New Beginnings - Chinese New Years

I haven't been able to keep up with my blog like i used to, but there are still things I need to document for myself, so that I will have access to them later on in life.  So, with that being said, I was put into the YW program in my ward.  I am now the secretary in YW and with that calling I get to be a part of the great things that go on in our YW program.

So, as much as I can, I am going to try and document the things we do here on my blog (mostly for me, but also for those of you that still read my blog).   So, the first activity we our New Beginnings.

We did a great Chinese New Year theme. The night was just wonderful.  It all came together so well.  Here is what we did.


To start, we passed out these invitations. I bought Chinese Envelopes from Amazon and printed out the cards with our information on them.  I punched a hole at the top an tied a ribbon through it and inserted them into the envelopes.  Wa La!

Next, for the decoration for the evening.  We knew we wanted red chinese lanterns to adorn the cultural hall.  We also bought these on Amazon for $1 each.  We had 40 of them strung across our cultural hall with chinese kites.  You walked in and it was so festive and eye-catching.

We also wanted to use the screen as a focal point (since we were playing a movie) and so we decided to make big banners to flank the sides of the screen.  I was in charge of this.  I wrote big chinese characters on the banners that represented different YW values (loosely :-) and then I used gold duct tape to make a border around the banner.  It helped make it sturdy and was easier than painting.

For the night of the event, I made these programs (that matched our invitations). 

and then we got these pretty chinese sheets from a local restaurant and included them int he program.  On the back we included this year's incoming beehive's names.  (sorry the program is upside down, I'm too lazy to go and fix that.  But you get the picture).

For the food, we decided to keep it simple and did cupcakes with fortune cookies on top.  Super festive and easy.  We also were able to get authentic chinese dragons and kites from a member in our ward which really help with the decoration!

Okay, now for the presentation of the evening.  The whole message of the evening was that we bringing honor to our Heavenly Father as we journey through this life of ours.    

We talked about Mulan and showed the clip from the movie where she sings "bring Honor to us all".  

We talked about how there is much more to life as young women than making ourselves look pretty and saying the right things…..

As daughters of God, we need to strive to let the light of Chirst shine forth in us by our actions and our thoughts. In the YW program we base our lives around Christ by living our values.  By understanding and living these values, we can truly bring honor to our families and most importantly to our Heavenly Father.

The Chinese calendar goes in a 12 year cycle. Each year has a zodiac sign that represents qualities of the people born to that year. The values and characteristics of these zodiac years are not too far different from some of the qualities we seek for in living our young women’s values.  

Then we had a girl discuss each value.  With each value we assigned a zodiac sign from the Chinese New Year.  

Faith -  OX

Divine Nature - Horse

Individual Worth - Monkey

Knowledge - Snake

Choice and Accountability - Dragon

Good Works - Rabbit

Integrity - Dog

Virtue - Tiger

With each value, we asked anyone in the audience if they were born in the year (for instance for Faith) 1949, 1961,1973 or 2009 to please stand.   "you were all born in the year of the Ox and have certain characteristics."   And then we discussed the different characteristics that are associated with that animal.  

We went through each animal for the 8 different values.  It was fun to have the audience participate, learn and see how these characteristics applied to them personally.

Along with this, we talked about the YW program, the Personal Progress program, our ward's individual YW theme (as it fits in with the general Mutual theme of the year) and then we introduced the new beehives for the year and presented them with some YW items and gifts.

So, our ward's YW theme is  "Press Forward on your Journey".  In connection with the general Mutual theme "press forward with steadfastness in Christ."

  We introduced the theme and made passports for each girl.  We told them that We are going to take a trip around the world in YW this year and along the way learn about principles that will help us press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.

Throughout the year, they will receive stamps as they travel to different countries (different YW activities).  These stamps will represent not only the countries you will visit, but they will represent spiritual stamps or principles that will help you on your travels To return to live with our Savior and Father again.

We got this idea from this video.  

The first stamp they got was China (for our New Beginnings).

I made the passports.  Here is what they look like up close and personal.

Here are the girls presenting each value.

And here are our cute YW.  This night was particularly wonderful for me because my daughter was there as an upcoming beehive this year.  i can't believe it!  It was so fun to put it together knowing she was going to be there.   There you have it.  I have to admit I have a great calling. I get to serve with wonderful women that put this together!  The thought to every detail and the messages we want to teach to our YW... I am in good company for sure!

Celebrating Turning 8 this year

I am not very good at posting on my blog these days.  Life is busy and my blog is what suffers.  So, instead of trying to go back and start at the beginning of summer, I thought it might be best just to start where I am in life (and if I can I will go back).

So, I saw this adorable idea on pinterest and thought to myself, we have to do the same thing this year.  My little Ella turned 8 this year along with several of her cute friends.   So the moms and I made sure we could make it happen.

We got the girls together in their baptism dresses and the "I like to look for rainbow" balloons and made our way to the temple so we could commemorate their important decision to be baptized this year.

I love the way the pictures turned out.  I love this cute little girls.  I love that they decided to be baptized and I love their cute friendships.  So much to love and so much to capture and celebrate.

It is great to be eight, for sure!

Manners and Fascinators

We decided it was time to have a mother / daughter activity and of course we decided a Tea Party, but since we don't drink tea, we had a Lemonade (not a tea) Party.  We thought it would be the perfect activity to have to also teach the girls about manners.

Here is the invitation we gave to all the girls and their mothers to let them know about our special activity.  

I was in charge of the decorations.  I decided we should make it vintage, dainty and fancy, so I used a lot of doilies, pink, tissue, and flowers.  

Here are the centerpieces for the tables.  Mason jars filled with lemon slices, flower and wrapped in doilies.  

I gave each place setting a favor that was filled with "lemon and raspberry slices" and a tag that says "manner make you sweet like lemonade".

The food was out of this world.  My co-leaders did the food and she outdid herself.  It added so much to the activity.

As the activity, we had each girl and mom make a "fascinator".  Fancy little hats that ladies used to wear in the 30's.  We thought it would be such a fun craft and something for the girls to wear during their "lemonade" party.  Something fancy!

Here are some of the items we had for them to make their Fascinators. And if you need a good tutorial, this is the one I used.  

And then some cute pictures of some of the girls all pretty and fancy.

And then the entire group - girls and their moms in their fascinators.

10 Gifts

For activity days, I decided to do a missionary lesson.  We put together missionary care packages and talked about what life is like as a missionary.

I put different items in a bag and as I pulled each item out, we talked about how it related to being a missionary.  Here are some of the items we discussed.

Scriptures- studying the gospel

Pot- cooking skills

Sewing kit-basic sewing skills

Shoes-missionaries walk a lot

Missionary tag-I used my old one

Preach my gospel- studying each day with companion

Piggy bank-financial prep

Clock-early rising/time management

Tithing slip-paying a full tithe before/support from ward members

Temple picture-receiving endowment

Picture of Christ-developing a testimony of the Savior

Then I printed up "future Missionary" tags and took a picture of each girl with the tag on.

Then we put together care packages for two sisters in our ward.  The package was based off of a talk from Pres. Hinckley gave about the 10 gifts he wishes every missionary will bring home from their mission.

I included this quote from the talk as the basis for the care package.

"These are 10 gifts that I would hope every missionary would bring home with him or her—not a lot of tinsel, not a lot of dolls, not a lot of rugs or furs or dresses or plates, but these great, enduring, wonderful things. God bless you to keep the faith, and while doing so, enjoy with great happiness that which you are called to do."

I had an envelope for each gift that had a quote from Pres. Hinckley's talk about each gift.

GIFT 1 - A KNOWLEDGE of God and Jesus (I placed the gift's title on the outside of each envelope).

Quote inside the envelope: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). There is no greater gift that comes to anyone in this world than a certain, reassuring conviction that God, our Eternal Father, lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that. I think it is so very, very important."

This is the message or hint I put on each gift that associated with that gift.

"Let the Love of our Heavenly Father surround you like this big hug." 

I had the girls trace their hands and cut them out and tape a ribbon between the two hands to make a "pretend hug".

GIFT 2 - A testimony of the SCRIPTURES as the Word of God

"As a missionary, I read each evening before going to bed a few chapters of the Book of Mormon, and there came into my heart a conviction which has never left: that this is the word of God, restored to the earth by the power of the Almighty, translated by the gift and power of God to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ. I thank the Lord for the testimony which I have of the truth of the word of God as found in these sacred revealed books. And I would hope that every missionary would leave his or her field of labor with a conviction in his or her heart that these things are true."

We know your working hard to be a scripture smarty. 

(I filled the bag with smarties)

GIFT 3 - An increased LOVE for your parents

"I have attended hundreds of missionary meetings over the years. I love to hear missionaries speak of their love for the Lord, but I also love to hear them speak with great appreciation and love concerning their parents. Boys who had been careless and indifferent stand on their feet and with tears in their eyes thank the Lord for their fathers and their mothers. In these days, what a salutary and wonderful thing it is to hear a strong young man stand up and speak with great feeling concerning his father and his mother, saying things he would never have said before in all of his life. Every boy and girl ought to come home with an increased love for parents."

Your mother and father love you so much.  Write to them and tell them how much you love them!  (

(thank you note cards)

GIFT 4 -  A love for the PEOPLE among who you labor.

I love the English people. No one can sell the English short in my mind because I labored with them, I lived with them, I was in their homes at their firesides, I learned to know their hearts, and I learned to love them.

I have learned to love the people of Asia. I spent 11 years among them, and I love them. To me, I love them as much as I love anybody because of the experience I have had as a missionary, as it were, among them.

There’s something wrong if a missionary doesn’t come back with a great love for the people among whom he labored."

A fisher of men = a great Missionary

GIFT 5 -An appreciation for HARD WORK

"Every missionary ought to come to realize that work, work, work is the key to getting things done, the key to success in life. There is no substitute for work, for getting up in the morning and getting at it and staying with it to get the job done. I don’t know of a greater asset for whatever lies ahead in life than the capacity to discipline oneself to work."

Work so hard that your hands (and feet) need pampering.

GIFT 6 - An assurance that the HOLY GHOST is with you when you live righteously.

"The availability of inspiration—each of us, if we live for it, if we cultivate it, can have it. I love these great words of revelation, these words of promise: “God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost” (D&C 121:26). What a precious gift to bring home—the assurance, the certainty that if we live for it, we have available to us that which comes by the power of the Holy Spirit."

The gift of the Holy Ghost is like chocolate chip cookies…. Soft and warm and makes you feel so good.

GIFT 7 - Understand the importance of TEAMWORK

"No one can do this work alone. We work in pairs. “In the mouth of two or more witnesses shall [all things] be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1). We work together. There is no place for prima donnas in the mission field. Our efforts are largely team efforts, and what a marvelous thing it is to learn to work with other people."

Work together with your companion as pair or team. 

(a pair of socks)

GIFT 8 - The value of PERSONAL VIRTUE

"I think there is no greater thing concerning future integrity that a missionary can learn than the value of personal virtue. I think there are fewer words greater than the promise given under the inspiration of the Lord as set forth by the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” That’s the commandment. And then the promise: “Thy confidence [shall] wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). That’s the promise to those who walk in virtue."

Remember that you are an example to those that look up to you – like us! 

I had the girls write each missionary a note and attached the group picture of the girls writing the notes and their individual picture and put it in each note (so they would know who was writing each note).

GIFT 9 -  The FAITH to act.

"'I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way … that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth' (1 Nephi 3:7).

We ask tremendous things of missionaries. It is so hard for shy and diffident young people to do the things we sometimes ask them to do. But what a marvelous thing that they try. They have the faith to do, the faith to act, the faith to go forward and make the effort. And what a marvelous gift that is to bring home."

Remember your faith is like a seed you need to nourish it to help it grow.  

a sunflower seed kit

GIFT 10 -  The humility to PRAY

“Recognize that there is a power greater than ours, that no matter how good a man is, he is not good enough, that no matter how wise he is, he is not wise enough, that no matter how strong he is, he is not strong enough for all of the things which he will face in life, and that there is a source of power to which he can go with the assurance that he will be listened to and that there will be a response."

All we have to do is use our lips and speak to our Heavenly Father in heaven.  He hears and answers our prayers. 

FINAL NOTE:  I got the idea about the "10 gifts" care package from this blog.  I took her idea and changed it to fit my needs.  I love that we can all share our ideas with each other to help each other out!