Personal Progress Month Intro

I decided to kick off our month of personal progress inspiration with the talk I gave at my ward's medallion night - an activity for 3 of my leaders, me, and another one of our young women (Kim) when we received our young women medallions back in April of last year. Kim & I planned the night. It was the first time I had planned anything and it was so much fun! The night was great and I loved the spirit there. I also gave the same talk later last year at girls camp - a lot of our young women were unable to come to the medallion night, so Kim & I both spoke again. I modified my talk for girls camp because of the theme. Our medallion night was based on 'The Princess and the Frog' (Remember What's Important!), and girls camp was 'Anchored in Christ'. They are really the same talk with minor tweaks, but I'll be posting the modified one from girls camp! 

So, without further ado - here's my talk! 

I'm so excited to be able to speak to you today! I originally gave this talk at the medallion night a while ago, where the theme was The Princess and the Frog, so I’ve changed my talk a little bit to fit the camp theme, ‘Anchored in Christ.’

When I think of being anchored in Christ, I think of matching our priorities to those of the gospel. We cannot truly be anchored to our Savior when what’s important to Him is not important to us.

           
I think one of the best ways to know where your priorities are is to ask yourself a few questions, and really think about the answers. Questions such as, how often do you go to sports practice? How many times a week are you hanging out with your friends? How many hours are you spending practicing instruments or going to lessons? Any other activities, really, can apply here. Then ask yourself, how many times have I attended the temple in the last month? How many hours have I spent doing service? And how many times have I picked up my personal progress book in the last few weeks? Are the numbers of those answers even comparable? If you’re spending more time with your friends or at a practice for something or other than you are doing what God has called you to do, I think you might need to ask yourself whether or not you are truly anchored in Christ. None of the other activities are bad at all, they’re just not as important as the spiritual activities are.

So, how can you really become anchored in Christ? It starts with a daily commitment to put God’s standards first.  Get a rock and put it on your pillow so you remember to pray every night. Get together with your friends, choose a day, and go to the temple after school. Go home and find your personal progress book, pick a value, and start working on it. Some of the value experiences can be done in way less than an hour. All of these are great ways to start, but what I’m going to focus on most is personal progress.

I think there’s this misconception that personal progress is insanely boring and it takes forever to do, when in reality, that’s not at all true. Personal progress takes time, but so do homework and play practice. If you make time every week for personal progress, you’ll be done with it before you know it. Of course, I know how hard it can be to find motivation to do it. I really love this talk given by Jan Pinborough on ‘five reasons to love personal progress’, and I’d like to share her five reasons with you.

           
Because it can change the world. Because it can change you. Because you’re so busy. Because it leads you to the temple. Because it can help you reach your dreams.

So I’d like to go through each of the five reasons and kind of explain a little bit more what they really mean.

Let’s start with the first two, because it can change the world and because it can change you. You might be thinking, how can personal progress change anything? Let me tell you! A large portion of personal progress is doing service and helping other people. If all of the young women of the church were to complete their personal progress, think of all of the good deeds and light we would have shared in other people’s lives! Personal progress can bring happiness to others and even provide missionary opportunities. But personal progress isn’t just for others – it’s also for ourselves. Personal progress is designed to bring you closer to your Father in Heaven, strengthen your testimony, and recognize your divine nature and opportunities in this life. I have discovered that by doing personal progress, my mindset has begun to change from one of negative judgement to kindness - not just for those around me, but for myself. Personal progress obviously doesn’t make you perfect, but it brings you so much closer to the kind of person you are truly meant to be.

Next is because you’re so busy, and I think this is my favorite. I think what stops most young women from doing their personal progress is their mindset of I don’t have time. The issue isn’t that you don’t have enough time, it’s that you aren’t making the time. Somewhat fortunately, I was able to finish my personal progress a lot faster because I was sick for three months. But it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to finish your personal progress, only that you’re willing to do it. Even if you can only make the time to do personal progress for half an hour each week, take advantage of that. Make it a priority and you will find the time for it, whether you work on it every Sunday or you have three months where you’re doing absolutely nothing. Once you start doing personal progress, you will realize how important it is to make time for the things that really count. Not only that, but one of the main purposes of personal progress is to make your spiritual goals part of your everyday life. I think Sister Julie Beck said it best when she said, “The busiest girls use Personal Progress as a tool to accomplish what they most want to do. It brings your temporal and spiritual pursuits together. It shows you that what you do on the volleyball team or the chess club has a direct relationship with who you are as a daughter of God.” Not only should you be making time for personal progress, your time should already be spent doing things that would apply to it.

Then is because it leads you to the temple. I hope every young woman wants to ultimately be married in the temple someday. And while having your personal progress completed and your medallion earned isn’t a requirement to enter the temple, it will prepare you to go there. The temple is our ultimate goal, and personal progress is the course that will prepare us for the daily dedication it takes to get there. With personal progress, we will be all the more prepared for our futures.

And last but not least, because it can help you reach your dreams. Sister Elaine Dalton said, “This is what Personal Progress is really all about—being focused on good things, becoming a better person, feeling the Spirit, and being happy!” Personal progress is essentially making and accomplishing one small goal after another until you complete the entire thing. Doing personal progress will give you the attitude and strength to accomplish any goal and work towards making every dream come true. Personal progress doesn’t just end when you close the book, it stays with you for the rest of your life.

I would like to leave my testimony with you that I know personal progress is so important. It’s changed me so much for the better, and I know it can change every single young women who is willing to just open up her personal progress book and start. Take advantage of what you’re doing right now or what’s going on in your life and apply it to personal progress. Let Christ be your anchor and let personal progress be a part of your life. I know this gospel is true and I am so grateful for it. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

XOXO,
Savannah

Personal Progress Month

I hope you're curious about this from the title... Because I'm pretty excited about it!!

I was reading through a talk I gave almost a year ago, after I earned my young women's medallion. As I read it, I started to remember how passionate I was (am!) about personal progress, and how much I've lost that after completing the program! So, for somewhat selfish reasons, I decided that on here, March will be spent focusing on personal progress and the difference it has made/can make in each of our lives! I'll share LOTS of project ideas (I know how hard those can be sometimes!), Honor Bee ideas, reasons to love personal progress, little things you can do to make personal progress easier (but more meaningful!)... The list goes on! I was going to do a week, but then I decided there was just too much to fit in just 7 days. So here we are!

I really hope you're as excited about this as I am!! PERSONAL PROGRESS IS AMAZING!! Okay? Okay. Now let's have fun with this!!

(Also - hint, hint - you can totally pop your e-mail in that box over there to make sure you don't miss a single post, project idea, or inspiration! I highly recommend it(; )

XOXO,

Savannah

New Beginnings 2015 - Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

Well hello all!

I wanted to post about something super exciting for me... New Beginnings!

Last Sunday was my ward's New Beginnings. New Beginnings is a program in the LDS church that is designed to welcome the 11 year old girls who will turn 12 during the year into young women's. It introduces them to the program and the incredible things they have to look forward to. It is such a wonderful thing!! It's an amazing program with so many great opportunities & options.

I had the opportunity to plan this year's New Beginnings as part of my Honor Bee. (Once I finish reading the Book of Mormon, I'll have it! Woot woot!) Working with my leaders & the other Mia Maids, we chose 'The Wizard of Oz' as our theme. I felt like it went really well with these year's mutual theme - D&C 4:2. We discussed how our new Beehives can embark on their personal progress journey with all of their heart, might, mind & strength. We also threw the value colors/rainbow in there for good measure!

It was such an incredible night! It pulled together so well. It wouldn't have pulled through without my leaders, my Mia Maid friends, and especially my mom! I'm so grateful for them!

Here are a few pics of the night (sorry for the crappy quality, I took them all last minute on my phone!)

The back view - yellow brick road, rainbow arch, and green sashes. We have a sister in our ward who decorates weddings, and she always helps out with our decorations - she's responsible for the arch and the sashes! The yellow brick road is just a taped down, long piece of yellow paper, with bricks drawn on it. Sounds tacky, but it was so cute!!

Ding Dongs - the witch is dead!

The front/podium - ruby red slippers, Toto, tissue paper flowers, and a little bike to display the YW medallion on.

Animal Crackers - Lions & Tigers & Bears, Oh My!

"Ruby Red Slipper" Cake Pops 

Do you like our last minute attempt at displaying them?

Rice Krispies - Yellow Bricks 

(The leader who made them tried food coloring in one pan, but I don't recommend it - she said it took a TON!)

Our little handout for everyone - we found the tag on Pinterest and attached it to little bags of Skittles!

 It reads:

"With your loyal friends beside you,

You'll find your dreams are bold.

So use your heart, courage, and brain

To follow your Yellow Brick Road."

Our "panel" table with all of the new Beehives handouts set up

Dollar Store tablecloths and balloons on the stage - I was SO happy with how this turned out!! So inexpensive but it made such a difference!

Another picture of my favorite part!

If you want tutorials or more information on how I did any of this, I would love to share them with you!! A lot of little Pinterest tips and tricks went into our New Beginnings! I'm so happy with how everything turned out. 

The program was a little under an hour, and I felt like it flowed really well. Short and sweet is the best thing to be! If you also want an outline of the program, comment below and let me know! I'd be happy to share it.

I just wanted to share a few more of my favorite highlights from the night...

*See that jar of hearts and bubblegum on the panel table? That's what we used to present the YW values! There's a heart for each value (in the color of the value), and when each young woman came up to present their value, they stuck their heart in the jar of bubblegum. It was a really cute part of the decor, and I loved the visual it added to presenting the values.

*My favorite part was definitely doing the panels! I think a part of that might have been because I got to have a microphone and move around to ask the questions, haha! We had two panels. One was four of our current young women. I asked them questions about things like their favorite mutual activities, favorite memory from girls camp, favorite thing they've done for personal progress, best thing about young women's, etc! I think it gave the new Beehives a more personal idea of the awesome things they have to look forward to. Their answers were so sweet and meaningful and I loved hearing them! 

The second panel was a 'get to know you' panel for all of the eleven year old's/new Beehives (we have five this year). I asked them a bunch of fun, random questions. One of the most important things for me was getting to know the new Beehives in a way besides just reading their answers off of a questionnaire. The panel was definitely a fun alternative to doing that, and I think it was less awkward for everyone! Just from briefly talking to them, I can tell that we have some seriously sweet girls coming in this year. I can't wait to have them in our group - I know they're going to make it a great year!  

*I also really liked how we ended up presenting the different classes. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do for it, and thankfully my mom came up with these adorable handouts! (Told you she's amazing!)

Once again, I have to apologize for the photo quality. You get the idea!

Beehives - "This is your time to arise & shine forth." We gave them mini alarm clocks ($1 at Ikea) to help them remember to always "arise and shine!"

Mia Maids - "Mia Maids today learn about love, faith and purity." Heart suckers & bubbles to help them remember to always love others & be kind!

Laurels - We couldn't give them a laurel wreath crown, so we gave them the second best thing - a wand! (Tied with YW value colored ribbon)

They had little baskets to keep all of their stuff in. We also threw in a little Toto - because everyone needs a friend!

*ALSO! (I almost forgot a key part of it all!) Throughout the night, all of the young women were members of the 'Lollipop Guild', and the new Beehives were Munchkins training to become members of the Guild! It was basically a training program to prepare them for life in the Guild! At the end of the night we gave them little bags of Dum Dum's and told them that they were halfway on their way to a lollipop - and when they turned 12, they could have one!

It was seriously such a fun night. Everything was so adorable and it turned out greater than I ever could have imagined it! I hope we can all remember how awesome this opportunity is to get the new Beehives excited about young women's & personal progress! We can do SO much good with this program!

"You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose. You have a noble responsibility to use your strength and influence for good."^^ Let these new Beehives know this!! They are beloved daughters of God. How great is it that we can teach them this truth?!

XOXO,
Savannah 

In All Things

This post was kind of spurred by an experience I had at 4 AM this morning. I spent a good part of last night up & violently sick - as was my little brother! It was miserable. I tried everything I could think of to help, but nothing worked. Then I realized one thing I hadn't done - prayed!! So, I got down on my knees and asked God to relieve me of my nausea. It wasn't a long or deep prayer - but it was powerful in the way that I was turning my situation over to God. I was asking Him to help me in a way that I couldn't.

                          

Before I even said 'Amen', the nausea had vanished. It was something I had been dealing with for hours, that couldn't be helped by medicine. And all I had to do was pray for it to leave! All I had to do was ask, and God was right there with an answer! It's a sad kind of funny, the number of times our situations could be completely changed, if we would only think of our Savior.

God is just waiting for you to ask for His help. He has the answers and solutions to every one of our problems! He will bless us with those answers, if only we'll let Him. I can't promise you that the answers will come immediately, like they did for me this morning. I can't promise that the solution will be what you want to hear. But I can promise that if you will turn to Christ, and trust Him with all things, you will always end up where you need to be. One day, every single trial will be over. For some of us, it'll be in this life - and for some of us, it will be the next. But I promise you that those answers and ends of trials will come, if only we will turn our problems to the Savior.

Pray to Him in all things! Trust Him with all things! Nothing is too 'unimportant' for Christ. He loves and cares about each and every one of you, and every part of your situation! His answer will never be, "Sorry, this isn't exactly high on my list of priorities." What it will be is an answer of love and compassion! He understands each and every little thing you're going through, because He experienced them. He has lived what you are living, and He understands why you feel the way you do!! Do not ever hesitate to turn to Him and ask Him for guidance and help, or even just comfort. He will understand better than anyone what you are going through. He is waiting for you. Don't deny yourself of the blessings that are in store for you, if you will simply ask for them!

                              

The Savior is waiting for you, but it's up to you whether or not you will let His infinite blessings in your life. May we always turn to Him first, in all things.

XOXO,

Savannah