with incentives

Reading Chart


We started the evening with our first special guest, Maren Mouritsen (our resident Book of Mormon scholar) talking to the YW about the Book of Mormon and the amazing things they will discover as they read the book.  We then grabbed our blankies and pillows and snuggled in to start reading.  

Every hour we stopped to take a break and have another special guest come and talk to us.  Our guests included:  Return Missionaries, newly called Missionaries and two YW planning on serving missions.  Each testified of the Book of Mormon and bore witness of the truthfulness of the Book.  What an incredible spirit each guest brought to the evening.

We also had special guests come dressed as characters from the Book of Mormon

The Three Nephites (Ethan Coulter, Andrew & Noah Peterson)

Brother of Jared (Bishop Coulter)
We had pizza for dinner and enjoyed a fun popcorn bar for a late night snack.  We finished the evening with Maren coming back to answer any questions we had and talked about what we do now and where do we go from here to get the most out of reading the Book of Mormon.  We all left excited to finish reading.





To keep the girls motivated we have a reading tracker for them to mark off each Sunday and collect feet to add to their necklace.  Also, on the back of their bookmark there are additional incentives.  If they complete the book of Alma by July 23rd they get to have an outdoor movie and pizza party - if they complete 4th Nephi by September we will drive up AF Canyon and have a camp fire and roast marshmallows and if they finish the Book of Mormon by November 1st there will be a surprise celebration.


Finished Necklace


Reading Tracker 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Frozen - Let it Go YW Laurel Class Activity

For our weekly Laurel activity we held a "Frozen- Let it Go" Party.  The girls received  the following invitation and I asked them to think about every girl in our class and come up with something that is special or unique about them.  I didn't want - she's nice, she's cute, I really wanted them to come prepared to tell us specific things about the other Laurels and they did...


We decorated the room with snowflakes and I had made two banners.  One said "Magic Mirror" and  the other said, "Let it Go."  We served blue slush, snowflake sugar cookies and white chocolate dipped pretzels.



We started by talking about negative feelings we each have about ourselves.  Each girl wrote down all the things they hated about themselves, all the qualities they disliked about them and then we burned them up.  We actually went outside and lit them on fire.  I used a #10 can and each girl took turns throwing their papers into the can and saying "Let it Go."  The girls really loved this part of the activity.  We then came back in and I found a sing-a-long version of the song Let it Go from the movie Frozen and we played the song and sang it at the top of our lungs.

I then turned the evening around by telling them the story of the son of  King Louis the 16th.  He was kidnapped by evil men who had dethroned his father, the king.  These men knew if they could destroy him morally, he would not be heir to the throne.  For six months they subjected him to every vile thing life had to offer, and yet he never yielded under pressure.  This puzzled his captors, and after doing everything they could think of, they asked him why he had such great moral strength.  His reply was simple.  He said, "I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king."

I told the YW that they are like the king's son, each of them have inherited a royal birthright.   Each of them have a divine heritage.  "They are literally the royal daughters of our Father in Heaven."  Each of them were born to be a Queen.

We then watched this Disney Princess Video


We talked about how much the world places so much emphasis on physical attractiveness and would have you believe that you are to look like the elusive model on the cover of a magazine.  The Lord would tell you that you are each uniquely beautiful.  When you are virtuous, chaste and morally clean, your inner beauty glows in your eyes and in your face.  Look into the mirror of eternity.  Remember who you are!!!  You are of noble birth.  Don't compromise your divine inheritance.

Chalkboard Activity

We had each the girls come and stand in front of the chalkboard with a banner that said "Magic Mirror" and then each other Laurel came up and wrote all the great things about the girls.  After the girls were done writing on the chalkboard we made the girl turn around and read out loud all the great things that were written about them.  I took their picture, printed it and put it in the frame for them to take home.



My Beautiful Laurels....





We finished the evening by watching the video
"I am a His Daughter" -EFY Song 2010




What a Fantastic Evening!!!!!


Love My Girls...


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

February Theme-Becoming Divine

This month our theme is "I am answering the call to Come Unto Christ and I am becoming Divine."



 

 You are a Daughter of a King Video





I received a blessing over 20 years ago, and I often refer to this promise given to me- “There will be times in your life Darcey when you need to be strengthened and to know your Heavenly Father loves you and wants you to be happy and to live a life filled with joy and peace.”  This prompted in me a greater desire to know my Heavenly Father, and to find out for a surety that I truly am His daughter and that He does love me, know me and want me to be happy.  My relationship with my Heavenly Father has helped me throughout my life, especially at the hardest times. 
Do you ever wonder if He knows who you are?  Do you ever wonder if He hears your prayers?  Do you know that you have a noble birthright, you are a daughter of a King?  The world works to confuse us, to make us feel like a nobody…but it is my testimony that you are a child of God and that He loves you!  Once you have gained this testimony for yourself, you will be inspired to become more and live up to your divine potential as his royal daughter.
You have inherited divine qualities.  As you strive to develop them, you will answer the call of our elder brother Jesus Christ, when He beckons you to “Come Unto Him”.  Knowing your heritage, developing a relationship with Heavenly Father and the Savior will help you throughout your life just as it has in mine.  I can promise you that!
Daughter of a king
The father's royalty
Heir to his divinity
He's calling your name
To come and take your place before his throne
He has always known
What he created you to be
A daughter of a king.
(Daughter of a King; Jenny Phillips)
We are truly daughters of our Heavenly Father, and He loves us perfectly and sees our great potential.  He is calling our name, to follow our Savior Jesus Christ and as we answer this great call, we will become as He is, we will become Divine.  

Youth Conference Reunion


Youth Conference Reunion



A couple weeks after YC we held a YM/YW Combined Activity to talk about YC and help the kids continue the goal of being on the same team.
(Same Family)

When the kids arrived we put them back into their teams.







We had them yell their team name and team cheer they had made up at YC and then we played the game "Balloon Stomp"  Each member of the team had a balloon the color of their team and tied it to their ankle.  The object of the game is to stomp on other team's balloons and pop them.  The last team with un-popped balloons, wins.  Wild and crazy, but lots of fun.

After we finished the game I spoke for a few minutes about Youth Conference and then showed a video of two young men, who under awful personal obstacles in their lives came to each other's aid and even though they were not brothers by blood, were true brothers, taking care of each other no matter what.



After the video, I talked to the kids about using Leroy and Dartanyon as examples for each of us.  How we should act with each other.  Where would they be right now if they had not been there for each other?  To update their story, both were able to attend college.

I then officially dis-banned the teams.  No more Green, Purple, Orange, Red or Blue teams.  We are all on the same team.  I made an official 9th Ward Team Flag and had everyone sign it, committing to being a member of the team and agreeing to look out for each other, to help each other and to always be there for each other.



We then watched our Youth Conference Video


To finish the evening we played Marshmallow Midget Ball.. You play baseball using marshmallows as the ball, spatulas as the bat and everyone has to play on their knees.










We finished the evening by serving Rice Krispie Treats - of course!!!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sacred Gifts

We took all the YW to see the Sacred Gifts Exhibit at BYU.  What a wonderful night to experience all the beautiful paintings of Christ from all around the world. 
 It was a very sacred experience to share with our Young Women.  
As we work toward our goal of "Coming Unto Christ" and "Becoming His" these paintings reminded us of all the wonderful things our Savior has done for us, has gone through for us and that He is always there for us.  
We are blessed with the knowledge the gospel gives and being able
 to walk around looking at this beautiful paintings reminded us of that.







Friday, January 24, 2014

Youth Conference




Youth Conference - Aspen Grove
January 2014

Bishop Coulter wanted our Youth Conference to build unity within our youth.  He wanted the youth to have each other's back, to take care of each other and to realize we are all one family. With this admonition we chose the theme "Same Team, Different Jersey."  We based our conference on a Mormon Message titled "Same Team."


The video is about two young men who are friends off the field, but rival quarterbacks on the field.  On Friday night is the big rival game, the next day Teren is set to baptize Brandon.  The video used a quote by President Uchtdorf  taken from a talk he gave at Priesthood Session.


And so it begins...
On Friday all the youth 14 and up drove to Aspen Grove.  They each received a backpack with a YC booklet, water bottle, snacks, pompom and roommate assignments.



Youth Conference Booklet
The booklet contained the weekend schedule, motivational quotes about team work, note pages for each speaker, teams and memory pages.

YC Booklet Cover




Photo Booth
One of the most popular things we had was a Photo Booth.  We used a football theme background and had lots of props for the youth to use.

Zac - our photographer

Josh - testing our photo booth


"Hall of Fame"
We printed out the photos and hung them on our "Hall of Fame" wall.  At the end of the Conference the youth were able to take home the photos and add them to their memory pages in their YC Booklet.






MVP Board
We also had a MVP Board.  This was a board we hoped to fill up with all the nice things everyone was doing at Youth Conference.  If you noticed someone being kind, doing something nice or going our of their way for someone else, their name was written on a pennant and placed on the MVP Board.  It was fun to see how fast the board got filled up.



Speakers

DaNae Peterson
I spoke on the theme of Youth Conference "Same Team, Different Jersey"

Jason Lindsey
Jason spoke on Social Media and how to use it safely.

Alliy Sahagun
Alliy spoke on Dress and Appearance

Jeffrey Louiza
Jeffrey spoke on Friends

Isaac Neilson
Isaac is a BYU Basketball player and he spoke on Self Esteem

Bishop Coulter
Bishop was our concluding speaker and showed a video about Derek Redmond, an Olympian who pulled his ham string during the 1992 Olympics, but never gave up and made it to the finish line.



 Teams
On Saturday morning the 12 and 13 year olds joined us for the rest of our conference.  We divided everyone into teams and they were given a dog tag with their name and made in the color of their team.


We had five teams and they stayed together the whole time we were at Youth Conference.  They sat together, ate together and played games together.




















Activities
We watched the movie "Miracle," played lots of Minute to Win it Games, hung out at the Game Center (pool tables, air hockey, ping pong - this was a big hit).  Some found a little snow even though they had to hike to find it.






Dancers
We were even entertained by an impromptu dance group
Lauren, Amber and Alyssa




Thanks for the memories