January 2010

2010 MUTUAL THEME

The 2010 mutual theme will soon be appearing in vinyl on the walls of the YW rooms in each building.

Check out the January New Era for more thoughts, background, and information regarding the theme. We were thrilled to see the January Mormonad. Our stake camp leaders, under the direction of Sister Alston, were truly inspired. Strong Enough!

YOUTH LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Due to some scheduling conflicts, our stake baptism dates have been changed to the second Saturday of each month. Consequently, our Youth Leadership Conference, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, February 13th, has been rescheduled for Saturday, February 20th from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. The conference is for all your class presidencies. We are also asking for one leader from each ward to attend.

NEW BEGINNINGS

We would love to be invited to your New Beginnings programs. We feel such a special Spirit at your meetings and we admire the great work you are doing. PLEASE let us know when you have your programs scheduled. We would love to come and take back glowing reports to the Stake Presidency.

WARD CONFERENCES

Ward conferences begin this month. One addition to the conferences this year will be the involvement of your class presidencies in the visits done the week prior to the actual ward conference. During ward conference, please plan for regular opening exercises. Afterwards, we will all meet together for a joint YW lesson presented by the Stake YW Presidency. The Stake will select the opening and closing songs.

THE LIVING CHRIST

Some wards have already memorized parts of The Living Christ and other wards are just beginning after finishing other worthy goals, like reading the Book of Mormon by the end of 2009. With the start of a New Year, it is time to get this project up and running!

As a boost, we are honored that the Stake Presidency has asked the Young Women to present “The Living Christ” as a special “musical” number in Stake Conference on March 7th. It will be presented as a MEMORIZED choral reading. The Stake Presidency will also be joining us!

Sister Paula Eckern, who has an extensive background in drama and theater, will be coaching us. Of course, not every Young Women in the stake will be able to participate but we will be contacting you about the number of Young Women we can involve. After you provide the names of the Young Women who will be participating, the Stake will take care of the rest. As far as we are aware, nothing like this has been done before in our stake conferences so we are very excited about debuting these inspired words in this format.

The goal of memorizing “The Living Christ” will culminate at our YW Values Fireside on Sunday, April 25th. We will recite “The Living Christ” together and then hear a message from a special speaker.

Don’t underestimate what your girls – or you, as leaders – can do in the next three and a half months. Any amount of memorization will ingrain the words of the prophets into our minds and hearts. The words and testimonies will be recalled during times when they are needed to provide hope and direction. We just need to provide the enthusiasm, support, and reminders!

YOUNG WOMANHOOD RECOGNITION

Prior to the YW Values Fireside on Sunday, April 25th, we will honor all those who have received their Young Womanhood Recognition since our last fireside in September. This recognition includes both Young Women and leaders. The temple celebration put us a little off schedule but we will be back on track in April.

If you have girls or leaders who need a goal to get their Young Womanhood Recognition completed, use April 25th so we can honor them. Please be sure to give us the names of the recipients.