Personal Progress Retreat

At our last Stake Conference one of the speakers talked about the strength of the ward will be dependent upon how much you allow the youth to lead it.  I've thought a lot about that counsel and have really tried to implement it.  Amazing things have happened in our program from doing this.

 A few months ago the Laurel Class President told me she would really like to see us do some kind of slumber party and do personal progress so that the girls could bond.  I thought the bonding idea was really important, however since we have been counseled to not have slumber parties we brainstormed on different ways that we could achieve the same results.  The idea for a "Personal Progress Retreat" was born.  My friend owns a lake house and graciously let us hold our retreat there. 

We scheduled the day around completing the value experiences from Virtue. 
All the girls were asked to pack a sack lunch, bring their swim suit, personal progress book, scriptures and were assigned an ingredient to bring to make chocolate chip cookies.
My secretary got copies made from the Young Women Fun-tastic Personal Progress Motivators book by Mary H. Ross and found some inexpensive binders with a clear plastic cover and pencil pouches.

10:00 am met and drove to the lake house

11:00 am  arrived unloaded played get to know you game (ooga booga look)

11:30 am ate sack lunch
12:00 pm passed out personal progress binder. Watched video virtue value 1
1:00   pm craft
2:00   pm virtue value #3
3:00   pm lake/swim
4:00   pm virtue value #2
5:00   pm made cookies object lesson about each of us an important ingredient
5:30   pm finish craft
6:00   pm dinner
7:00   pm virtue value #4
8:00   pm camp fire
9:00   pm drive home

The Laurel Pres. came up with the craft. 

We did it as an individual worth value experience.  Each girl received their initial.  They got to paint it any color and then decorate it with gems.  On the back each of the other girls wrote something kind about the young woman that made them unique. They turned out really cute/

Who You Are

Who You Are

Go to www.a1ldsarmy.blogspot.com fill out the blanks below as you watch “I am Awesome”

Write down 5 things that the speaker says You are:

1. ____________ 2. ______________3._______________4. _______________5.______________

You are worthy of ________________ and_____________________

You are never ______ __________ and you are always ____________________

You are ________________, you are a _______________________, a _____________, a

____________, the most stunning of all __________ ________________

You are worth more than you could ever __________________

 

 

Your worth surpasses all ___________________ ___________________ because in the

eyes of the Lord God you are ______________________ and you are worth

_________________ ______

 

 

You are _______________ and _______________ and __________________

Read about the Women in the Bible ____________, ____________, _______________,_______________

 

Inside of you is a woman with that same ______________and that same

_______________ and that same world changing capability and your responsibility is

 to __________ that woman and to set that woman ________. 

This is who _____ _______.

and any voices in your mind that try and tell you differently are from the ___________

 

I am a ___________________ of the __________________ __________.

 

I am __________________!

Mormon Ad Activity

                     

 

We started off the activity by showing the kids different Mormon ads from New Era magazines. 

 

We used a table to recreate the mutual support Mormon ad, luckily the YM pres is an amazing artist and is a pro with photoshop and was able to take the table out of the picture and added the title and logo so it looked like a real mormonad. Awesome! 

We then split into groups and the groups picked a scripture from a bag (I had taken the scriptures from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet)

Then they chose another bag with a prop in it.  I had picked random things from around the house to put in the bags.  They were given a poster board and had to come up with a Mormon ad that went with the scripture and the prop. They had to design the poster and come up with a skit to go along with it.  I think we gave them 5-10 minutes to create them.  They were really creative! Some examples:

prop: water gun
Scripture: Praise the Lord with Music and Dancing

prop: sun hat
scripture:virtue loveth light
 




prop: glue
scripture: D&C 58:43 "By this ye may  know if a man repenteth of his sins--behold he will confess them and forsake them
Slogan: You Don't have to be stuck to your sins, You can Repent!
fabulous!

prop: sponge
Scripture: know ye not that  ye are the temple of God
They used another poster board to make a sponge bob "costume", more amazing artists!

 

 

At the end we discussed the scriptures and where we could find them.  I bore testimony of the importance of following the For the strength of Youth.  



Our true identity

 

The girl I am

 

Incredible Daughter's of Zion

At one of our camp prep meetings we talked about all the women in the scriptures and church history that were Incredible Daughter's of Zion and what their characteristics were, each of the girls wrote a characteristic on the chalk board.

On our way to camp! How I love these amazing Young Women!

Girls Camp this year was a super hero theme. "Come unto Christ, heroes of the 21st century"

As a ward we chose to be the Incredible Daughters of Zion. 




all ready to go to our first assignment

Working as a team to build a boat out of cardboard that would float our first year across the lake, say what???