Lesson Helps from Clare
by Clare Samuel / ga11262007
 

 
I was very anxious how I was going to help my young women appreciate the cultural arts, and since my printer is broken I wasn't able to do any print outs or handouts...so I did something a little different, and it went well.

We started off by looking at the 13th Article of faith...in particular, the last bit..."lovely or of good report".  I then used some photo's from the web of cultural arts (ballet dancer, poetry, quill and paper, books, theatre, painting, sculptures etc) and made them listen to a few minutes of some classical music. I asked the young women to watch and notice if there was any picture that caught their eye. At the end the all had been caught by something. We spoke a little about why that particular picture or sound had caught them and how it had made them feel. We spoke about the inspiration that had come for some of these pictures and painting and sculptures.

We discussed the 'cultural arts' pictures and related them to the 13th Article of Faith, read a quote from Spencer W Kimball about pursuing good things and read D&C 88:118 and D&C 136:28.

We then talked about any cultural arts that they had or are participating in and why we would pursue them? Then using the talk by Ronald W. Walker and D. Michael Quinn, called, "How the Church has fostered the arts".  We looked at the pioneers and what they said about pursuing cultural arts and why it was so important, despite their other commitments.

Lastly, I used the quote from the manual which was taken from the same talk above and gave them each a small square of rolled clay that they could mark however they pleased with something relating to church History. We left these to dry and will be hanging them up. It worked out to be a good lesson.

I stressed to the girls how important their divine roles are and that the men have priesthood, but we have these divine qualities that they don't have. The men are half of the plan, and we are the other half. We both have to live righteously to be worthy to complete the plan and make it work.

Then, I incorporated what the General YW Presidency has asked us to do to prepare for the YW General Meeting on March 24. I gave each girl a copy of For the Strength of Youth. We talked about ways that we can help develop and strengthen our testimonies and our roles as women. I think that Personal Progress and FTSOY  (For the Strength of Youth) standards are two great ways that teach how to withstand temptation and provide guidance and inspiration to our youth. Then I assigned each girl a topic and had them talk about the blessings the come by obedience to each standard. We all highlighted each section as we went through the book.

I know that we have been encouraged to use FTSOY (For the Strength of Youth) more in our lessons, and it was great to have each girl reading and sharing and highlighting the books. It was a great way to involve the girls instead of me just talking the whole time.