Young Women

I work with the Young Women in the branch of my church and most of the time it is great fun. There are about a dozen girls ages 12-18. They attend several different schools and in many cases are the only ones in their grades who belong to the church. In addition to getting together on Sundays, we also meet every Wednesday night for learning and fun activities. They are so funny. Once a month we also meet with the young men (scouts). Last Wednesday was one of these combined activities. I was asked to pull together some team/leadership type activities.

The first activity that we did was to stand on a curb and without stepping off the curb rearrange themselves youngest to oldest. If someone stepped off, they had to get back into their original order and start over. It was interesting to see how they worked together (or didn't) and how they "solved" the problem. It took several tries, but they eventually managed to get it done.

The next activity they did was a team relay where each team had a bag of clothing that they had to put on then run to their teammates, undress, and the next person would then put the silly clothing on. This was pretty funny to watch these big kids dressing up in all kinds of funny costumes.



We also played the "dot game" - you get a dot of lipstick when you mess up. Poor Spencer:


They also had to un-knot themselves (holding random hands in a circle and then figuring out how to make it an un-knotted circle).



The last activity was a values activity. They were each given 100 jelly beans and 12 categories to bid on. The values included "family harmony," "educational success," "testimony," "love of friends," etc. Then we had an auction. It was interesting for the kids to see what they were willing to spend their jelly beans on.

After each activity we talked about what they had learned in general and about themselves in the activity. I think they had a good time and perhaps they even learned something. Kids just crack me up. At the same time, I so admire their strength in dealing with the world. It isn't an easy thing these days!