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 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).
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!