Alice Gifford -
YW Connection - 1998
Hi,
Here is an idea that as a Stake YW presidency we just suggest to
our stake. Next year's March General Broadcast is "The Lord is
My Light". Even though l999 is not a worldwide celebration year,
this theme is a theme that can be used all year long starting
with New Beginnings. I used this as a ward president about seven
years ago and it was very successful. What is needed is a small
oil lantern for each young woman. A large bottle of lantern oil
to share w/about three droppers. We also hung the picture of the
"Parable of the Ten Virgins" painted by Gayla Prince
in the YW room and showed the filmstrip of the parable.
(You can find these at Seagull Books) or you might try:
Gayla Prince
Royal Impressions
P.O. Box 700
St. George, UT 84771
Begin the evening by teaching how Christ is our Light and that
each of us is born with the Light of Christ and as we become
stronger in our faith and as our relationship and understanding
of Christ increases our light becomes brighter. The brighter the
light, the more light we are able to share with others.
Each Sunday and Mutual night the YW are able to add a drop of
oil to their lanterns for each thing they do during the week
that increases the Light of Christ in their lives.
That is the basic idea. You can expand the idea from there. At
YW in Excellence, part of the program is lighting the lanterns
(this part of the program has to be done outside.
Update: Alice Gifford -
YW Connection - Jan 25 1999
One of the wards in our stake had their NB program last evening
using the script for the Parable of Ten Virgins as part of the
program. Instead of having each girls memorize the entire
portion of the person they represented, they video taped the
girls. The counselor was the narrator and interviewer and gave
the description of the virgin, and then she asked each young
woman to tell a little about herself and what her gift would be,
etc. The girls dressed in their parts, and having props around
them (I think they may have used cue cards to help the YW
remember all that she was representing, giving in case they
became nervous) then explained what they represented and what
their gift was. They did the interviewing in some of the girls
homes, in the clerks office at the church, bedrooms, etc. They
did a fantastic job and from the laughter in the room, the girls
enjoyed participating and then being able to watch the video too
and enjoy the evening. This is only part of the program, and if
JD is out there I'll let her explain the rest of the program if
she'd like. :-)
For
Instance ( Narrator) I am the first virgin. I
represent a Christ-like person. My gifts to the bridegroom are
palm fronds, olive branches, and 7 white lilies.
I
represent a woman who has developed those Christ-like qualities
of love, patience, kindness, obedience, understanding, truth,
hope and faith. This is the person who is merciful and just, one
who is pure in heart, and hungers and thirsts after
righteousness. This is the member of the church who is a
peacemaker, who is humble and meek, and that doesn't mean weak.
It means a person so strong of character and in control that
when someone says or does something to them that is hurtful,
instead of lashing back in word or deed, this person turns the
other cheek. One of my gifts to the bridegroom is a bouquet of
palm fronds, which represent one's recognition and acceptance of
Christ. When Christ entered Jerusalem that last time, those who
recognized Him as the Christ, the Messiah, took branches of palm
trees and went forth to meet Him and cried, "Hosanna, Hosanna to
the King. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.'
You can not be a Christ-like person unless you know Christ. And
we can know Christ through studying the scriptures, through
fasting and prayer, and by being obedient to His commandments,
and covenants. A Christ-like woman attends her church meetings,
pays tithes and offerings and does all that the prophet has
asked her to do.
(The YW)
My
gift of olive branches represent the gathering of Israel in the
last days, when the righteous shall be saved and the wicked
shall be burned. My gift of seven white lilies represents the
seven dispensations of time. This parable takes place at the end
of the sixth, the beginning of the seventh dispensation of time.
The seven lilies could also represent that a Christ-like woman
is religious seven days a week and not just on Sunday.
1st
Virgin - Dressed modestly, pictures of temple, Christ,
scriptures open, talked very softly testified of the importance
of loving others. . Speak of planning on temple marriage, being
good, chaste, etc. Rep: A Christ-like person
Note from
Janell
We
did it like Alice explained. I introduced the video explaining
that I had spent the week talking to the 10 virgins, seeing
their life style, their views on life, etc. At the end of the
video we had each of the virgins come into the room in dress,
carrying her gift, stating what she brought to the bridegroom
and what it represented. I then explained to the audience that
as a result of the interviews I had discovered that 5 of the
girls were prepared and allowed to meet the bridegroom while the
other 5 were unprepared and would not be allowed to meet the
bridegroom. These 5 were ushered out of the room amid must
weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth! I ended by giving a
short blurb on the importance of being prepared. It went well
and I don't think I would've changed anything we did.
Incidentally, only 2 of the girls used cue cards during the
taping, the rest just spoke from their head/heart.
Submitted by:
Ronda Robbins - YW Pres 16th Ward,
Pocatello, ID -
11/10/1998
We did the 10 Virgins as a special Mother/Daughter night earlier
this year. The girl and mothers met in the chapel for
opening exercises and were divided up into 10 groups. We had
kept this night a secret and labeled it as a spiritual feast.
Each group was assigned to go to a room number from 1-10 and
then to rotate in numeric order with number 10 then going to 1.
Each room had one of the 10 virgins and their rooms were set up
according to which virgin they were to represent. After each
room had been visited they were invited to come to the RS room.
Our YW Pres at that time was at the door to the RS Room and
welcomed the YW and their mothers. She had the responsibility to
deny entrance to the foolish virgins and this was very touching
as one of the foolish was her own daughter and she had to turn
her away. After the wise were seated in the front we
congratulated them on being wise and had the RS Room decorated
with numerous white lights,
greenery and white gauzy material. Soft music was playing. Their
handout that night was the
10 virgin poem rolled as a scroll and
tied. We had a closing number of "Foolish
or Wise" from Women at the Well and a closing prayer. We
devoted a few minutes on Sunday after to have the girls record
on paper for their journal their thoughts and feelings. We also
explained that the people representing the 5 foolish virgins
were just playing a part. This did cause some confusion to our
Beehives who perhaps have not learned irony and role playing
just yet and take everything at face value. This was an absolute
awesome evening that will be remembered for a long time by both
youth, parents and leaders. Best of luck to all who chose to
present this parable.
Submitted by: Paula Hegsted - 11/10/98
We had 10 different women sit in a semi-circle in front of the
Young Women. Each woman represented each of the 10 different
virgins. The script is really a description of each virgin, what
she represents and the gifts she had for the bridegroom. You can
get it on
http://www.deseretbook.com. We also printed up the poem and
presented that to the girls. We gave each girl a 4x7 picture of
the 10 virgins. ** Recommendation: We handed out the picture
first to the Young Women before the reading. That way they can
look at the clothes, gifts, and facial expressions as these
descriptions are read. This was glued on the top of gold
parchment cardstock.
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