Teaching service activity

I had to tell everyone about a great combined YM/YW activity we had tonight.  It was awesome.  We told everyone that we were doing a scavenger hunt.  The only people that knew what was actually going on behind the scenes were me (I’m the 1st Counselor), the other Mia Maid advisor, and the bishopric.  We could not let our class presidency in on the planning of this activity.  We had 3 destinations.  There was a clue to figure out each place using a scripture.  They would get a new clue at each place telling them where to go next.  At each place there was someone that could be served in some way.  We found three people that we knew nobody else would know (my sister, and the advisor’s mom and sister).
We divided the youth into groups, and told them the winner was not who came back first, but who completed it the fastest.  We let each group go 5 minutes apart, so they didn’t all get to the same place at the same time (group 1 left at 7:15, group 2 at 7:20, etc.).  The first destination was Deseret Book, where the advisor’s sister was there using crutches, and holding a bunch of books which she dropped.  The second was a bread store, in which the advisor’s mom was there with the hood of her car up, and two grandchildren with her.  The third was a park, in which my sister was looking around for her wedding ring (pretending she lost it).  The groups had the choice to help these people and risk being last, or ignoring them and trying to get first.  After every group got back to the church, we told them they were not allowed to speak to other groups, and they filled out a worksheet in which they had to figure our several scriptures, then read them.  They all had to do with service.  The bishop then got up for a few minutes to speak.  He spoke about service, and how it is not usually convenient.  It sometimes comes at times when we’re in a hurry.  But it’s so important that we do it.  He then said that there were some visitors…in came our family members who were at the three places the groups went to.  I loved to see everyone’s reactions. All three introduced themselves and told about what they experienced.
Many of the groups actually did stop to help, and some did not.  It was a real eye opener.  This activity was tons of work, but it was really worth it.  If anyone wants the scriptures we used for clues and the worksheet they filled out at the end, let me know.  You’d probably have to make some changes for your group, but it wouldn’t be too hard.
Shared by: Cindy Whatcott, AZ