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Lesson 19: Personal Records

After a lot of personal life detours- I'm writing again. I put together these journals for the Records lesson. I found them at Michaels for just $1.00 and then I tied a little ribbon on the spirals.

For this lesson I'm going to share a personal journal entry from when I was dating my husband- just so they can see how fun it is for me to go back and read about it. I also want to discuss all the different ways they can keep a record- scrapbooking, blogging, journals, etc.

I made a list of questions they can answer about themselves in their journal as a handout. I'm encouraging them to write during the summer since they don't have much homework. Here are some examples of the questions on the handout.

What makes you a good friend?

Describe an act of service you have performed for someone and how it made you feel.

What are you most grateful for?

Who are your best friends and why?

Describe your favorite outfit.

Describe your room.

Write what you remember from your baptism.

How do you feel about the temple?

What kind of mom are you going to be?

What technologies do you use every day?

List your talents and what you can do to develop them.

Last October I was challenged by our ward's Relief Society to read the Four Gospels from October to Christmas and then the Book of Mormon from Christmas to Easter. Yesterday I finished. Fitting so much time to read in my day (sometimes a lot more than others as I played catch-up) has been such a part of my life these last months that I feel I have to share what has become a part of me. What a great experience to walk with Jesus everyday as I spiritually prepared for Christmas. For the Book of Mormon we were given a brand new book and a newly sharpened pencil and encouraged to highlight everything that described the characteristics of God. The words I highlighted the most were:

Power
Power of his Word
Delivered
Directed
Preserved
Prepared
Supported
Strengthened
Led
Prospered
Redeemed
Resurrection
Mercy
Justice
Hear/Answer


Of course there were others, but these words were found countless times. You could find one of these words on almost every page. It amazed me how the book came to life to me in a very different way. I felt so enlightened as I began to see that this book is not only a history and a record full of amazing doctrine as well as a Testament of Jesus Christ, but is also a plea from our loving Father in Heaven for us to let Him into our individual lives. Story after story relates the Lord's hand- guiding, leading, supporting, prospering, and delivering. I am SO thankful that I was given this challenge! I am so grateful for my new understanding of God's will to be a part of my life.

Every time I finish the Book of Mormon I am so touched by the sacrifices made by countless people so that I can hold a copy in my hands. I know it the Word of God. I KNOW that there is GREAT POWER in its pages. I pray that I can be submissive and humble enough to ask the Father to let this power be a part of my every day life. I bare my testimony of its truthfulness, in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sustaining Preisthood Bearers

Lesson-13

I tried this last fall and it worked so well I'm going to do it again. I asked the girls ahead of time to pick one of their favorite talks from conference and answer the following questions about the talk. Then I had them present what they had prepared for about 2-3 minutes. (It really ended up being just a minute for each girl, but I was proud of them for doing "church" homework- and following up on conference.) I think this ties in perfectly with this lesson.

What was the message of this talk?

What did you like about it?

How did it make you feel?

What changes are you making in your life because of it?

I think I'll also get one of those picture pages from one of the primary conference activity packets I found on Sugar Doodle with all the apostles on it and have the names blank and have them fill in the names as part of the questionnaire at the beginning of the lesson.

Growing and Maturing in Self-Reliance 1&2

Lesson- 11&12

We combined these lessons into one. One idea that would have been really fun that I didn't think about until the morning of, would be: Get a picture of each of the girls when they were a baby from their parents and hang them up in the room. Number them and have the girls write the numbers on their papers and guess who is who. After everyone shares who they really are, discuss how the girls have changed since then. What can they do for themselves now? How would it feel to back to being that dependent? Use the questions from the other introduction activities in the lesson.

Getting to Know the Girls

Our YW president has encouraged us to get to know our girls one on one.  We've been challenged to try to do something every week to get make contact with at least one girl.  I don't share this to toot  my horn, but have found these experience extremely helpful in getting to know the girls and understand their home life and their needs.  Here are a few ideas:

• Facebook:  really, where else do you get the true low down?  Plus I've even been treated to sweet messages on my wall and in my inbox on occasion.  This way I know who is sick, who has a big paper due, who is studying for a test, and who is having  a downer day and on the flip side who just went on a fun trip or had something exciting happen.
• Ice Cream: the president and I are trying to take one of the girls out every week until we've seen them all.  This has been AMAZING!  They open up so much and tell you about their dreams and what is bothering them and we always ask "what can we do as YW leaders to make this a better experience for you?"  My favorite reply was "Just check up on me so I have someone to be accountable too."  (This came from a girl who hasn't received permission to be baptized yet.)
• Sending notes: our president is awesome about snapping a picture of the leaders and making costco cards to send out for every holiday, telling the girls we love them.  She also encourages us to send out thank you notes to the girls when they've helped with a program or accomplished something for YW's.
• Phone calls: we had a season of "discord" among some of the girls and it was amazing how much a phone call just to see how they were doing meant to them.  I had one girl break down on the phone and really share her heart with me.  I think they really appreciated the fact that I noticed they were unhappy and cared enough to call.
• Notice events:  One girl had her wisdom teeth out but I didn't find out until Sunday when she wasn't at church.  I wanted to bring her something but couldn't go to the store, so I just put a ribbon on a box of pudding and brought it over.  We ended up visiting for 1/2 hour and it was a great way to get to know her better.  Showing up at other events like plays, games, or performances are things I need to do better at, but I'm sure would be fun and meaningful to the girls.

What are your ideas?  I'd love to hear your ideas of works for you to get to know your girls!!!!

Skipping a Few Weeks

I noticed there a few  people following the blog, so I just wanted to let you know I haven't dropped off the planet since I'm not posting right now.  We had stake visitors on Sunday, so I'm postponing my parents lesson for a two weeks because we have ward conference this week and I don't teach then either.  So I'll be back to posting lesson ideas in a couple weeks.

Honoring Parents

Lesson 9- Honoring Parents


I felt very strongly that I needed to ask the parents to participate in this lesson. I sent an email to the parents (you can get a lot of their addresses from off the ward membership directory on the church website) and asked them to secretly send me a letter written to their daughter. I asked them to include talents, ways she brings the Spirit in their home, and what makes their daughter special to them. Most importantly I asked them to express their love. They will email their letter back so I can print it out on stationary and have it ready for class. (I thought this was the best way to keep it secret.) I'll send out a reminder on Friday.

So far I've found the parents to be very grateful for the opportunity to do this and one mother who is not a member of our faith and her daughter is not a member but comes with a friend, was really excited to participate. I can't wait to see the girls reactions on Sunday!

Homemaking

Manual 1- Lesson 7 Homemaking

This goes along with the "Homemaking is More than Housekeeping" Section

I bought some plastic tiaras at the party store. I also have some princess pencils I'm going to decorate with a star and some ribbon to make it into a magic wand. When they come in I'll have them put on the tiaras, hand them their wands, and ask them if they were going to create the perfect home for a queen, what would it be like?

What is the Lord's house, or the temple like? (very clean, beautiful, ornate, comfortable, decorated with flower arrangements and pictures of the Savior's life, everyone is kind and polite, a place where His Spirit can dwell.)

What do you want your home to be like?

Can it be like the temple? How so? (D&C 88:119-120)



I also remember hearing a talk given by Marjorie Hinkley, and I apologize I have not been able to find a reference for it, but she shared an experience she had while visiting a church member in Africa. She shared how she went into this modest hut and noticed that there on a shelf was a single flower in a little vase. She then went on to share that women have been given the gift and need to create beauty around them. I am a strong believer that each one of us has been given the gift to create in some way or another. Isn't that what God does? He creates things. I believe as our divine nature we choose to create in many various forms: art- in all of its forms, music, literature (i.e. blogging), scrap booking, jewelry making, decorating, graphic design, culinary arts, engineering, any kind of designing, gardening, fashion, the list goes on and on. Creating the home you want to live in can be part of that, whether it comes naturally to you or is a skill that you learn.

I just found this great talk that goes along with this lesson.

A few more thoughts on Joy

As I've contemplated the lesson this week, I had one thing come strongly to my mind.

Being happy is a skill. I really want to help them see the steps to making the choice to be happy.

1. Constantly nourishing their relationship with Christ & living his gospel.
   
2. Being grateful for their blessings- being positive
3. Forgetting themselves in service

I am also going to use the idea of decorating the room for a party and showing them everyday is a party in this game we call life if we have a good attitude. I will be hanging up the following quotes from President Monson's "Finding Joy in The Journey" talk from the Oct. 2008 General Conference around the room.

I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.

“You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”

Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey, The Music Man (1957)

There is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something today.

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God.”

Thessalonians 5:18

Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.

We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.

Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.

Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows.

Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings.

“Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend . . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

Sarah Ban Breathnach, in John Cook, comp., The Book of Positive Quotations, 2nd ed. (2007), 342

“Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.”- Horace

Finding Joy Now

Manual 1-

Lesson 6

"Finding Joy Now"

President Monson's Last Conference Talk "Finding Joy in the Journey" is PERFECT for this lesson!

I made a hand out that has the two columns in the "Happiness is..." section for the girls to write which item it goes under. Then below it I placed room for the girls to write the fun, satisfaction, happiness, and joy definitions. I'm trying to figure out a good way to get documents shared, but let me know if you want me to email you a copy.


When I read the title of the "Happiness is..." section, this song came to my mind. I think for this section of my lesson I'll read a few of these items from the musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and then we'll talk about the things all around us that can make us happy. Then I'll have them make an individual list of the things that make them happy on a cute grocery list stationary that they can hang up this week.

CHARLIE BROWN:
(Spoken)
I'm so happy. That little red-headed gril dropped her pencil.
It has teeth marks all over it. She nibbles her pencil.
She's human! It hasn't been such a bad day after all.

(Sung)
HAPPINESS IS FINDING A PENCIL.

SNOOPY:
PIZZA WITH SAUSAGE

LINUS:
TELLING THE TIME.

SCHROEDER:
HAPPINESS IS LEARNING TO WHISTLE.

LINUS:
TYING YOUR SHOE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

SALLY:
HAPPINESS IS PLAYING THE DRUM IN YOUR OWN SCHOOL BAND.

CHARLIE BROWN:
AND HAPPINESS IS WALKING HAND IN HAND.
HAPPINESS IS TWO KINDS OF ICE CREAM.

LUCY:
KNOWING A SECRET.

SCHROEDER:
CLIMBING A TREE.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS FIVE DIFFERENT CRAYONS.

SCHROEDER:
CATCHING A FIREFLY.
SETTING HIM FREE.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS BEING ALONE EVERY NOW AND THEN.

ALL:
AND HAPPINESS IS COMING HOME AGAIN.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAY TIME AND NIGHT TIME TOO.
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT'S LOVED BY YOU.

LINUS:
HAPPINESS IS HAVING A SISTER.

LUCY:
SHARING A SANDWICH.

LUCY AND LINUS:
GETTING ALONG.

ALL:
HAPPINESS IS SINGING TOGETHER WHEN DAY IS THROUGH,
AND HAPPINESS IS THOSE WHO SING WITH YOU.
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME TOO.

CHARLIE BROWN:
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT'S LOVED BY YOU.

(The cast filters out, waving "good night" to Charlie Brown, but Lucy stays,
and and stands in silence for a moment before finally saying:)

LUCY:
You're a good man, Charlie Brown.


After the Chalkboard Discussion, I was going to talk about having a "Gratitude Attitude" and then discuss the advantages of having a gratitude journal. If I can find some cute cheap ones this week I'll make them little journals too.


I also really liked this handout I found on sugar doodle. Okay, there are tons of great ideas on there. I may also incorporate the party idea and the JOY= J-Jesus, O-others, Y-yourself. If you serve Jesus and others first you will find joy in yourself.

Lesson on Christ

Niki asked about a lesson on the Savior for Easter and I had an amazing experience last year teaching a lesson on the Atonement that I really felt guided through. So here are some of the ideas that came to me to share for my lesson.

First of all I would highly recommend the book, Believing Christ, by Stephen E. Robinson. He does an amazing job of making the Atonement attainable for each of us and in very understandable terms. I used his first few chapters about the dilemma we all face of achieving the command to be perfect and no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven vs. every one of us is a sinner. He tells a beautiful story about his little boy getting into trouble and being sent to his room and then as a father and getting busy through the day he totally forgets to go get his little boy out of his room. His little boy hours later ventures out and asks "Can't we ever be friends again?" It just breaks your heart! But he shares the analogy that that is where each of us stands. We are each the sinner asking if we can ever make it back into our father's presence again. The parable of the bicycle is also in this book and what a great way for the girls to understand how the Savior makes up the difference where each of us falls short.

Another thing I used in the lesson was an object lesson I think I found on Mormonshare.com. I took a $20.00 bill and held it up and asked who wanted it. All the girls raised their hands. Then I wadded it up and then flattened it back out and asked who wanted it. They still raised their hands. Then I dropped it on the ground and stomped on it a few times, held it up and asked the same question. Of course they still wanted it. I shared how no matter what we experience in life, what we go through or what poor decisions we make, we still have the same value and worth to our Heavenly Father and he still wants us back.

One thing I felt very strongly about emphisizing is that Repentence isn't a bad word for vile sinners or things that need to be confessed to a bishop. Repentence is a beautiful process that we should experience everyday as we try to become better poeple and come closer to Christ. As we feel the cleansing power of the Spirit we know we are repenting and becoming better. We talked about ways we know we are feeling the Holy Spirit. My list is in the plan below.

I finished my lesson by giving the girls a copy of the song "I'm The One Who Writes My Own Story" from the musical by Lex De Azevedo "My Turn on Earth." I played the song for them and gave them each a pencil with an extra earaser topper to erase those mistakes through the Savior.

Last year's Ensign dedicated to Christ, I think it was the March issue, was also a great resource.

I didn't want to figure out the code on my lesson plan, so if you want a copy just let me know and I"ll email you one.

A few sweet sisters I know have been called to serve in their ward's young women lately. Since I prepare a lesson almost every week, I thought I'd start posting some of what I do. I'm all about sharing the labor and the love.

YW Lesson Manual 1- Lesson 6 Finding Joy in Our Divine Potential
This week I invited a sister to share her thoughts on Finding Joy in Our Divine Potential, as suggested by the manual. Here are some ideas I gave her to talk about.

• Why it is a joy to be a woman.
• Joys you have experienced from being a mother.
• Joys you have experienced from having a celestial marriage.
  
• Challenges you have faced as a women and how you deal with them.
• Challenges you faced as a YW and how you overcame them.
• Choices you have made that have kept you close to Heavenly Father.
• Blessings that result from being close to Heavenly Father.
• Joy's you have experienced in each stage of your life and what you still look forward to.

After she speaks for about 20 min. I'm opening the lesson up to discussion with the girls on the following questions:

• What joy do you find in being a YW?
• What things can you look forward to as you experience different stages of life?
• What challenges do women face today?
• What special gifts has Heavenly Father given us as women to overcome these challenges?
• How can you magnify your beauty and calling as a daughter of God?

I'm taking the letter from the Young Women General Presidency that is in the lesson and printing it out on cute stationary and addressing one to each of the girls in the class.

A few good talks:
Daughters of God
The Sanctity of Womanhood
Women of Righteousness
Womanhood: The Highest Place of Honor