Month: December
Value of the Month: Good Works
Color: Yellow
Value Experience: #3
"Read Mosiah 18:7–10, and in your journal list three ways you can comfort others
or help them bear their burdens. Do the things on your list, and
tell a family member or leader about the experience and
how your attitude and understanding have changed."
Menu:
Lemon Pudding Packs (we're going easy this month)
Spray Whipped Cream
Yellow Fruit to Decorate (bananas, pears, apples, bell peppers, squash, lemons)
Lesson:
We started the night off with the normal picture taking and mingling. Then as we sat down, I had the girls pull out their scriptures and read Mosiah 18:7-10"
7 And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. Yea, all were gathered together that believed on his word, to hear him. And he did teach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
We went on to discuss these scriptures in detail. What does it mean to mourn with those that mourn? To comfort those who stand in need of comfort? Who are some of these people? (They answered: "our friends, our parents, our siblings...")
Why is it important to uplift others? Who are people we can help and uplift? (they gave lots of really good answers. Family, friends, community.) What are some things we can do in our community to help (lots of good answers of service). I then told them how much of a difference they can make in people's lives.
Object Lesson: I took some lotion and put some in my hand. Then I asked one of the girls to come up. I put some lotion in her hand but some was still left on mine. I said to the girls, "Just like I gave her some lotion, there was still some left on me. When you give of yourself, you're not only giving to others, you are being uplifted too."
I then showed this video about some youth who started a club. It was really amazing for our girls to see.
I then introduced to them the concept of "Random Acts of Kindness." (From Wikipedia: "A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual person or people.") We talked about what some random acts of kindness might be. It could be anything from giving hot chocolate to someone who works in the cold, or leaving diapers on a changing station, or leaving a big thank you note for the trash collectors, leave cookies in your mailbox for the mailman, pay for the car's order behind you in a drive through, hand out food to homeless people, leave change on a washing machine at a laundromat, rake someone's leaves, write a note on someone's driveway.)
Then I said, "This is your mission, should you choose to accept it..." And then I handed out all the envelopes you see in the picture above. Each envelope had the little label with the "operation" I coined. It's called Operation Christmas Kindness. Each envelope then had their name on it. They were all excited to open the envelope. Inside were the two papers you see below. It was a list I put together of all the different things they could do for their "three acts".
They were to choose 3 of these acts or write in their own and then cut off the strip and put them in the empty jar. But one catch! They had to take pictures of themselves or the actual act of kindness. Then after they did their three things, they would get their yellow jar. At the bottom of the list were even notes they could cut out and leave for people explaining what we were doing. They seemed super excited about it.
I also told them I wanted to "step it up" a bit. I told them if they each did 5 things we would have a pool party at the bishop's house. They were cheering and so excited.
The bishop then asked if he could say a few words. Do you see he's wearing a yellow tie? He has been doing this every Personal Progress Night. It's pretty awesome.
Afterward I gave them each an easy thing to start with. They each got 5 candy canes and 5 slips of paper. They took a few minutes to attach the slips onto the candy cane and then they were to hand them out to random people and say thank you or smile. And of course they had to document by taking a picture of themselves doing it.
Then we had pudding! They had a great time with the whipped cream and it was just a really fun night!
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