A Journey's Ending...

Ready??

I GOT MY YW RECOGNITION AWARD!

I am so happy! 

So here is a recap of my Value Projects, if you guys need ideas (and a huge thank you to all the YW I know who suggested great projects that they did that inspired me!).

FAITH:

I memorized 'The Living Christ'! So cool! My testimony of the Savior and His life was really strengthened and solidified through this.

 

DIVINE NATURE:

I organized, coordinated, and participated in an annual Christmas Cousin Gift Exchange on both sides of my family. I was able to start it for the first time on my dad's side, and continue the tradition on my mom's side!

INDIVIDUAL WORTH:

Family History! I was able to do ten awesome hours of searching for and reserving names and performing or sharing ordinances for my ancestors! Throughout this project, I visited the Jordan River, Mt. Timpanogos, and Draper Utah temples, as well my 'home' temple, Columbia South Carolina.

KNOWLEDGE:

I read D&C 89 and committed to ten hours of exercise and preparing a healthy snacks and meals for myself. Many summer evenings, I'd grab my brother and a cousin or two and walk, run, scooter, or bike around the block for 20-30 minutes. And I ate lots of salad!!! :)

CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY:

I took a week-long tech vacation! This was an interesting one and harder than I expected. Even though I don't have a phone, tablet, or iPod, I was still tempted. For example, the TV show Granite Flats (which is, btw, phenomenal, and produced by BYUtv) is premiering on TV and my siblings and I were anxiously awaiting its release. However, because of my project, I had to be able to suggest not watching the new episode. That was probably the hardest moment throughout the week. (I have caught up on all the episodes now!) I stayed away from tech for the majority of the week, but I must admit to giving in for a total of probably 1 1/2 hours. But we are all human, right? Anyway, I spent the time I would have used on technology to get more sleep, read, or finish schoolwork. It was so cool! 

GOOD WORKS:

All right, I really loved this one! I put together a recipe book of my favorite recipes, as well as others I've never tried that sound great! I still have lots of room for more as I grow up, but I have enough to give me a start. This is one way to ensure that my future college student self and her roommates won't be eating Chinese takeout every night! :) I think it will also be awesome for a mission. 

INTEGRITY:

You saw this, but I'll link to the post here:

Integrity, YW in Excellence, and Things People Hang on Their Walls!!!

VIRTUE:

I also posted about my reading of the Book of Mormon here. I love this book!!!

So, there's my Young Women's journey for you, project by project! Please tell me about yours in the comments, whether completed long ago or not yet through. I'd love to hear from you! 

Value Video of the Month: Divine Nature!!!

Happy September! I have the new "Value Video of the Month" for Divine Nature right here for you:

Our True Identity

Last month, I didn't write much about the video, but I think I'll write a few notes here.

President Uchtdorf is amazing! I love that he told the story of the ugly duckling. I think it is so relatable and applicable, especially to modern-day youth. LDS youth stand out. Everyone can tell that they're different. Maybe they notice that we don't swear, or don't partake of harmful substances. Maybe they see those kids who refuse to cheat on a test, or who don't wear tank tops even when 'everyone else' is.

It's because they know their divine identity--a son or daughter of our God. If they didn't, they would more likely cave into the peer pressure that is being shoved in their faces--from TV, from advertisements, from school. And they wouldn't be able to shine their light.

So, remember that you are a divine son or daughter and don't let anyone sway you from that knowledge! Remember what your responsibility with that knowledge is! Don't be afraid to share your testimony!

Thanks for once again reading my stuff! I love you guys!

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Now Serving!

This is a wonderful video produced by the Church! Please take the time to watch it.

While we are on the topic of service...Personal Progress has tons of ways to serve! Just a small listing below:

You need Faith that your service will bless you and the recipient of your service.

You have to know of your Divine Nature and the potential you both nurture and gain when you serve. 

Remembering the Individual Worth of the person you're serving can help you to serve them more personally, knowing that you are both Children of a King!

When you've made gaining varied Knowledge and experience a priority, you can serve people in more unique and personalized ways.

Choice and Accountability - you can choose to serve or not, but you will be accountable for that choice!

Good Works and service are the same. Service can only be good works. Good works is defined as service!

Integrity is required to do the service well and to do it with a pure heart, with no intent of personal gain. 

And finally, Virtue is needed because, as one 2009 MormonAd put it, "Virtue [is] the Gold Standard". And how can we achieve the 'Gold Standard' without serving others as Christ did? Christ led a virtuous life, and thus we can look to HIM as our Gold Standard.

I hope we can all remember how our Savior lived and how much He served everyone during his life and through His Atonement!

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Note: I found this video on my cousin Lily's blog. Please read her many informative and fun posts on family history and the Spirit of Elijah here. Don't forget to comment!!!

Double Duty!

Before I 'officially' start the post...Did you hear about Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles? He passed away yesterday of cancer. Prayers for his family and for the First Presidency as they ponder who to call in replacement (in October). (Here is a link to the news article.)

Today is a special day for two reasons. First, it is my little sister's eighth birthday! She is now accountable for her own actions, able to know right from wrong, and old enough to be BAPTIZED!!! She will be baptized in about a month.

Second, it is PARENT'S Day. Wait - before you go squealing off to look for a late gift let me tell you: you didn't forget ANYTHING. This is just something I kind of made up. It is the day that falls directly between Mother's Day and Father's Day. Parent's Day! 21 days in either direction and you will hit one of those parental holidays. 

In honor of these two occasions, I did two experimences! What??? You don't know what an experimence is?? Well, keep reading and I'll tell you.

Experimence #1...

A few weeks ago, I finished Divine Nature Required Experience #3:

Make your home life better. For two weeks make a special effort to strengthen your relationship with a family member by showing love through your actions. Refrain from judging, criticizing, or speaking unkindly, and watch for positive qualities in that family member. Write notes of encouragement, pray for this family member, find ways to be helpful, and verbally express your love. Share your experiences and the divine qualities you’ve discovered with that family member or with a parent or leader.

I chose my now-eight-year-old sister as the family member I tried to strengthen my relationship with. As I did this - not only as an experience, but an experiment (thus the word experimence) - I noticed things about my sister I hadn't known before. For example, she's really fun to talk to at night before we fall asleep. She's also very sweet with our baby sister. She happily and enthusiastically plays 'people' or 'house' with our Sunbeam sister, and is always up for a round of roughhousing with her older brother, even if she'd rather be doing something else. She is wonderful with people and is always ready to serve. I was way excited for the opportunity to write her a note at the end of all this telling her just how wonderful she is and how her divine nature really shines through!

Experimence #2...

Today, I completed Divine Nature Elective Experience #5:

Obedience is an attribute of the Savior. Strive to be more obedient to your parents. Read Luke 2:40–51 and John 6:38. Develop a pattern of obedience as you make a special effort to treat your parents with respect and kindness and do what your parents ask you to do without having to be reminded. After two weeks record in your journal how being more obedient motivated you to want to continue doing so and how it has helped you understand your divine nature and the divine roles of mothers and fathers.

In honor of Parent's Day, I chose to do this Divine Nature experience--which really ended up being another experimence. Throughout the two weeks, as I decided to do what my parents wanted or needed me to do (which was hard; sometimes I forgot), I found that the Spirit directs my parents when they pray for me and helps them to know what choices they need to place before me and how to help me stay on the straight and narrow path. I am so grateful to my parents for the obedient example they set and I hope I'll be able to do the same for my children. And if you really want a gift for your parents, you can start this experimence. Trust me, they'll love it!