Spring 2009
YOUNG WOMEN AUXILIARY LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Overview

Message from Sister Elaine S. Dalton

As a presidency, our vision is to assist parents and priesthood leaders in preparing each young woman to be worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple.

Our goal will be to help each young woman know her identity as a daughter of our Heavenly Father. We want to help her be virtuous and pure so that she will be worthy to enter the temple. We hope that she will learn to recognize and rely on the Spirit to guide, teach, and comfort her as she makes decisions and progresses through her teenage years. We also want her to understand the covenants she made at baptism and how to renew them each week as she partakes of the sacrament. This knowledge will help her prepare and be worthy to make and keep sacred temple covenants. These vital years are a time of preparation for a young woman’s future roles as a wife, mother, homemaker, and leader.

We truly believe in this generation of young women. They can be a force for good in the world as they come to accept and act on the values found in the Young Women theme. We truly believe that one virtuous young woman, led by the Spirit, can change the world!

Ministering through Activities
Taught by Sister Mary N. Cook and Sister Ann M. Dibb

In the last two general conferences, President Thomas S. Monson has endorsed large cultural events for youth. “I am an advocate for such events. They enable our youth to participate in something they truly find unforgettable. The friendships they form and the memories they make will be theirs forever” ("Welcome to Conference," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 6). It is about much more than the activity, it is about the impact on the individual.

As leaders, we are called to minister to young women. We want to strengthen them and prepare them to be worthy to make and keep sacred temple covenants. We will know how to achieve these goals as we seek direction from our Father in Heaven regarding each young woman we are called to lead. Then through the tools of the Young Women program, we can reach out to young women and strengthen them in an effort to achieve the outcomes indentified by Sister Dalton above.

Activities provide a unique setting unlike any other where young women can feel the Spirit, have fun, practice living the principles of the gospel and the Young Women values, show mutual respect and support for one another, and learn the skills to prepare them for their future roles.

How can we plan meaningful activities? Begin by identifying needs:

1. What are the needs of individual young women? What type of activity would meet those needs?
2. How can you follow priesthood direction and address priesthood leaders' concerns for youth through activities?
3. How can you mutually improve all young women and prepare them for their future roles as wives, mothers, homemakers, leaders, and faithful women in the gospel? Activities are a time to improve the skills of young women and help them develop spiritually, socially, physically, and intellectually. Activities should also provide youth with opportunities to practice using those skills and serve others.

Identifying the need for the activity will give your gathering meaning and purpose. Include a variety of activities in your program to provide balance and meet different needs.

Once needs have been identified, consider the tools of the Young Women program that can be used to meet those needs. How can needs be addressed through Sunday lessons, Personal Progress, Mutual, camp, youth conference, and large events? With needs and outcomes in mind, work with class presidencies to plan activities.

An activity planned without considering needs and outcomes is structure without substance. Compare it to walking around the temple but never going inside. It may be beautiful while it is in sight, but to really fulfill God’s plan for his children on earth you have to go inside. To really prepare young women to be worthy to make and keep sacred temple covenants and fulfill their divine roles we need to do more than entertain; we need to minister to each young woman using every inspired tool we have.