Last night we held an activity that went so amazingly. I got the idea off of another list, but you may have seen it here as well. This is how it went. The Sunday before the activity I made beautiful invitations (stamped) for each young woman. For the Young Women who weren’t there, I had the girls deliver to those they knew. It was Sunday Dress & held in the Relief Society Room. I titled the activity, An Evening with the Savior. I asked 3 women in our ward to speak. The program went like this: Opening Song: I Believe in Christ
Prayer
1st speaker: The signs of Christ’s birth & his birth
2nd speaker: The greatest teachings of Christ during his mortality & the washing of the Disciples feet.
3rd speaker: The Atonement, Cruxificition, & Resurrection
The Music: His Hands by Kenneth Cope (I had typed the words out so all the girls could follow along)
Service Demonstration (All of the Leaders who work in Young Women served the girls by washing their hands & then putting a wonderfully scented lotion on them afterward)
For this activity we had all the lights off & the room was lit by Lamps only. It was such a spiritual experience & I could tell the girls were very touched by the hand washing. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help this activity be a spiritual experience for the girls & its because of him that it was. Please have this activity at some point! Leslie
I told the story of the statue of Christ that was nearly destroyed in Europe and was restored all except for the hands and the townspeople made a commitment to be “his hands”. I had one of our talented moms sing “His hands” and we told the story of the
famous artist who did the “Praying hands” painting who was able to go to art school because his brother worked in the mines and supported him and then when it was his turn, his hands were too damaged to pursue it. Then we had all the YW leaders one side of a table and we soaked the girls hands and then rubbed lotion on their hands as we spoke softly to them and told them how much we loved and appreciated them. While there girls were waiting, we shown the film Joy to the world (You could do Lamb of God or Faith in Christ for Easter). We handed out little bottles of lotion ($.50 at Wal-Mart) with the saying about how God uses our hands to do his work ( I can’t remember it offhand). It turned out to be a wonderful and spiritual lesson and could be done on a weeknight just as well.
Laurie
Sisters, I just had to write and tell you what a fabulous evening we had with our girls Wednesday night. The idea came from the wonderful sisters who went through the manual and wrote activities to go with the lessons. All it said was the Gift of Hands. So we went with it. We have several girls who we felt needed an intense experience with the Spirit so we planned the night that way. IT WORKED!!! J Yippeee!
Here’s what we did. We began with a mini-talk on Jesus’ hands by a member of our presidency. (I will post it to our Activities folder) It really brought the Spirit in. There were many sniffles in the room. Then the presidency and the advisors sang for the girls “His Hands.” When we first all stood up with music their eyes got really big. We have often volunteered them for musical numbers and had them rehearse over and over again. They were pleasantly surprised to be the audience this time. The song and talk went perfectly together and the Spirit in the room intensified. Many tears ~ and miracle of miracles ~ many were from the eyes we hoped would tear up! Then we excused ourselves and asked them to sit and ponder the feelings they were feeling for just a minute or two.
The next part will require some logistics planning specific to each ward. We had arrived early and sep up a “Spa” in another room where we planned on giving each girl, one on one, the best manicure we knew how. We had bins with warm peppermint water (one volunteer had been filling them during the talk and music), salts, lotions, polish remover, cotton ball, Q-tips, files, loads of polish, and towels ~ you name it. We had called 2 weeks in advance for women in the ward who would be willing to volunteer their services so that each girl could have her own “tech.” Once we explained what we were doing we had no problem getting everyone we called to excitedly agree to help. We had several tables, 2 or 3 girls and their “techs” at each table. Lots of cushioned chairs so they would be comfortable and be able to put their feet up if they wanted to (none of them did, hmmm). We had quiet music playing in the background. We brought the girls in and escorted them to a station. One leader was in the kitchen with 2 blenders making delicious fruit smoothies (with umbrellas even) then came in with a huge tray to serve everyone. We had a great night of conversation and laughter. We got to know the girls so much better. The girls felt absolutely pampered, spiritually and “manicure-ally.” They all were thrilled by the time they went home.
We had a great night. If anyone is struggling for activity ideas this is one I am happy to share and whole heartedly encourage.
Candice