A Camping-themed Young Women's New Beginnings Activity

The lights in the room were dimmed so we could "camp" under the stars

"New Beginnings" is an activity we do at the beginning of each year with our young women {ages 12-18} at church. It is a celebration of goal setting & an opportunity to welcome the new girls who will turn 12 in the coming year. We also use this opportunity to celebrate each girl & express our love to her. It's great!

I recently enjoyed attending one of these programs & I thought their camping theme was pretty cute. Everyone was encouraged to wear their hiking gear & bring their camping chairs. We put our chairs around the "campfire" {the picture doesn't do it justice - it has a light with red & orange cellophane surrounded by logs}. The room was decorated out with tents, trees & stars. The take home favor was a little bag of graham crackers, chocolate & marshmallows. 

What can I say? They are really good sports!

Our bishopric always delights us with a comical skit, followed by some sincere spiritual counsel from our bishop. His remarks were based on the talk by M. Russell Ballard. We all imagined we were going on a river ride. The bishop said that life {like a river raft ride} is a wonderful adventure, but it can be dangerous. He then talked about some things we can do to stay safe:

1) Stay in the boat.  What can entice us to leave the safety of the boat?  Party boats that pass by may look like more fun. Calm waters {times of fewer trials} may give us false confidence to get out & swim around - sometimes venturing too far from safety. 

2) Put your life vest on. He talked about things that can be similar to a life vest in our every day lives: prayer, heading the voice of the holy ghost, a strong testimony of Christ.

3) Hold on with both hands. This can compare to holding tightly to the scriptures & things that can help us.

The darling youth leaders who planned & hosted the evening