Sewing Night with Young Women...

I thought this idea had great possibilities...  One of our responsibilities in the Relief Society is to provide opportunities for the Young Women to feel comfortable being with us in a Relief Society meeting setting.   In many wards, the Young Women are invited in monthly for opening exercises.

Mother/Daughter nights aren't uncommon, but it can be awkward with the young women whose mothers aren't available, or not very willing to come with their daughters.

If you have "transition" in your radar as a ward RS presidency, you might consider combining a Young Women activity with a Relief Society meeting one evening.  It may require you to change your night to THEIR night - but good things can result.

Young women would be encircled into Relief Society for just one evening - participating in an activity that all women (not just their mothers) are there to enjoy with them.

Aprons - especially "retro" aprons - are everywhere right now.  There are many free patterns available online, and you may have sisters in your ward who have patterns they would be willing to share.

What about the fabric you ask?  Think of how many of us have fabric stashed away from years ago - probably a lot of it would fit into the "retro" category!  Instead of donating it to charity, it would save on the cost of a project for yourself or one of these young women.

Here is a link that has just a few of the free online patterns out there.

free online pattern link

Click on the links at the bottom of their site for even more ideas.  Aprons can be made from a myriad of inexpensive items - dish towels, dinner napkins, old tablecloths, pillowcases - you won't believe the possibilities.

7th Ward Relief Society Meeting Ideas

Julie George (counselor in the 7th Ward) sent these ideas in:

Plans from now till December:

We just had a Sisterhood and Salad in Heidi Martell's backyard.

We have a group called "Tapestry" coming in December for our Christmas Meeting.

We will have a craft meeting in the fall - our traditional Witches Night Out.

We have mid-month ideas of:

Playing baseball with the young women. (Great idea for YW Transition, don't you think?)

Hiking Ensign's Peak this fall after studying a different virtue each month for our presidency message.

Then we will post our flag with all of the virtues.

Thanks Julie! I'm sure she would be glad to "elaborate" on any of these if you have questions. (leave it in a comment and I'll forward it on to her...)

A Great Way to Involve Mothers, their Young Women daughters, and Women of ALL Ages...

Dear River Stake Enrichment Committees;

Here is another idea for a possible "Focus" in your upcoming enrichment planning... When I read this in the Church News a month back, it really stood out to me as a way to involve more sisters in your Enrichment activities in a meaningful way...

This could be a great way to link together those sisters who are working in the Young Women in your ward, help mothers and daughters work together on a common goal, and help those young sisters who are transitioning into the Relief Society feel a part of this unusual Enrichment activity. Everyone wins! It would be appropriate for sisters of any age or circumstance...

On April 18th (in the Church News) there was an article entitled "A Return to Virtue" - where it describes a new pamphlet detailing the new Virtue value experiences. Sister Elaine S. Dalton (YW General President) said this:

"As we call for a return to virtue, we would like to ask all young women, their mothers, and their leaders to complete this additional value experience."

"We promise each young woman, their mothers, and each leader who goes the extra mile and completes this new value experience will receive additional blessings of strength, confidence, and peace."

In fact, Sister Dalton and her counselors feel so strongly that each young woman complete the experience that they are completing it themselves. For example, Sister Mary N. Cook, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, is working on it with her mother.

The value project for the new virtue experience is to read the entire Book of Mormon.

"What can help strengthen any young woman's virtue?" said Sister Cook. "It would be a greater understanding of the Book of Mormon."

The value experiences require young women to define virtue and analyze the promised blessings of being virtuous, to understand the importance of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost, to study the questions from Alma in the Book of Mormon (Alma 5) and to repent and remain pure and worthy. "It is a personal evaluation of your standing before the Lord," said Sister Dibb.

If you have any ideas on how to implement this in your ward enrichment planning - please leave a comment or question...

Good luck with your planning!

Love, Anne