December Thoughs

December Blog

Thanks to all for your beautiful YW in Excellence programs.  We are truly blessed with great young women and leaders.

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Such a wonderful time of year is upon us.  The air is full of gratitude and thoughts of serving others.  I love the thoughts of Pres.Hinckley as he tells us;  “I am grateful for Christmas, I am grateful for the spirit of the day and grateful for the outreach that comes into our hearts at this season of the year when we think a little more kindly of one another, when there is a little less bitterness, when there is a little less of hate, when there is more of love and more of a reaching out to those in trouble and need and distress.  I thank the Lord for Christmas.”

I too am thankful Christmas, for my Savior Jesus Christ, and the peace that the gospel brings to me.  I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and am grateful for the Book of Mormon.  I am grateful for my calling and thank each of you for your good examples.  You truly are beloved daughters of our Heavenly Father. 

Joan Painter 

November Thoughts

As I was thinking of what to say, my time spent at camp kept coming to my mind.  The day we had our devotional especially stands out to me.  I loved being able to see some of the girls share their talents with us and observe the way the other girls responded to them.  I could see the love and appreciation they had for one another.  This also gave each of us a chance to get to know these young women just a little bit better than we did before.  We truly have great young women in our stake.

I would like to share one of my favorite quotes from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our church callings, and in our livelihood.  Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships.  It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations.  Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect.  It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate.  Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope.  Love should be our walk and our talk.”

In closing, I would like to bear my testimony.  I know that this is the only true church here upon the earth today and that Joseph Smith restored the gospel to the earth.  I am so thankful for parents that taught me the gospel.  I am grateful for the scriptures and for the knowledge we gain from reading them.  I am so thankful for my Savior and for his atoning sacrifice for me. I know he loves me. I have seen evidence of this time and time again.  Due to different twists and turns in life, as a teenager I became inactive so I didn’t get the opportunity to do personal progress.  I know that this is a great program for our young women and look forward to doing it with my own daughter.  Now that I have been on both sides of the fence and know what it’s like not to have the gospel in my life. I now know that I never want to have that feeling of unhappiness in my life again.  I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tischa Castagno

October Thoughts

As I thought about what I could share with you I contemplated several different things, I decided to go with a little bit of everything that I have thought about.


First- I will share with you a link to a talk given by President Uchtdorf at the General Relief Society Conference.  His talk was inspiring and uplifting to me.  I encourage you to take the time to read or listen to his talk-"Forget me Not".


http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/forget-me-not?lang=eng

Second- I would like to share with all of you my love and appreciation for all you do.  Being a mother of 5 Young Women I find great strength in knowing that I am not alone in raising them.  I am sure other mothers feel much the same as I do.  I know our daughters are in good hands.  Thank you!




Lastly I would like to share my testimony.  


I know that I am a daughter of God.  I know he knows me personally and loves me regardless of my imperfections.  I know and love my Savior-Jesus Christ.  How grateful I am for his atoning sacrifice and the unconditional and selfless love he has given me.  I know that we are only given the trials and obstacles in life to help us grow and become more like our Savior.   It is through my faith and love of the Savior that I am able to overcome all those trials.   I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet chosen to come forth in these latter days to restore to gospel to the earth for each of us.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I love this book and have a testimony of the truthfulness of it.  I know the Young Women program is for each of us.  If is here for all to become stronger and more faithful saints and to help our Young Women come to know who they are-Daughters of God!   I leave my testimony with you and express my love and gratitude once again for each of you.  Amen.


Love,
Debbie Castagno

September Thoughts-10th Ward

The Young Women in the 10th Ward have had a couple of activities that we would love to share with you.

In May we had a

"Choice and Accountability Dinner" 

Each of the Young Women were given a list of words taken from the 13th article of faith.  They had to choose which words they wanted for each course of the 4 course meal.  We then took their choices and filled their plate accordingly.  After each course the table was cleared and then the next course was brought out.  The Young Women had a fun time seeing what consequences their choices brought.  Some had Ice Cream with their lettuce salad and no way to eat it.  Others had a brownie with ranch dressing.  It was a very fun night!

 Youth Conference "Amazing Race"

Our Youth Conference Theme was: 1 Nephi 17:13

"And I will also be your light in the wilderness;

and I will prpare the way before you, if it so be

that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore,

 inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments

 ye shall be led towards the promised land; and

ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

We started off our first day of Youth Conference by doing an Amazing Race.  We had 4 different car loads of youth with clues to the different places they were to go.  Each of the places provide us light; both spiritual and physical.   Each group had to take pictures of themselves at the designated spot.  Following is a list of the places we went to:

1.  Rock out by the Great Salt Lake

2.  The Doors of the Salt Lake Temple

3.  Christus in the Visitor Center

4.  "Light" rail Trax Train

5.  Planetarium Museum

6.  The original Book of Mormon in the Church History Museum

7.  Top of the waterfall at the Conference Center

8.  President Hinckley's Grave site

9.  Torch at the Uof U from the Olympics

10.  This is the Place Monument at the Park

We all met back together for a wonderful Dutch Oven Dinner after the race.  It was a good reminder that there is light all around us in our everyday lives.    If we look for blessings in our lives we will find them and know that our Heavenly Father is aware of each of us and the things that we need in our lives.

August Thoughts-13th Ward

The scripture we used as the focus of our Youth Conference this year seems to be a fitting theme for our year as well. Alma 37:36 "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all they doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." Some of our most spiritual and impactful activities were centered on finding ways to be centered on the Lord and to hear his voice. 

We did a really neat activity a few months ago where we invited all of the youth to the church on Mutual night to come dressed in their Sunday best. They arrived at the church not knowing what we had in store for them, and quite obviously nervous! We divided them up into four groups and told them we had some special classes set up for the evening. We sent each group into a classroom with a teacher waiting patiently for them. Once their classes began, they soon found that they couldn't understand a word that was being said. The classes were being taught in Japanese, Czech, Spanish and Portuguese. Their classes lasted 15 minutes and then we released them to the chapel. Every one of the youth was visibly upset and frustrated by not being able to understand their teacher. Once we gathered in the chapel we talked to them about how if they aren't practiced and don't know what they are looking for, the language the Holy Ghost speaks can sound like a foreign language to them as well. They need to practice listening and acting on the promptings that they receive in order to understand and hear him better. We also talked about the importance of taking some of the noise and distractions out of their lives so the still small voice can be heard. What a wonderful opportunity to see the youth as they shared their feelings and their testimonies about the importance of being able to hear God's will for them. Our Heavenly Father has truly saved the strongest and most elect of his spirits to come forth now. How thankful we are to be able to serve the Young Women of our ward and learn from them.


13th Ward

July Thoughts-Willowcreek Ward

Activity:  For a recent combined activity, we had our own version of The
Amazing Race.  We split the YM and YW into teams.  Each team was given a
clue to a location at the church.  When they reached the location, they
had to pass a challenge before getting the next clue.  Some of the
challenges included putting together a puzzle of the temple, putting the
apostles in order, eating a can of spam, etc.  When we came together at
the end we had a discussion on how the race compared to life.  We
emphasized the importance of unity and teamwork to help get us through the
race.

Thought: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another" (John 13:35)


Willowcreek Ward

June-11th Ward Thoughts

As we have looked back over the past year's activities, the big activity that really drew the girls and leaders closer together and helped unite us all was our Girls' Camp.  We went to Camp Timpooneke last summer and had a truly awesome experience!  Our theme for camp was taken from Pres. Uchtdorf's conference talk, "You Are My Hands".  We changed it to "We Are His Hands" to apply it to us in a more personal way. To prepare for camp, we challenged and encouraged both girls and leaders to memorize "The Living Christ".  Our camp song was "Created in His Image" which describes having Christlike attributes such as having eyes like His to see others as He does; a voice like His to speak as He speaks, with love & kindness; a heart like His to love as He loves; and of course, hands like His to serve and help each other, as He would have us do.  To start off our camping experience, we stopped at the Jordan River Temple and performed baptisms for the dead.  It was neat because a few parents joined us for that and were able to participate with their daughters.
  
Each day we focused on serving one another at camp in big and small ways.  We had a tree which we called our "Giving Tree", and we had little paper hands where we wrote acts of service that we noticed each other doing throughout the day.  We read them aloud at the end of each day and celebrated the joy we felt at the love shown by each girl and leader.  The hands were hung all over the tree, and by the end of camp, it was a truly remarkable sight!  We didn't fill our days with too many activities and just enjoyed being out in nature and the beautiful world our Heavenly Father created for us.  The girls had many opportunities to visit and get to know each other better, even on a killer nine-mile hike!  And they did it cheerfully :)!  It wasn't supposed to be that long, but they pushed through to the end.  We were so proud of them!  We also took time to divide into year groups and read scriptures together and discuss the gospel with one another.  That was one of my best memories!  Our testimony meeting began with our reciting "The Living Christ" together.  Individual girls and leaders had prepared memorized sections to recite in the order of that document.  Each one stood in turn and said their part until the entire piece had been given.  What a moving experience to bear witness of the reality of our Lord and Savior!  Testimony meeting was even better because of the love we had already shared and felt together.

As we prepared to go home the next day, every girl did not want to go!  They kept begging us to stay just one or two more days!  We were so blessed to take home the wonderful spirit we felt there and share it with our families and with each other.  That spirit has continued on in our other activities and experiences since then.  We felt strongly that our theme was one we should continue to focus on, and so we used it again for our Young Women in Excellence night.  Many, many times throughout the year we have remembered and discussed the things we learned at Girls' Camp and the way our testimonies of Jesus Christhave grown and developed.  

May we all remember that "We are His Hands" here upon the earth and love and serve each other as He would want us to!  Our Savior truly does live, and He knows and loves each one of us!  May that knowledge and peace always be with you!

Grantsville 11th Ward Young Women

May Thought-6th Ward

The activity the 6th ward submitted was having the girls write their testimonies in The Book of Mormon.  They gave the books to the missionaries to hand out.


Spiritual Thought-
Alma 32:21
And now as I said concerning faith-faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

April Thoughts-Deseret Peak Ward

We did a Daddy Daughter Date!!  We started out by having the dads and the girls fill out a short questionnaire.  The dad's answered questions about their daughters and the YW answered questions about their 
dads.  Questions includes stuff like what was their favorite song, what do they want to be when they grow up, when were they born and many more.  After the how well do you know each other test we had the YW take their shoes and socks off and they stood behind the curtain in the gym.  The dads had to pick which YW's feet were their daughters.  We then had the dads lay under the curtain to cover their bodies and laid a sheet across the top of their heads.  Basically the only thing showing was their noses.  The girls had to pick which nose was their dads.  We then had makeup and hair stuff for the dads to do makeovers on their daughters.  I don't think I've ever laughed so hard.  At the end we had each daddy and daughter go in front of everyone and answer the questions that we asked at the beginning of the activity.  We made Ice cream Sundays and ate while we listened to the Q&A part of the activity.  It was so much fun to get to know the girls and their fathers.  I got to know a side of the girls and their dads that I had never seen before.


Deseret Peak Ward

March Thoughts-8th Ward

    One activity that , in the end, the youth really enjoyed was Christmas Caroling "with a twist."  We told the YM/YW that we were going Christmas caroling to specific families (new or maybe less active) in the ward.  We had arranged with the families that we would knock on the door and they would open it and as soon as the youth started singing they would come up with some reason as to why they had no time for us.  Only about 3 leaders were in on it so that everyone looked shocked.  At the first door the lady answered and with the phone in her hand said she was on the phone and had no time to listen.  The youth jumped on the trailer and we headed to the next house where they knocked on the door.  No one answered and through the window we could see the t.v. being turned off and all the lights in the house go off including the porch light.  Some youth started mumbling about how rude people were and we set off to our next house.  At this house the wife answered the door and stood there for about 30 seconds with her little girls and listened to us sing.  Then her husband came out ranting about how people all over Anderson Ranch had been complaining about us because it was written in the city ordinances that this was not allowed and if we didn't get off his property and stop caroling he was going to call the police.  The Young Men's leader stepped inside his house to "calm him down" (putting on a good show) but he was kicked out of his house and again we were threatened with the police.  We decided to call it a night and head back to the church.  When we got there we had the youth go into the primary room which was dimly lit with music of Christ playing and a video of different pictures of Christ also on.  On the back row sat all the people who's houses we had just visited.  Our Young Men's leader then stood up and related our experience to that of Joseph and Mary's experience when they were turned away from the innkeeper's and asked the youth if they make room for Christ in their lives.  The spirit was extremely strong and it made us all reflect on our lives and how we should treat others.
 
Kat Degen
Grantsville 8th Ward

February Thoughts-Clark/2nd Ward

 As leaders in the Clark 2nd Ward we feel very blessed to be participants in the lives of our Young Women. 

They are truly elect daughters of God. Here are a few things that we have enjoyed with these special ladies.

 

In the fall we had a fun service-scavenger hunt. We divided up into two teams, each with a few brooms and rakes, and a clue. We followed the clues around town, learning a little about our heritage in Grantsville, but mostly having fun doing some on-the-go service for members in the ward. One memorable moment was when the girls were raking leaves at one person's home as they pulled up into the driveway. The family was surprised to find the Young Women in their yard, but excited and grateful that they were willing to help them out and tackle the leaves. The hunt was a race to the finish, but everyone was a winner in the end as we sipped our hot chocolate and cider and snacked on our cookies.

 We've also had some very special spiritual experiences with our Young Women. One that really stands out in all our minds comes from Girl's Camp this past year. One of our leaders shared with us how her ward always had a part of camp that they called "Destiny." Destiny was a place and an experience. We chose a special place that was a little ways from our campground and we gathered everyone there. We explained to the girls that this was going to be a special place for the Spirit to dwell, and that this is where we would have our daily devotionals and personal scripture study. (We've found in the past that sometimes it's hard at camp to find/make the time for personal study, so we scheduled it.:) )We had our Priesthood leaders dedicate the area, inviting the Spirit to be there always during our camp. Our Destiny area became a quiet place where the girls knew they could go to feel the Spirit. It was really special to watch how the girls responded to our Destiny area. Because they were able to participate in the dedication of the site they were able to really feel the Spirit of what we were trying to accomplish. Each day we had a short devotional (half hour or so) given by one of our adult leaders, followed by some time for personal scripture study and journal writing. The Spirit was so strong during these times, and seemed to grow stronger with each time of Destiny that we had there. Many of the girls have remarked about how much they enjoyed this time, and we plan on making it a tradition each year for our girls.

 

~Clark 2nd Ward