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Contributed by: Kathy Ladle of Tallahassee, FL (2/23/04)
We had our New
Beginnings last night and it was a huge success! I just wanted to share
with you what we did.
Our theme for the evening was "Remember Who You Are". Our invites had on
the front cover a blue (Divine Nature) hand with a ribbon bow in the
value colors tied around the index finger.
For the evening we started off with the opening song Teach Me to Walk in
the Light. The YW sang the first verse, parents sang the second verse
and everyone sang the last verse. It was beautiful.
We had the YW Advisors introduce the class officers. We then had the
Laurel advisor introduce and present to two new Laurels a scrapbook page
they can hang on there wall as well as shared 7 words that described the
YW.
We then had the Laurels present to the new beehives a scrapbook page and
shared 7 words that described each YW. The girls loved it!
We had two personal progress speakers. The first was one of the Laurels
who just moved in and who had also earned her medallion. She spoke on
what it meant to her to work hard for her medallion and what she gained
from it. We then had her mother speak on how vital it was to have the
parental support and help in completing the PP program. She was amazing.
I had no idea that she was a former YW's Pres and gave a wonderful
insight as a parent. But, before she got into the personal progress
talk, she invited the new beehives back up and gave them each a crown
and talked about how they are princesses and how they are in the
beginning part of their lives where they will come to a full knowledge
of their rights as princesses and Daughters of God. It was fantastic!
We went over the calendar of events.
We then had all of the YW and leaders sing A Childs Prayer. The YW sang
the first verse and the leaders sang the 2nd and we then sang it
together. I had a hard time making it through the song. It was
beautiful!
Then we had the YW Pres. sitting around a table. I read a letter from a
YW (it was actually a fictional letter to lead into the YW's theme). The
letter talked about how she didn't know who she was and why was it
important for her to live the way she had been taught. Just kind of a
letter from someone who struggled. We then lead it into the YW's theme
and how each week we recite the theme, but it means so much and can
answer so many questions. When we got to the values, we asked parents to
speak for 2-3 minutes. We made it appear like we were calling them up
out of the audience to just talk without any notice. It worked out
great.
We then had a YW recite the theme as she did it in sign language. We did
this to slow it down. We tend to rush through it. She then had everyone
stand and we recited it after her.
We had a musical number Walk Tall You're a Daughter of God
Closing remarks by our bishop who did an amazing job! He talked about
how the YW can do great things. It was a great pep talk.
We closed with I am a Child of God.
For refreshments, we had our local grocery store make a cake with the YW
Motto on it (the torch). It was beautiful! The only sad thing was I
didn't have a camera to take a picture of it. People were in awe.
We also gave each of the YW a calendar up to July that they worked on in
one of our class activities. We also gave them a wood hand with a ribbon
tied onto it and on the back it said Remember Who You Are, New
Beginnings 2004. It had a magnet on it so they could put it in their
lockers or somewhere to remind them.
We had such wonderful expressions afterwards of thank yours. The Bishop
said it was the best program he'd been to. That felt great to hear. I
just hope it touched the YW as much as it did the adults. It was a
marvelous evening and I feel a sense of relief!
Personal Progress
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