December 2010

Our Responsibility to Participate in Temple and Family History Work

These Family Group Record sheets are available at no cost from the Distribution Center.  If you live near me, shipping is free.

“The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.”

-Joseph Smith

November 2010

"Stay on the Path"

I got some dollar store kids' gloves and attached a note that read, "Take a child by the hand and lead him (or her, depending on the circumstances of the sister receiving the gift) to the Gospel."

A co-worker bought some notepads from me and could put, "Take note of your blessings and be grateful."

Personal Progress: Faith #6

For this activity, I walked the girls through the Plan of Salvation, reading scriptures and discussing each part.  We started in the premortal life where there was a war.  (My original plan was to have the girls cut out pictures from church magazines and make a poster representing the Plan of Salvation, but I didn't have the room or the resources.  So I had a bunch of old church magazines with no use, so I cut out pictures to decorate each station.)

Then we went through the door of birth,

 and to earth.

We talked about the creation, the fall, and the atonement.  We discussed various pictures that related to earth life.  Then we went through the door of death.

We went to the Spirit World, where our work continues and the Gospel is preached to those who haven't yet accepted it.

Then we went to judgment and resurrection, a door that is not possible without the Atonement of Christ.

We ended up in the Kingdoms of Glory. 

The front of the room was bright and the rear was dark. 

In the front (Celestial Kingdom), there were color pictures of temples and pictures of Christ.  In the middle (Terrestrial Kingdom), there were black and white pictures of temples. 

In the back, there were silhouettes and reflections of the temple. 

At the very back was Outer Darkness.

Afterward, I gave them a diagram of the Plan of Salvation and instructions to go explain it to someone else to pass off.

Throughout the activity, I handed out candy for various things: bringing scriptures, sitting on the front row, helping people, finding scriptures first.  At the end, I discussed how not everyone got the same amount.  In the end, we don't all end up in one generic heaven.  We go where we deserve to go--we get what we earn.

Hindsight advice: When it's this late in the year, it's too dark and cold to have "earth" outside. 

October 2010

Because of the special issue of the Ensign, our Relief Society presidency chose to have October's message be President Monson's Relief Society Conference talk on not judging.  I had anticipated a message relating to temples and was going to get a little ghost of some kind with a note about how there are spirits on the other side waiting for you to do their work.  When I saw what our message was, I thought about a "don't be a witch" gift, but figured that might not go over well.  And then it hit me--Windex!

“Why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor’s house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?”

–Pres. Monson

Personal Progress: Virtue

There really aren't a lot of ways to make Virtue requirements into an activity.  Since this is the only value where the project is dictated, I decided to focus on that and have a Book of Mormon party.  It was a costume party--we were to come dressed as a Book of Mormon character or thing.  (I was the tree of life, complete with fruit to exceed all whiteness.)

The girls were divided into 3 teams: Nephites (led by Nephi), Jaredites (led by Mahonri Moriancumer), and Anti-Nephi-Lehies (led by Ammon).  They rotated through a few activities.

First we started with 116 Post-It notes spread around the church that they had to go find and bring back.  They took forever, didn't manage to get them organized to see how many were still lost, and weren't very cooperative.  And I completely forgot to explain the relevance.

After we all explained our costumes and Nephi, Mahonri, and Ammon explained who they were and who their tribes were, we split into teams to go through the activities.

In one room, the girls learned about Nephi's boat and the Jaredite boats.  Then they had to build their own boats out of paper plates, plastic utensils, and tape.

In another room, the girls learned about Lehi's vision and went through an obstacle course by following an "iron rod" through the "mists of darkness."

In another room, they learned the importance of scriptures and had a scripture chase.  There was a Joseph Smith Translation exercise too (a message that I "translated" by changing the font to Webdings), but I didn't get time to get copies made.

At the end, we gathered in the kitchen and they used frosting to decorate Liahona cookies.  I was quite frazzled by then and had trouble getting them settled enough to explain what the Liahona was.  I closed by explaining that the scriptures are kind of like a Liahona for us and we need to be reading the Book of Mormon.  I passed out Book of Mormon reading charts as they left.

Personal Progress: Integrity #4

For this activity, I am having the girls invite adult women they respect.  I'll have everyone seated in a circle.  I will read the dictionary definition of "integrity."  Then I will tell my own story of what integrity means to me.  After that, we will go around the room and each adult will stand and explain what integrity means to her.  Then we'll eat cookies and drink punch.

Pretty simple, eh?

September 2010

"Our Responsibility to Nurture the Rising Generation"

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. --Proverbs 22: 6

The visiting teaching messages lately are quite difficult to think of gifts for!  This is a jar of baby food with the label covered with scripture.

August 2010

"Our Responsibility to Be Worthy of Temple Worship"

"Let us be worthy to have a current temple recommend. Let us go to the temple to seal our families eternally. Let us return to the temple as often as our circumstances will permit. . . . Let us enjoy the spiritual strength and the revelation we receive as we attend the temple regularly."

--Silvia H. Allred

I struggled to think of something for this one.  Tried to find a way to print bookmarks with a picture of the temple (one my mom took), but they were too expensive.  Same with magnets.  I finally settled on getting a handkerchief from the Distribution Center.

Personal Progress: Good Works #3

This one requires that the girls think of 3 ways to help others, bear someone's burden, etc.  So I'm giving them 2 ways and they just have to come up with a third.

First we will make a little container.  It's someone's garbage (all cleaned up) decorated with paper, buttons, and a flower.  Then you put candy or a gift or something inside and give it away.

Then we will make a pocket card.

Hindsight advice:
-Don't get a flat tire right before the activity.
-Stand somewhere in the middle so they can all see better, rather than on one end.

Here are some pictures from the activity:

July 2010

Strengthening Families and Homes

"I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."

-D&C 93: 40

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"Teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; . . . teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."

-Mosiah 4: 15

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"No matter what our family looks like, each of us can work to strengthen our own families."

-Barbara Thompson

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Luckily the one person on my visiting teaching route happens to be someone my mom recently took a family picture of.  So I got an 8"x10" photo printed and framed it behind a vellum copy of the Family Proclamation.  For anyone else, I would've just given them the frame to put a family picture in.

For a vertical copy of the Family Proclamation, go here.

Here is the horizontal one I made.  Not sure how it will print from Scribd, so if you want a PDF copy, let me know.
FamilyProc-horiz

Personal Progress: Choice & Accountability #7

I had done this activity with Cub Scouts, so I decided to try it on the Young Women.  The other leaders have specific roles in this: 2 store clerks, a banker, a bishop, and a few bosses.  The bosses give the girls work to do (cleaning the church) and pay them for the work.  The girls can choose to spend that fake money on little toys at the store, pay tithing, or put money in savings.  At the end, we discuss their choices and I give them their budget assignments.  I also give them a prize, depending on the choices they made (i.e., their "eternal reward").

I learned quickly that this was not a good idea.  I realized it too late to change plans, though.  The main problem is the cost.  When you do this with little boys, you go to a store and buy a giant bag of plastic bugs for a tiny price and the boys are thrilled.  Teenage girls' tastes are far more expensive.

Hindsight advice: Never do this activity with Young Women.  If you do, spend some time in advance shopping at the stores, waiting for good stuff to be really cheap.  Also, stickers are a great prize for little boys.  Not for teenage girls.

Gift Idea: Me Pack

This is not related to visiting teaching, nor to Young Women. But I thought it was a good place to share some of my favorite gift ideas, too. This is a ME PACK--a box of things to help someone have some personal relaxation, joy, etc. This is a sample that I assembled recently, a bunch of items with little notes attached. My co-workers helped me come up with ideas and one even donated the books.
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Cards - Service is good for the soul.
Pot and flower seeds - Plant some more love.

Bath scrubber - Scrub away your stress.

Slippers - Slip into relaxation.

Journal and pen - Record some of your happiest moments each day.

Notepad - Your greatness has been noted.

Books - In my book, you're a great mom!

Bath stuff - Bathe in luxury and relaxation.

Word search book and pen - Search for some joy.

Coloring book and crayons - Color your life by spending some time with your favorite boy.

Photo album - Rejoice in memories.

Lotion - Smooth out your day.

Box of chocolates - Treat yourself to something nice.

Other ideas: microwave popcorn, homemade treats or mixes to make her own, a chick-flick, scented candles, relaxing music. Put it all in a box.

ME PACK - Keep this box filled with some of your favorite things and some simple pleasures. Every now and then, take some ME time!

June 2010

Renewing Covenants through the Sacrament
Bread and water. Simple enough.

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As we take the bread and water each week, we "promise to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior as we renew our baptismal covenant. We promise to do as the Savior did—to be obedient to the Father and always keep His commandments. The blessing we receive in return is to always have His Spirit to be with us." --Elder Robert D. Hales

Personal Progress: Knowledge #3

This one requires going to some cultural event. I really struggled to find a performance or exhibit that was 6:30ish, local, free, and Tuesday. Most art exhibits close by 6:00. Most concerts or plays are weekends, far away, and/or expensive. I finally found one that I wasn't too thrilled about--a photography exhibit at the university library. I was going to go up in advance and see it and find a way to get the girls more involved in it, like a scavenger hunt or something.

And then my sister mentioned that my nephew's school is putting on a performance of The Music Man! It's 7:00, local, free, and Tuesday. Now I have to hope we have enough drivers and hope the girls are well-behaved and don't text during the performance.
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Hindsight advice:
Don't take the girls to something in which you have a vested interest. It's like when I was teaching, I would make sure not to teach a book I loved because the complaining adolescents would ruin it for me. The girls were polite, though, and didn't complain (too much) in front of me. And they posed for a scrapbookable picture with my nephew afterward.

May 2010

Our Relief Society presidency picks a Conference talk for us. This time it was Sister Beck's talk.
The talk had a lot about revelation--didn't we do that last month?--so I went for a magnifying glass.

"The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life."

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"As they seek and qualify for personal revelation, the Lord will pour out His Spirit upon His handmaids in these latter days."

Personal Progress: Individual Worth #7

I've been trying to use the "required experiences" for these activities, but it was too difficult for Individual Worth, so I went with an "additional" experience. And I'm doing something that was done when I was a YW leader years ago. (I remember that no one wanted to write on mine because they might make a grammatical or spelling error.)

We are all going to sit around a big table. I will provide a sheet of stationery for each person and we'll each write our name on the top. Throughout the activity, we will alternate between reading and discussing the required scriptures for the experience and writing nice things about the person whose paper we have. (The papers will be rotated around the circle.)

Pretty simple . . . I hope.
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Hindsight advice: Actually, I was pretty sick that night, so I was kinda out of it. So I guess the only thing I would've changed was having a table. We had other things going on that night, so I couldn't put tables up and we were all in a "circle" on the floor.

Personal Progress: Divine Nature #2

For this activity, I have asked 3 mothers to come talk to the Young Women about their divine roles as mothers. I have a grandmother, a mother of young children, and a mom expecting her first child. I had asked the girls to think of questions to ask the panel of moms, but none of the girls provided any, so I came up with a list myself:

• Did you always want to be a mom?
• What is your typical day like as a mom right now?
• Looking back, is there anything you wish you had done to prepare yourself to be a mother?
• What is the greatest blessing of motherhood?
• What is the worst part of motherhood?
• What do you think are some important attributes needed for motherhood?
• What role does religion play in your life as a mother?
• How much do you sacrifice for you children when you become a mother? And do you think it is worth it?
• How much does it cost to have a child?
• What talents did you have that ended up being helpful as you became a mother?
• Have you ever doubted yourself as a mother? If you did, how did you find faith in yourself?
• How has becoming a mother changed your relationship with the Lord?
• (For the grandma:) You have watched your children and some grandchildren as teenagers. What advice would you give us teenage girls?
• (For the mom with young kids:) What do you do to make sure you have time for yourself and still take care of your kids and your husband and your church callings?
• (For the expectant mom:) What is one thing you are the most nervous about in becoming a mom?

The panel of moms will be seated at a table at the front of the room and the girls will be asking these questions. I put together a gift bag for each of the moms (journal, back massager, bath stuff, etc.) and a card.

For a treat for the girls, I had hoped to find Sugar Mamas, but none of the dollar stores had any.
So I am giving them each a Sugar Daddy and a small box of Sugar Babies. The only thing missing? The mother.

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Hindsight advice:

• Bring a tablecloth.
• Remember to set the camera to museum mode so you can get pictures to scrapbook.

Yep, that's about it. It went perfectly!! The panel moms were great--very spiritual. The girls were quiet and respectful. The activity lasted just the right amount of time. If only all of my activities would go this smoothly!

April 2010

Seeking and Receiving Personal Revelation

Seek the light of personal revelation.

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I went to the dollar store and planned on getting a bunch of different kinds of flashlights and light sources: flashlights, glowing toys, candles. There were no glowing toys and the one person I visit teach shouldn't have candles in the house with her son's oxygen. $20 later I realized I should've just bought 1 decent flashlight. But the dollar store doesn't give refunds.

March 2010

Strengthening Faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ through Personal Scripture Study

For this one I went to the Distribution Center and bought a pocket version of the Book of Mormon.

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"We want our sisters to be scholars of the scriptures. . . .

"We want our homes to be blessed with sister scriptorians--whether you are single or married, young or old, widowed or living in a family. . . . Become scholars of the scriptures--not to put others down, but to lift them up!"

-Spencer W. Kimball

February 2010

"Managing Resources Wisely and Staying Out of Debt"

Five Key Steps to Financial Freedom
$1. Pay your tithing
$2. Spend less than you earn
$3. Learn to save
$4. Honor your financial obligations
$5. Teach your children to follow your example
--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Personal Progress: Faith #3

This one is pretty involved, so it's gonna take me a long time to explain it. The requirement is for the YW to plan and present a Family Home Evening lesson about faith and how faith helps us keep a gospel principle. For the activity, the girls will be putting together their own lesson on faith and prayer while they participate in my lesson as I model it for them.
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As the girls arrive, I give them each a card from a deck of playing cards. That is so I can divide them into groups. (An old teaching trick.) The groups will be the 4 suits.
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The main activity is a scavenger hunt. I have picked 9 locations around the church building. At each location, they read something related to the lesson, pick up a part of the materials needed for their own lesson, and get the next clue. I am using scriptures as the clues so they are being challenged. Here is the course of the scavenger hunt (each group is going in a different order, though):

1. Kitchen (Exodus 23: 16) - Here they pick up a pack of recipe cards that they will use to make the scavenger hunt clues for their own FHE.
2. Relief Society room (1 Corinthians 13: 8) - A leader will read about faith from the Bible Dictionary. They will pick up a copy of the same (for all of these, the selection the leader reads is also given to them, unless noted).
3. Stage (2 Samuel 6: 14 - this is the most challenging clue) - A leader will read about faith from True to the Faith.
4. Cleaning closet (Isaiah 1: 16) - A leader will read a selection from True to the Faith that I have pieced together from the section on prayer.
5. Foyer near the chapel (Doctrine & Covenants 20: 75) - A leader will read the first verse of "A Child's Prayer." The girls will get a copy of the sheet music with the link to the song on the church website: http://tinyurl.com/childsprayer.
6. Library (Doctrine & Covenants 88: 118) - A leader will read a paragraph from the Bible Dictionary section on prayer (the paragraph about how prayer aligns God's will with ours).
7. Primary room (Matthew 19: 13-14) - A leader will read some scriptures about prayer (Alma 34: 17-27; Alma 37: 37). The girls will pick up a list of scriptures about prayer (Matthew 6: 6; Matthew 21: 22; 1 Thessalonians 5: 17-18; James 1: 5-6; Alma 34: 17-27; Alma 37: 37; Doctrine & Covenants 19: 28).
8. Coat racks (Genesis 3: 21) - A leader will read some scriptures about faith (Hebrews 11: 1, 3-9, 11, 13, 17, 20-31). The girls will pick up a list of scriptures about faith (Mark 11: 22; 2 Corinthians 5: 7; Hebrews 11: 1, 3-9, 11, 13, 17, 20-31; Alma 14: 26).
9. Young Women's room (Deuteronomy 31: 6; Joshua 1: 9 (the 2010 theme scriptures)) - The girls will be given a page with the instructions and outline for preparing their own Family Home Evening Lesson.

Wish me luck!

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Hindsight Advice: Explain to the leaders exactly what they need to do. They won't get it implicitly. Explain to the girls that the scriptures on the clue cards are clues to lead them to the next location. They won't get it implicitly.

Personal Progress: P Party

Lois the Visiting Teacher was recently also made Lois the Young Women's Personal Progress Specialist. So I figured I might as well post my ideas for those activities on here as well. After each activity has passed, I'll go back and post the hindsight advice after I've seen how my activity goes.
The first activity I had was a P Party. Got the idea online, totally not mine. The idea is to get the girls excited about doing Personal Progress, but it really was so I could get all their records. The Young Women and leaders were instructed to wear as many P items as possible (pink, purple, polish, pigtails, etc.) and there would be a prize for the most Ps (a pack of penguin playing cards!).
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The girls played P games (Pictionary, Phase 10, Pass the Pigs, Parcheesi) and ate P snacks (pretzels, peanut M&Ms, pop in plastic cups).
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Hindsight advice: Having multiple game options didn't work out. Stick with Pictionary.

January 2010

"Becoming Self-Reliant"

(Pretty much any emergency supply will work. I bought reflective emergency blankets.)

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"‘Self-reliance means using all of our blessings from Heavenly Father to care for ourselves and our families and to find solutions for our own problems.’ Each of us has a responsibility to try to avoid problems before they happen and to learn to overcome challenges when they occur. . . .
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"How do we become self-reliant? We become self-reliant through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being."
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–Julie B. Beck