Sunday, December 7, 2008
We are not Homeless...
Reality is a hard place to live in. As a teenager, your world revolves around your friends and school. Rarely, do you get look outside of yourself and walk in another's shoes. Well in preparation for our Christmas activity, we have asked our YW to do something that could be very hard for them to do. As leaders of the Youth, sometimes you stay up nights trying to figure out ways to help them feel the spirit and "get it". It just so happens that I had a moment of clarity a few weeks ago and came up with a great idea that just keeps getting better by the moment. We asked our girls to wear the same outfit to school for an entire week. You should have heard the gasps that erupted. Murmuring ensued. I could go into details, but by the end of the lesson, I could tell that they were all thinking about it. Testimony meeting then proved that indeed they were "getting it" and were taking it to the next level. This is what we were trying to accomplish. Not only do we want them to feel empathy and not worry about what they are getting for Christmas, but to feel a sense of Unity, to stand out and be an example, to be brave, and share what they do have. At the end, one of our YW took the challenge to heart, and is going to try to get all of her friends to join in that are not a part of our ward! YESSSSS! This is exactly why I love my calling! Give me a bunch of teenagers anyday! I'll take them! Keep your primary kids and your Relief Society, I love Teenagers! So in the end, our lesson will be on the most important gift that we can ever get and how to give the most important gifts to others! If any of you have any bright ideas on how to bring home the last part of this lesson, feel free to comment. By the way, we are donating toiletries to the youth shelter here in Hillsboro and to a family shelter in Hillsboro. The statistics are staggering people. We are blessed to have a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. And just food for thought, the average age of a homeless person is 12 and 76% of homeless people are families....if any of you live in the area, feel free to email me and I can point you towards several agencies that need help. Have a great Christmas everyone and let us remember the greatest gift that anyone could ever receive; the Gift of Eternal Life!
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6 comments:
Wow, I am excited to know how this goes and if the girls really take it to heart and do it.
Thanks, Emily. Awesome post. I loved reading of your idea for the YW. They are blessed to have you. . .so are wel. Love ya,
What an interesting idea. Now you've really got me thinking. Of course I wear the same outfit several days in a row if I don't get snot on it or bits of food splattered on it, but I can stay in my house and read all day if I want to, so no one has to see me.
We love Northwest Children's Outreach in Hillsboro. We went there once for FHE and put clothing bags together for kids. The fun part was that each bag gets some toys too, so the boys were able to go into the toy room and select age appropriate toys to include in each bag. They loved it.
I'm so happy that you were inspired to do this. It's near and dear to my heart, to help the needy and to help our children become more aware of their blessings and ways to reach out to others in need.
Anonymous was Kris Carbine, I just don't know my way around here!
Hi Emily-I left you a message on my blog, sorry, I probably should have put it on yours!!
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