LDS 2019 Young Women Birthday Candy Bar Wrapper

Wish the girls in your LDS Young Women group a happy birthday with these birthday candy bar wrappers. Wrappers feature the 2019 youth theme and are a great way to give the girls a card and a sweet treat in one.

Freezer Meal Crockpot Hawaiian Haystacks Good Works Experience

Teach your youth to do good works by helping them to make family dinner with this yummy crockpot Hawaiian Haystacks freezer dinner. Turn it into a fun Family Home Evening activity or LDS Youth activity with these easy lesson ideas.

Teaching Kids to Give Thanks in All Things Activity

Teaching kids to give thanks in all things can be difficult, especially in a "me" society such as we live in today.  We used this lesson to teach our kids to be sure to give thanks in the good and the bad using a fun "perspectacles" activity.

This lesson is one that our bishop gave to the youth in our congregation last week.  It was based on Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk "Give Thanks in All Things."  I used this idea to give my own kids a lesson in giving thanks during our Family Home Evening.

Elder Oaks says "The children of God have always been commanded to give thanks. There are examples throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Apostle Paul wrote, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:18). The prophet Alma taught, “When thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God” (Alma 37:37). And in modern revelation the Lord declared that “he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold” (D&C 78:19)."

We then did an attention activity (we needed all these that we could get with the kids).  I started with an empty cup, a spoon, and a pitcher of water.

I asked the kids to tell me everything they were thankful for.  Every time they mentioned something, we added a spoonful of water into the cup until it was overflowing.  We talked about how Heavenly Father blessed us with so much that our lives are overflowing with blessings everyday.  We just needed to be able to see them.

Then I showed them this picture, and asked, What then noticed first.

Source

From  John Hilton III:

"Chances are you probably noticed the dark flowers first. That’s normal because, as Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual.” But there is a problem! Elder Wirthlin pointed out that unfortunately, “The opposite is true as well, the more often we see the things around us—even the beautiful and wonderful things—the more they become invisible to us. “That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world—the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds—even those we love. . . . Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.”

Did you notice the blue sky in the picture? The beautiful clouds? The mountains in the background? The dozens of flowers that weren’t discolored? There are so many beautiful things to be grateful for, and as we practice being grateful, we will notice them more and more."

Then we talked about some of the things in our life that we had to be grateful for.  Some of the things that Elder Oaks spoke of were: 

• apostles and prophets
• commandments
• testimonies
• membership in His church
• afflictions

Source

It's hard to give thanks during the hard times.  So we asked the kids why we needed to do this more during these times than during the good times.  We talked about how the bad times help us remember Heavenly Father and prepare us to become what He wants us to be.

"“I give unto men weakness that they may be humble,” and then promised that “if they humble themselves … and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27)"

"“Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (D&C 122:7)."

We talked about the movie "Pollyanna" and how she managed to find the good in everything that happened around her.  Then we talked about how we can practice that skill.

"When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life. We are sent here to be tested. There must be opposition in all things. We are meant to learn and grow through that opposition, through meeting our challenges, and through teaching others to do the same." (Elder Oaks)

At the end of the lesson, we created "perspectacles" to help the kids look at everyday things in a new manner.  Perspectacles were paper glasses made from scrapbook paper to remind the kids to be thankful in all things.  

After putting on their "perspectacles" they were given a bag with everyday items in it such as a pencil, a bottle of water, a shoe, a light bulb, a glass, and a Book of Mormon.  The kids had to come up with as many reasons to be thankful for each item as they could.  We gave an award out for the group that could list the most reasons to give thanks.

This was a great part of the activity since the kids were really looking for every little reason to be thankful and came up with ideas that I'm sure they would never have thought of normally.  This was the "aha" moment of the evening.  (I love when that happens!)

Feasting on the Scriptures Young Women Activity

Are you looking for a way to teach the young women in your church group about feasting on the scriptures?  Here's an easy and fun lesson for your weeknight church young women activity to help the girls learn the importance of regular, in depth scripture study.

I have been put in charge of the young women in our church youth group.  That means I get to plan and prepare the weeknight young women activity each week.  Since our girls love to have any excuse to party and eat, I decided to have a lesson on feasting on the scriptures.

I found the base of this lesson on this Activities Day PJ party activity.  I tweaked it a little to suit my girls and my unruly personality when in front of the group.  The girls ended up having a good time, laughing and talking, and hopefully learning in a way that was fun.

I started by talking about the importance of breakfast.  Why it was the "most important meal of the day" and why we needed to eat each morning to help us get through the day.  We discussed what the girls at for breakfast and how they all ate different things, but how it helped them to get the energy they needed to face the day.

We then spent quite a while discussing the difference between feasting, snacking, nibbling, and looking at the menu.  There was a lot of talk about the differences, but we narrowed it down to the fact that feasting was an enjoyable activity that we took our time doing and loved, while snacking was done in a haphazard way, usually while we were doing other things and not paying attention to the fact that we were eating.  We compared it between Thanksgiving dinner and snacking after school.

Then I showed the girls two Reese's peanut butter cups that I had sitting on the table.  I showed them how yummy they looked.  The girls were drooling over them and pretty upset when I just shoved the first one in my mouth and tried to eat it as fast as I could. (I do say tried, because that was a lot harder than it should have been.)

When I was done eating it, I asked them if they thought I had enjoyed it.  Why did they think I didn't?  We concentrated on how fast I blew through it and how I didn't really get to savor it.  Then I ate the other Reese's more slowly.  I licked my fingers and enjoyed every bite very theatrically.  Then I asked if they thought I enjoyed that more? 

I compared my Reese's to the scriptures.  I asked how many of them had quickly read their scriptures this week to get the page or chapter done so they could go to sleep or do other things on their list. 

Then I asked the young women to pretend that they were going to die tomorrow.  I told them they could write a message to those they loved.  I asked what they would say.  While they were answering, I talked about the different things they said, such as giving instructions about their burial, saying goodbye to loved ones, and giving advice for things that were going to happen in the future.

As they told me their answers, I wrote them down on a piece of paper.  When each girl had told me what she wanted to say, I proceeded to rip the paper in half and tear up the bottom half and throw it on the ground.  I walked over and put the other half on the bookcase with other books and just left it there.  

The girls were pretty upset that I had treated their words so carelessly.

Then I asked them if they had done that to the words of the prophets in the scriptures.  How many of them had gone home from church on Sunday and put their scriptures on their book case and forgotten about them?  It was cool to see the realization click for the girls that what I had done to their words was what they were doing to the scriptures.  (It was probably the coolest part of the night for me.)

I then told them the scriptures had the words of the prophets who loved them.  The prophets were giving them advice on how to solve the problems of the last days.  We had to open the scriptures and read the advice.

Then I shared the Spiritual Directory Assistance print and told them I had a "cheat sheet" to help them through these problems.  I asked if any of them had ever felt disappointed in a friend?  Had any of them ever felt like they weren't loved?  Or had they ever felt overwhelmed by the problems in their life?

The scriptures had the cheat sheet to solve these problems, we just needed to open them up and savor the words to get the most out of them.

I challenged them to go home and read the scriptures this week while focusing on feasting on the scriptures.  I told them if they did this, they would enjoy them more and it would help them in their lives.  Plus, it would help them to check off "Choice and Accountability Value Experience 1" in their Personal Progress.

Then, since we had spent all the team talking about feasting on the scriptures, we needed to feast on some food.  So we enjoyed a Yogurt bar.

For the yogurt bar, I purchased some plain yogurt and filled the table with different toppings for them to add to the dessert.  I had strawberries, bananas, raspberries, sprinkles, Reese's pieces, nuts, and honey.

We had a good time while learning a lot about their girls (and their wishes for their funerals.)  I think they had an "Aha" moment or two in their, but we'll see if any of them actually follow through this week.

In case you want to try and complete this Feasting on the Scriptures Young Women Activity with your girls, here's my outline and the "cheat sheet" printable that I used.

Feasting on the Scriptures Young Women Activity Lesson

• What does breakfast mean?
• Break the Fast
• Why is it important to nourish our bodies daily?
• 2 Nephi 31:20  (feasted)
• Moroni 6:4  (nourished)
• What is the difference between
• feasting
• snacking
• nibbling
• looking at the menu
• Object Lesson:  
• Have two candies sitting on a nice plate on the table.  See how good they look?
• Shove one candy in mouth and swallow as fast as can
• Did I enjoy that?
• Why?
• East the second candy more slowly, savoring it, licking fingers
• Did I enjoy that?
• Which way did I enjoy most?
• Do we quickly get our scripture reading done, or do we savor it?
• Object Lesson:
• Pretend you knew you were going to die tomorrow and wanted to leave a message for your family.
• What would you say?
• Write down.
• When done, tear up paper, put on the bookcase and walk away, use as paperweight
• The prophets have important things we need to know to survive the problems of the last days on Earth.
• We need to feast on the scriptures to know our purpose and how to get through the problems.
• We have a Cheat Sheet in the scriptures
• Spiritual Directory Assistance Print
• Have you ever felt disappointed in a friend?
• Have you ever felt overwhelmed?
• Have you ever felt unloved?
• There is a cheat for that problem...in the scriptures.
• We need to feast upon the scriptures to help with problems
• Choice and Accountability Goal 1
• Read scriptures daily
• Feasted on scriptures, now we can feast on food
• Yogurt bar