thank-a-thon

Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I thought it would be fun and good for the girls to send thank you notes to people they appreciate in their lives. Along with the thank you cards, they can add small tokens of appreciation. We're going to use tubes of chapstick, homemade coupons and I'm going to send them home with a cookie recipe since we can't use the kitchen.

Items for activity:
Thank you cards
Pens
Chapstick (LipSmackers!)
Blank coupons
Cookie recipe
Ribbon (for tying chapstick to card)
Scissors
Hole punch
Stamps (for mailing cards to people they don't see)

We'll see how it goes!

bribery and blessings

While I don't think bribery is the best way to get people to do things, I do think it is a way to get people to do things. It doesn't always work, but with this project, I'm hoping it does.

Here's the project: My sister, Jenny, (who is also the young women's president in her ward) and I were talking about Personal Progress and different ways to get the girls excited about accomplishing experiences and projects for each value. She said that their Personal Progress leader used to use a basket with certain items (soaps, loofah scrubs, lotions, nail polish, nail files, lip gloss, etc.) that matched the color of the value they were focusing on to encourage the girls to complete experiences. Once they completed a value experience or project they got to choose something from the basket.

Well, I changed that a little bit and made a 'Value Jar' full of candy.

The ribbon around the jar signifies the value for the month and the candy in the jar is the same color. We're starting with the first value on the list, Faith. Its corresponding color is white, so the ribbon is white and all of the candy is either white or is in white packaging. 'White' candy includes: Junior Mints, White Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, White Mint Tic Tacs, Ghirardelli White Chocolate and Hershey's Cookies and Cream Chocolate. Mmm. Next month will be Divine Nature, so everything will be blue.

My sister also said she was thinking of doing some sort of journal that the girls could pass around. I thought that was a great idea, so the 'Value Book' was born. I went to Target and found a cute spiral notebook and glued the information on the front.

The goal of the the 'Value Book' is to give the girls an opportunity to share their individual thoughts on the value for the month in writing. Each week it goes to someone new, so they can read what their peers write and they can add their own feelings. For instance, I ask them to sight ways in which Faith helps them during the week (i.e. taking a test, competing in a sporting event, etc.).

Last, but not least, we have a frame with the value of the month and its corresponding scripture. The scripture is readily available in the Personal Progress book which makes things easy.

No one has completed an experience this month, but I'm not giving up hope. These three items are going to sit on the table for as long as I'm in Young Women. Personal Progress is a fantastic program, but it might take some time for all of the girls to recognize that. When they do, not only will they get a sweet treat, they will learn about themselves, the gospel and the love of God and others.

Items used for Value Project:
Candy jar
Candy
Ribbon
Paper
Scissors
Double-sided mounting tape (thin)
Notebook
Frame

high time

It's been a little over a year since I was called to be the Young Women's President in my ward and while things aren't perfect, I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things. Sort of getting the hang of things is more accurate. I'm not great at holding presidency meetings and activities are often decided upon last minute, but I am enjoying the calling. I love the relationships I get to develop with the girls and in all honesty, I love thinking of activities and new things to do. Our young women's program is small. If 8 girls show up to an activity or at church, we consider that a big group. No matter what size though, I love each and every one of those young ladies. I love the young women leaders, too. We are all different: different ages, stages, etc., but those differences allow us to bring various ideas and ways of doing things together. Something I've learned well: Delegation makes life much easier.

Anyway, this blog is a way for me to share some of the ideas, projects, activities, lessons, etc. we do. If I'm ever in Young Women's again, I'll be happy to have some of the past things we've done documented.