EFY Dress and Appearance Standards.

Isn’t this so cute and so useful? What a great way to let youth and parents know what the dress standards are in order to attend Especially For Youth.

It might also be a really fun weekly activity to have the Young Women in your wards dress in their favorite “For the Strength of Youth – Dress and Appearance” outfit, take pictures of them and then create a poster like this with Photoshop or any other graphic design software.  If you do, let us know. We would LOVE to use them. (Sunday Dress shots are useful too, by the way.)

The original image can be found at ce.byu.edu

Presidency Message – May

What a tremendous spiritual feast the last several weeks have been. Between our Young Women Broadcast, General Conference and Stake Conference I hope each of us has felt a renewal and recharging of the Spirit and that we are acting on the impressions and revelation we received during those times.

One of the impressions I felt is to ramp up a team effort with my son, Chase, as we both strive to complete our respective Personal Progress and Duty to God requirements.  In doing so, we’ve had some tender experiences and I want to share just one that happened a few weeks back.

It was on a Sunday. Chase and I sat on my bed combing through his Duty to God booklet to determine what he would be interested in accomplishing that afternoon.  He chose "Invite All to Come to Christ" (pg 76) and "Administer Priesthood Ordinances" (pg 72).  During the suggested discussion about ways to improve his home-teaching, our conversation naturally turned to the subject of how we can feel and express love for those who are hard to love. In that turning, I learned something about Chase I didn't know before.

He told me that when he feels he can't do something, or that he doesn't even know where to begin to do something, he thinks of Nephi building the ship. He said he draws strength from the idea that it wasn't as if Nephi had a garage to go grab a hammer and nails and get going on the commandment. He had to dig up ore, melt it, shape it, wait for it to cool and then form the tools before the actual building of the ship even began.  “If God can show Nephi how to build tools and a ship,” Chase said, “I believe He will show me how to do things I don’t think I can do.”

Then Chase said something that deeply enriched my application of Nephi’s experience. He said, "Mom, I wonder if there are any words out there with 'ship' already in them - you know, things that the Lord can help us build…like…relation-ships or friend-ships or our wor-ship”. I sat in amazement as I watched the Holy Ghost distill upon the soul of this bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood.   There was a feeling that I can only describe as a “Godly Enthusiasm” that swept over us as he spoke and I listened. He asked if it would be alright if he taught this “ship building” idea in Family Home Evening the next night.  You can only imagine my response.

At that lesson, our family added more “ship words” to the ones Chase shared. We came up with a total of 20, but here are a few of our favorites:

apostle-ship

apprentice-ship

citizen-ship

companion-ship

disciple-ship

fellow-ship

hard-ship

leader-ship

scholar-ship

steward-ship

Chase closed out Family Home Evening by testifying that when we feel we don't even have the tools to build these kinds of ships, the Lord will instruct us and show us His pattern of building them so we can cross the waters of this mortality and return as families to our Heavenly Father.

And all of this because we spent less than 20 minutes in the inspired Duty to God booklet.

Sisters, may the Lord bless us and unite us as we exercise faith in Jesus Christ in building ships in our families, communities and callings. I testify He will as we turn our hearts toward Him.

With Love and Gratitude,

Sister Shannon Gish

Exeter Stake Young Women President

image above used by permission here

Young Women Calendar Idea

Be sure to take a look at the “Your Ideas” page from the tab above. Sister Krista Day, Young Women President from the Methuen Ward opened a wonderful dialog for the leaders to share ideas. (Thank you, Sister Day.) We look forward to gleaning from everyone’s experiences.

Here is an idea from Sister Natalie Garcia, Young Women President of the Lawrence Ward:  

“We utilized the Personal Progress values each month. With each value each month, we did activities that related to that value, and had activities that allowed the girls to accomplish some of the assignments in their personal progress. I feel with the calendar, we have a purpose every Thursday, and have enabled the girls to stay on track with their personal progress, without feeling overwhelmed with it.”

{ You might notice in the calendar header that the Lawrence Ward Young Women also focus on a topic from For the Strength of Youth each month.  In April, they have been learning about Honesty. }

 

Note: There were some “technical difficulties” in re-creating the Lawrence Ward Young Women Calendar above to a jpg (picture) format. For a much better copy, please contact Sister Garcia. Her original is much better.

“At the end of March the youth completed a community project which the YW used towards a project under Individual Worth. The girls loved it, and they felt as though they were truly making a difference.”

 
Muchas Gracias, Hermana Garcia, for all you and your Presidency are doing.   Nos encantan las mujeres jóvenes y líderes de la sala de Lawrence!

“Sing with Grace in Your Hearts”

Are you looking for heart-felt and edifying music to bring the Spirit to your New Beginnings, Young Women in Excellence or other special musical numbers? 

Sally Deford is a great source. She writes all her own music or beautifully adapts familiar hymns and offers most of it all for free.

Here are a few links to some of her most well known works:

Make Us One

If the Savior Stood Beside Me

My Sister’s Hands

This is How I Know

“Music can enrich your life. It can edify and inspire you and help you draw closer to Heavenly Father. Music has a profound effect on your mind, spirit, and behavior.” For the Strength of Youth

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16

Cute Idea - Easter

Here is a cute idea for you to give to your Young Women this Easter Sunday that emphasizes an Apostle’s testimony of the resurrection of our Savior.

This would also be a great little treat to give to our families as well and maybe for our Sisters whom we visit teach. Another idea would be to have the Young Women put them together during the week and then give them to friends or teachers at school who also celebrate Easter.

You can download this handout from InkaBlinka.  The easy and simple directions to put them together can be found there as well. The text woven into the heart is from Elder Richard G. Scott’s Talk, “He lives! All Glory to His Name!”

Thinking of each of you.

With Love & Gratitude