Good works Activities
Recognizing Acts of Service
They thought of telling the kids that we were doing a video scavenger hunt, where they were supposed to find things that related to the scriptures, and an adult would be along to videotape, then they would show their results at the end at the church. In reality, there would be several scenarios played out in the area that the kids would go through, where they could stop and serve if they thought of it. Kind of like the story of the Religion final, where students had to go from here to there, and later found out that if they had stopped to help people that coincidentally were along the way, that is the way they passed the final. We thought of having a child with a flat tire, someone who dropped groceries or books, an older lady out raking her grass, etc.
They told the class Presidencies that they were doing a scavenger hunt. The paper said go to the store and count the gumball machines (but, they had an older lady there waiting that would drop her oranges out of the bag when they came in, the point was to see if the kids helped her or just counted the machines. Then they went to a bowling alley to count how many alleys there were, but there was a lost child, point… who stopped to help him find his Mom? Anyway, there were set ups all along, and they had each group start in a different place so they weren’t together at any point. I don’t think they said how it related to the Gospel till the end when they all gathered to see who had the right answers and then they had all the people who had needed help walk in the room. Then they were able to tie it into the Gospel. It sound’s like a great activity, I have been trying to get our Leaders to do it. Obviously, a lot of work, you have to find people to help that no one knows!
Tiff in SLC
SECRET SISTER
With your family: Ask each family member, including your parents, to write his or her name on a slip of paper and drop it into a hat. Invite everyone to draw out one name from the hat. (Choose again if you get your own name.) Without revealing whose name you picked, do
many acts of kindness and service for this family member for the next two weeks. Keep your actions secret! For example, your sister’s bed may magically make itself every day while she is in the shower! At family home evening two weeks later, ask each family member to try to guess who their secret sister (or brother) has been! Have you made a
difference in someone’s life?
As a Young Women’s group: Draw names among one class or among the entire group of young women in your ward. For one month, you will be the “secret sister” to the person whose name you drew. Each girl promises to secretly do something to show her love for her “sister” at least once a week during this time, and commits to look out for her at every opportunity. Set a $3 total spending limit to encourage creativity and a personal touch. Each young woman should carefully plan many ways to serve her sister for this special month. For
example, she could sit beside her “sister” during Sunday School class, offer a compliment when she looks especially nice, find out her favorite candy bar and have it mysteriously delivered to her home, or invite her to join a group of friends during lunch at school.
GOAL: Practice selflessness as you perform secret acts of kindness for someone else.
TIME: Approximately 1 hour
SUPPLIES: Open heart and willing hands
HINT: At the end of the “secret sister” time period, you may want to choose a new person and simply continue being kind!
This is tried and true. (Can count as a Good Works VALUE EXPERIENCE)
Good luck,
Jeanni Gould
Use this as a challenge for your YW at the end OR have them do this for two weeks in advance (maybe have MM pick Beehives, etc.), and then when you have the lesson, let the YW tell the stories! Personal experience is the best teacher.