I pray when…

…I am lonely
…I have a question
…I am stressed
…I’m having a bad day
…Before I eat
…I am sad
…I am scared
…I am stressed
…I feel like I need some uplifting
…I need help
…In church
…People are mean to me
…I need courage
…I’m in bed
…I’m happy
…I see someone in need
…I get ready for a race
…I’m afraid
…I’m driving on my way to school
…I have a question
…I’m hurt
…Go to bed
…I need help
…I’m grateful
…I need to feel God’s love
…I feel sick
…I walk over the bridge at school
…I see others struggling
…I go to bed
…I’m sad
…[when I need] guidance
…estoy cansado
…I’m sick
…I’m sad
…I’m in a weird place
…#because of Him
…I see others in need
…I need a smile
…I wake up
…I feel small
…I’m late to class
…I need help
…I see Amber
…I’m grateful
…I’m lost
…I’m sad
…I’m grateful
…teachers call me in class
…I need courage
…I feel lonely
…I need strength
…I’m about to eat
…I’m running cross country
…Math test today? #didyouthinktopray?
…I am grateful
…I am scared
…I need comfort
…I don’t like people
…I need strength
…I go night night
…I feel alone
…I am sad
…I need confidence
…I feel alone
…I go nighty night
…I’m grateful for the success of my life
…I need help
…I am sad
…I need help
…I need extra help in a situation
…I’m worried about others
…before I go to sleep
…I need help
…I take a test
…I need strength to choose the right
…Having a bad day
…I have an idea I want to share with Him
…I’m grateful
…I need help
…I begin my day
…I don’t feel safe
…I need comfort
…I need sleep
…I am happy
…I eat
…my friends need one
…I am mad at someone
…I wake up
…I see someone that looks like they need a friend/a prayer
…I can eat yummy food
…I’m frustrated
…I’m scared
…I can love everyone
…I go out in public
…I’m having a bad day
…I eat
…I need answers
…I need help
…I’m annoyed
…I sleep
…I need help
…I am sad
…for the sick
…I’m struggling
…Bless the food
…I’m scared
…I’m about to take a test
…I need to wake up on time
…before I eat
…I want to help someone
…before I take a test
…I need to focus in class
…I’m scared
…I am with my family
…I need help
…I need answers

…wait! I pray every day!

The post #IPrayWhen #DidYouThinktoPray appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

I loved this activity because in a relatively short amount of time, the youth were all able to share something. Individually, each one of them got to reflect on their testimonies and share in a way that was non-threatening. Collectively, they got to create a visual representation of their faith. It is also fun to see the patterns — and the variations — in their thoughts.

We had a lesson in our combined Young Women class today about joining voices together online (using Elder Bednar’s CES talk, “To Sweep the Earth as a Flood.” It gave me the motivation to finish recording what the youth had shared. It’s inspiring to me to read what they had to say.

Add your thoughts in the comments below, via Twitter, on Facebook, or in other ways. What do you feel grateful to the Savior for?

#BecauseofHim
I can shine!
I can face my fears.
I can start over.
I can live a good life every day.
I can eat food.
I know I will be able to make it through life.
I have amazing people in my life. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 [smileys in original!]
When I screw up I can try again.
I have a family.
I can testify.
I have a body.
We live!
I feel safe when I’m alone.
I have an eternal family.
I can be positive!
I can live again.
I can feel joy.
I am HAPPY.
I’m a better person.
I can see the blue sky.
When I fall down I can get back up.
I can love everybody.
I can walk the earth.
I always have at least one friend.
I can share my talents.
I am strong.
I can live again.
I can be alone on this earth while knowing He’s standing right beside me.
I can repent.
I have strength.
I can be saved.
I have empathy.
Positive thoughts.
I don’t have to feel alone.
I am healthy.
I can eat yummy food.
I feel peace.
I am who I am today.

#BecauseofHim

I can be forgiven
I am free to choose and decide right and wrong
I can be with my family forever!
I know my worth!
I love everyone!
I find joy in the little things!
I can know the truth.
My family is forever.
I can feel the Spirit all the time.
I can feel peace and love.
My burdens are lifted.
I am never alone.
I know where I’m going.
I won’t ever be alone!
There is hope!
We can change the world!
I am free.
I can share His love.
I try to love everybody.
There are small and simple things.
I love others.
Blessings are real.
I can preach on Twitter.
I can be so so so HAPPY. 🙂
I can try again and again!
I have a family
I’m writing this right now.
I know what’s right.
I can live with my family forever
We can all go back to Him.
I am happy.
I can repent.
My family is eternal.
I can live with my fam forever.
I’m never lost.
I’m happy about life.
There is a light in the world!
I get a second chance.
#real talk
I feel safe and secure
I’m sitting here right now.
I know who I am.
We can lift each other up.
I am fierce!
The atonement is real.

#BecauseofHim
I can have good food.
I can have a family.
I get to be a good person.
I’m not afraid to be who I am.
I’m alive.
I have choices!!
I can pray.
I work hard.
I have an AMAZING family 🙂
We can be forgiven.
I can repent.
I have hope.
I pray.
I can be with my family forever.
I know God lives.
I love more.
I live a better life.

#BecauseofHim
I can be saved.
I can repent.
I can be forgiven.
I can be clean from sin.
I can return to Him.
I will live again!
I can have hope.
We have the gospel.
I can go home.
I am blessed.
I can be spiritual.
I can be saved.

The post #BecauseofHim #MormonYouth share their faith #sharegoodness appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Just this week, I listened again to a General Conference talk that reflects a pattern I’ve seen in many talks. Our leaders believe in the youth. This particular talk — “The Power of the Priesthood in the Boy” — was focused on young men, and that is the focus of this post.

I’m the mom of a teenage boy. I love this young man so much, and am so grateful for leaders who have believed in him through the years. In a culture that often likes to denigrate teenagers, it’s remarkable to have reminders such as Elder Callister’s talk that if we “we have high but loving expectations of them” and trust and train them, our young men (and young women, but again, the focus today is on young men) can grow and rise to great heights in their lives.

I believe the Lord expects that of us as adults to lovingly believe in these youth.

This post on the priesthood (about the ordination of her 12-year-old son) by my friend, Michelle, captures what is in my heart about this topic. I, like her, am so grateful that “In this world where we desperately need good men, honorable husbands and devoted fathers, nothing prepares boys better than the priesthood…. Every Sunday they are taught to love God, be kind to their neighbor, avoid pornography, speak kindly and serve, serve, serve.” In the Church, as part of their priesthood duty, young men help with monthly fast offerings, monthly service visits to the homes of Church members, weekly sacrament service, helping take care of the church building, planning and executing youth activities, and more. But “the most important setting in which an Aaronic Priesthood holder can fulfill this duty is in his own home. He provides priesthood service to his father and mother as they lead the family. He also watches over his brothers and sisters….” (From Sacred Keys of the Aaronic Priesthood.)

Imagine if every young man in the world could grow up knowing that he had something to offer, that people needed his service, that the choices he makes in his youth really do matter, that he is loved and cared for by many people, and (most importantly) that he is loved and known by God and invited to be an instrument in His hands to bring people to Christ. What a different world we would experience! Imagine the impact on society to have young men raised from before their teenaged years to respect and honor women, to live sexually pure lives, to prepare to care for a family, to serve in their church and community. This is what priesthood quorums and service are about.

I am so grateful for the reality of the restored priesthood of God, and that young men from a tender age have the opportunity to taste and witness what it means to be a man of God.

The post The Priesthood in the Boy appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

~Michelle

There is a stack of dishes in the sink that I’m really tempted to do. The last few days, I’ve also been ready to grab the weed whacker and tackle the weeds in my front yard. I don’t like going to bed with dishes in my sink, and, well, when weeds start creeping close to my height, it’s hard not to want to whack them. (And it’s not like I don’t have a million other things that need to be done in my home, too.)

With apologies to my neighbors for the weeds, and recognition that my family may be bowl-less tomorrow for the morning rush, I’m practicing a little motto I’ve heard before.

“Give them dignity to fail.”

We recently started a new job rotation, and I admit the timing wasn’t great. Except maybe it was. The beginning of school (which it is where I live) can be a great time to start anew with an attempt at some rhythm. We had a particularly lazy, late-night summer (and we LOVED it), but it’s time to be back in the saddle. (Or so it appears. Truth be told, I wasn’t quite ready for school to start.)

I felt like it was time to fold more responsibility into our schedule for the kiddos. (With my chronic health struggles, I’ve not been so good at either my part of this or of managing their part. But I’m trying to step it up a little on both ends. We’ll see how it goes.) During the summer, the kids each had some daily stuff they had to do, and they kept track of their progress. But it was fairly easy given the lazy, long days.

We changed things up and added some daily chores for the school year. Now rather than different chores every couple of days, they were given the charge to come up with some sort of arrangement that required at least a week on their respective assignments, so that they would have opportunity to follow through.

Part of this attempt, though, means I’ve got to let go of the desire to control how things go. While I am still giving them little reminders to help as they get into the cadence of their decided-upon routines, there are jobs that are not getting done each day. That means a full garbage can and full sink sometimes when I go to bed.

But I figure there is some value in them learning that mom won’t always be around to do what needs to be done, and there is value in ME not hovering over them too much. And there is obviously value in the idea of family work.

I try to do this with homework and laundry, too. I’m there to help, but I make it a point not to run around like a crazy woman to facilitate last-minute stuff they have procrastinated. As much as possible, I try to let them pick up the slack (do their own laundry if they have a last-minute or pressing need that they haven’t communicated) so they can learn to take some responsibility.

I’m far from a perfect mom (!!), but in terms of the motto, at least, I’m feeling pretty good about the dirty dishes and the weeds tonight.

As a youth adviser, I am thinking about how we might allow youth to follow through and learn by experience a little more at church, too. I think of a leader who urged us to let the young people try and fail in our classes and groups — so they can have safe places to learn these kinds of lessons. That has stuck with me.

I think the following questions could be good to ask ourselves:

– When I give a lesson, am I trying to make it a good lesson, to make it about me and what I did to make it good, or am I giving them opportunities to invite, share, act, follow through, report, and make mistakes? ( e.g., Do I allow silence in the class or am I anxious to fill it?)
– When we plan activities, are we doing all the planning and the execution, or are we letting the youth leaders help and take some roles in the process? When things don’t work out, do we criticize and shame, or do we encourage and say, “That’s ok. We are here to learn by experience?”
– On the flip side, do we miss opportunities to mentor and work alongside our children and the youth in our stewardship? (I know I have sometimes failed with this, looking at chores as relief for me, rather than taking Sister Beck’s words to heart: “Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate” (from “Mothers Who Know” with emphasis added. I also am far from having a house of order that she describes, so please don’t get the wrong idea. I’m such a work in progress. Still, I like to discuss principles that I think can be powerful for us as moms and leaders in the church.)

I think this model of working beside youth can work in the Church as well. We don’t just throw responsibilities over the wall; we work by and mentor and guide and counsel with the youth in our groups).

I’d be interested in others’ thoughts on this. How can we balance the nurturing roles we have while also letting our children and those in our stewardships learn by experience how to prioritize and balance their responsibilities? What has worked for you at home or at church to mentor our future leaders? How have you failed along the way and what have those experiences taught you?

The post Giving youth the dignity to follow through (and to fail) appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

The post Fathers and Sons – Video appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice and Accountability
Good Works
Integrity and
Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values,
we will be prepared to
strengthen home and family,
make and keep sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple,
and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

-Young Women Theme of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Every Sunday for a majority of my life I have recited this theme, and my daughter now recites it too. Although it is short it teaches a multitude of concepts valuable to a growing teenage girl. This theme springs from a program suited to the needs of girls that are quickly becoming adults in a complicated world, the Young Women’s Program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Because our society is full of ills and confusing ideas, I am grateful that I had this bountiful program as a support during my youth, that my teenage daughter has it to reinforce the values we teach at home, and that I have the opportunity to serve other young women, my sisters, in this special organization that God has created for his precious daughters.

As a teenager I became aware of the ways that my home was different from the idyllic family life the church espouses. This gap that sometimes existed between the ideals taught and my imperfect family life was difficult to navigate and understand. The wonderful leaders I had in the Young Women program and the virtues I learned there helped me increase in my testimony of Jesus Christ, while still participating in an imperfect family (as we all are!). On days that I felt lost and alone, I remembered what I learned at church, that I am a daughter of God and he is always there for me. In the years since graduating out of the YW program (at 18) I have been amazed by the influence it still has in my life. The skills I learned, the fun I had, the examples of righteous living I witnessed, the scriptures I read, the list goes on and on – it all continues to influence my life in great ways,

Now my teenage daughter is a Young Woman in the church. While her dad and I do all we can to teach her at home, we know that in this world it is not enough. We need support from another source, and so does she — and the youth program provides it. Recently one of her leaders said, “I’ve noticed such a huge difference in your daughter since the summer. She really is growing and increasing her testimony. But you probably already know that.”

Actually I did need her to tell me that! Although I’m with my daughter every day, it can be hard to gauge her overall growth. The leaders in the Young Women program act as a back-up example for my daughter. She sees that her dad and I aren’t the only ones telling her that she is precious, that God loves her, or that she should stay chaste. One aspect of the young women’s program is especially helpful to me as a parent, the Personal Progress Program. It is a series of goals based on the values in the theme that prepare girls for a successful life and strengthen their relationship with Christ. With life being as complicated as it is, we could tie ourselves in knots trying to address all her needs alone. The Young Women program is full, encompassing many areas of study (not only the gospel, but such things as education, community service, the arts, etc.) while at the same time being tailored to the needs and talents of each young woman. Through completing the Personal Progress Program my daughter will become strong in her testimony of Jesus Christ and well rounded.

With the Mormon Church being a church of lay clergy (not full-time or paid), every member has the opportunity to serve. Many of the responsibilities I have held in the church have been with the young women. I love teenagers! They are so fun, ever ready for a laugh, they make me feel young, and their growing testimonies are strengthening to my own. In this difficult world they valiantly stand up for what they know is true. When they do make mistakes they know that they can repent and that their Heavenly Father is ever ready to love and support them. Young women are precious to God, I feel his love for them as I serve.

(two young women after a flour fight in my kitchen)

Recently the world leader of the young women’s program, Elaine Dalton, said:
“Our desire is to help young women be worthy and pure and to prepare every young woman to receive the blessings and ordinances of the temple. We will work tirelessly with your daughters, with you, and with priesthood and Young Women leaders to protect and strengthen and prepare our precious young women to be virtuous and pure and live the standards that will help them be free and happy and allow them to reach their divine potential. We know that we are all elect daughters of God. We also know that each one of us has a great work to perform.”

It is wonderful to have the support of a church that has these ideals in mind for me, my daughter, and all young women.

The post We Believe: Daughters of Our Heavenly Father appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

This website illustrates how much The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cares about the youth, about helping young people grow up with strength, courage, good friendships, and moral anchors and guidance in their lives.

The post It’s “A Brand New Year” — Happy New Year! appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

To view more videos, please click here.

The post <i>Video</i>: Mormon Teen Beliefs – What are Mormon teenagers like? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Next week, youth in the Salt Lake City, Utah area (USA) will have such an opportunity.

Thousands of young people (ages 12-18) from 51 stakes will participate in a cultural celebration, entitled “Come Up to the Mountain of the Lord, commemorating the dedication of the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain temples. Such cultural celebrations have occurred all over the world (e.g., in Ghana, Finland, Chile, Brazil, Panama, and others).

Performances of this celebration on May 29 and 30, 2009 will be held in the Church’s Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. They will also be broadcast via satellite to several meetinghouses throughout the state.

Youth have been auditioning, practicing, texting, writing, going to the temple, planning, and setting personal goals to prepare for this event. I’ve been impressed to read the thoughts of some of the youth as they prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Their enthusiasm is evident. We look forward to hearing more about this event over the next few weeks. (Are you involved in this celebration? Have you been involved in others in the past? Please consider sharing your experience through pictures, words, original video, etc. Send submissions at gmail to mormonwomen.)

—–
Read more about LDS youth at MormonYouth.org. The Church’s official site, The New Era, also gives glimpses into the lives of Mormon Youth, and includes content of interest to youth.

The post <i>Noteworthy News</i>: “Come Up to the Mountain of the Lord” – Cultural Celebration, May 29-30 appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.