Choice and Accountability #2 and Integrity #1

OK, our group of young women only has one Laurel right now.  We have been helping her finish the 6 experiences that she has left.  One of the was C&A #2 (Read the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth. List in your journal each standard of righteous behavior the pamphlet outlines, and record why it is important to choose to live those standards. Practice living righteous standards by choosing three standards in which you need to improve. You might choose to be more selective about television, music, books, or other media, or you might improve your modesty, language, or honesty. After three weeks share your progress with your family, your class, or a leader.)  After working on reading the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet for 2 Sunday lesson times I was reading through the PP book to see if our time capsule activity could be used to complete a PP experience I accidentally found Integrity #1 (Integrity is the willingness and desire to live by our beliefs and standards. Read Moroni 10:30–33 and think about what it means to “deny yourselves of all ungodliness.” Read the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth. Reflect on how the Lord’s standards differ from the world’s standards. Record in your journal appropriate standards for behavior, dress, and conversation, as well as literature, movies, television, Internet, music, cell phones, and other media. Also write your plan to stay morally clean and worthy to attend the temple. After keeping your standards for at least one month, record your feelings in your journal and continue to keep your commitment.) and realized that it was stupid not to do them at the same time!!  I wish that I would have originally been working on both of them because it is going to be a little difficult to add the extra interpretations of the For the Strength of Youth information when we are 2/3 of the way through the book but it is worth the effort I will have to make in order to pull it off.  

I have to admit that I didn't want to read the ENTIRE For the Strength of Youth with the girls, but the experience has been amazing.  We have had the girls take turns reading out loud and after we get done we discuss the section and they can take notes (that our girls will glue in their journals) on their handout.  Our discussions have been a great opportunity for us as leaders to share experiences for our lives on how we have been blessed by following that standard and the girls have also born testimonies of the ways they have been blessed too.  I never imagined that we would have such a positive, spiritual experience with the girls by doing something I deemed as "boring".  It is a true testimony to Personal Progress.  The more we can do to help the girls complete their PP the better. 

I love to have take homes for the girls to stick to their mirror or bulletin boards in their bedrooms so they have something to remind them of what they are working on.  My dad used to always say (I think he was quoting someone) "a goal not written down is merely a wish"  I think for my girls to actually work on their goals they need them written down, visible and they also need to be able to mark them off as they work on it.  Here is the hand out I made for this time.  I usually print multiple (like 4) handouts per sheet of paper.

Family Home Evening

Do you ever have you kids teach FHE?  When your daughters who are in Young Women teach FHE they should probably chooses a Personal Progress experience to base it on.  That way their planning can be doubly valuable to them and their family.  Some experiences require that they teach a FHE lesson but there are many more that could be easily adapted to the purpose.   Here is my list of ideas for young women trying to decide if they can kill two birds with one stone (I hope that didn't offend President Kimball).

Here is the link to the talk President Kimball gave about not killing little birdies.  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1978/10/fundamental-principles-to-ponder-and-live?lang=eng

Personal Progress you are ALREADY doing!

As part of your daily life you are accomplishing things that are in your Personal Progress book.  Take some time to read through it and see what you are already doing that qualifies.  These are the 6 that my daughters were already doing and didn't realize that they had almost completed just by doing the things that teenage girls do in their everyday lives.

Mother/Daughter Personal Progress

The church has encouraged the mothers to do the Personal Progress program with their daughters.  As a mother of a couple Young Women I know it is a big commitment as a busy mother but here is a list of PP experiences that your daughter and you should do together.  She is supposed to discuss these things with you (or some sort of proxy like a grandmother or woman who is a good example).  As a mother I think these are great times to be able to teach and bond with our daughters.  Please don't let these opportunities slip through your fingers.

Personal Progress Recording Chart (more than one young woman)

New Beginnings Invite

Here is the invitation I did for our New Beginnings this year.  

I also added an invitation that has the Date, Time and Location blank so You can add your own info there.  Most computers have a simple paint program that can be used to add text to any jpeg file so you should be able to find a way to add text once you have downloaded it!

Divine Nature #7 and Individual Worth #3

I love to make little handouts to go with the personal progress experiences.  Here are 2 I made last year.

With Divine Nature #7 We read the definition of the word peacemaker, and read five scriptures that teach about peacemakers.  Then the girls took the hand out home and hung it in their rooms.  We reminded them each time we saw them (Wednesday nights and Sundays) that they were supposed to be working on being peacemakers.  When the end of the 2 weeks came we reminded them that they should write in their journals to complete their goal.

This one only took like 3 minutes to start on Wednesday night,  we read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 121:45.  Then I gave them this hand out to take home and did the persistent nagging for the next two weeks so they wouldn't forget that they were supposed to be "building others" 

I use Heritage Makers http://www.heritagemakers.com/  to create most of my things since I have a membership there already and they have cool digital scrap booking options but just a simple black and white worksheet with no graphics can remind the girls what they are doing.  I like a chart to check off the days they were successful on my worksheet too.