Sis. Bonnie L. Oscarson (Apr. 18): "Young Women in the Work"

This activity, if done in full, requires some extra planning.  It could, though, easily be cut down some and still be valuable.  The inspiration for this activity came from Sis. Oscarson's talk itself-- as will probably be rather obvious. 

The Activity:

1. PRIOR: Ask the Young Women's leaders in your unit to do the following activity with the young women in your ward and share the results with you.  You will use these results in step 9 of this activity.
2. Around the room post three signs: 
1. Temple and Family History Work
2. Comforting and Strengthening Members
3. Sharing the Gospel
3. Give each class member a number of post-it notes.
4. Direct the class members to consider the young women in your unit and the areas of church service outlined on the signs.  Think about how the young women could help in each area of the work.
5. Ask the class members to write their thoughts on the post-it notes-- 1 idea per post-it note.
6. Have the class members post their notes around the appropriate sign.
7. After posting the notes, have the class members discuss with those nearby what they put on their post-it notes.
8. After a few minutes, if appropriate, go to each area and read aloud some of the ideas written on the post-it notes and discuss these with the class.
9. Share what the young women themselves came up with for each area and discuss any insights.  You might talk about things like:
1. How to raise the vision of the young women-- of the adults in the ward.
2. How to include the young women more fully in the work of the kingdom.
3. How to mentor the young women in these areas.

Using the Activity:

Much like the lessons I have posted that were addressed to/dealt with young men that I assumed would mostly be used in priesthood quorums, this is a talk that I see being mostly used in the Relief Society.  In fact, in my written notes (yes, I'm old school like that :)  ) I have written "sisters" instead of class members in many places.  However, as I have considered this more, I am more and more convinced that this is a super lesson for the men of the Priesthood as well as the women of the Relief Society.  So, I went with "class members."  In retrospect, I should have done something similar with the other lessons as well.

Having said that, if this activity were done with men there are some cautions that I would issue, mostly about the topics of potential discussion in step 9.  If dealt with by men, the last two talking points there might end up being a bit problematic.  First, it would be easy for those points to devolve into a discussion of what the men think the women in the unit should do.  I cannot see that being a fruitful talk at all.  Second, some ideas, while potentially valuable, may also lead to uncomfortable situations for the young women.  So, these talking points might need to be altered.

In any case, I hope that this activity idea is beneficial to all.  Thank you for visiting my blog.  I appreciate it.  Please let me know how I can improve the site.