He began by telling us how much the twelve and the first presidency love us, and I felt it. He told us that if members do not step it up in terms of missionary work and finding people for the missionaries to teach, we will no longer have proselyting missions, not even in Queen Creek. This was the first thought that kept repeating itself over and over in my mind as I sat there. My patriarchal blessing tells me that I chose to come to this earth at this time because I wanted to help my Heavenly Father in His work that needed to be done. I wanted to come to earth during a time of the restored gospel so that I could help bring others unto Him. I'm paraphrasing, but the point it, I wanted to be a missionary. The gospel of Jesus Christ is everything to me, and has been for eons. I truly believe that one of the purposes I have as the primary president is to rescue souls--to deepen and strengthen testimonies and conversion, to build faith in the children, and to bring souls unto Christ. This is what motivates me to do the work. Elder Holland spoke of how children of today are exposed to the evil designs of the adversary at a younger and younger age. He emphasized that we HAVE to save the next generation, and their was some urgency in his voice.
A thought kept coming to me as Elder Holland spoke, and it's something that I've known, but I felt more strongly. Not only do I have stewardship over the children in our ward, but every soul is precious to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That means, member of our ward or not, every child that lives within our ward boundaries is under my stewardship. I have a responsibility to those children, so how can I do my part? Luckily, the question was answered to me as the members of the seventy spoke. :) More on that in a bit.
Here are my notes:
This new children and youth program is not just another program. It was inspired and we must embrace it. Beginning with the end in mind, we implement the program. Bishops, for far too long, have been putting out fires at the bottom of the cliff. Bishops must be made available to work closely with the youth. We must make it so that Bishops can be in the car with the youth before the steep decline, before the signs of warning, so that they can say, "I've been here before, there is danger up ahead, slow down." We, as a ward council, can help Bishops embrace the new program by making them able to be available to the youth and children or else we are dead in the water before we even begin. There needs to be a cultural shift. We must save souls now!
So, what is the end in mind? 2Nephi 2:14, 16, 26
14 And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and alearning; for there is a God, and he hath bcreated all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be cacted upon.
16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should aact for himself. Wherefore, man could not bact for himself save it should be that he was centiced by the one or the other.
26 And the aMessiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may bredeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are credeemed from the fall they have become dfree forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the elaw at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.
The end goal is to teach children to walk in covenant paths, to be agents unto themselves, not to be acted upon. We use our own covenant paths that we have walked to entice them to use their agency to walk down their own covenant paths. Help them see the consequences of good actions. Help them learn truth and principles of the gospel through goal setting. Let them choose, teach them to pray to the Lord to know how they can become agents unto themselves and not to be acted upon.
We must not get caught up in the managerial aspects of the new program, don't get hung up on the administration of it. Really what we ought to be asking ourselves is, did I create spiritual experiences for them? We would be wise to take a closer look into all of the changes that have taken place recently, they all have to do with increasing our spirituality. We must help children and youth have spiritual experiences, that is how we save them.
The goals do not need to be shared, they are individual. Activity leaders should keep this in mind. Activities should be designed around the four areas of development and should be to meet the needs of the class. The new web page at LDS.org has great ideas and lesson plans to assist. It can look different class to class. Don't get caught up in the administration of it. Create spiritual experiences.
Back to the question from above: How can I meet the responsibility of ALL of the children under my stewardship? These are the thoughts that came to my mind, and what I feel we should implement. Youth can invite their friends to join in on primary activities. Elder Schmitt encourages this. Also, the quarterly activities will be opened up to the neighborhood kids. It can be a simple party or activity, but general enough that we can invite neighborhood kids to join and centered on one of the four areas. FB invitations to the community page, word of mouth, and fliers are an idea to get word out. It will read something like this:
Hello, friends and neighbors, we wanted to get word out that our church offers a children's group free of charge for ages 8-11 years old. We meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at the church house located at 20415 E Chandler Heights Rd. We have fun activities that promote growth in four crucial areas of our lives: Social, Intellectual, Physical, and Spiritual. Children are divided into two groups for girls and two groups for boys. Boys and girls are separate, yet we will combine quarterly for a culminating activity. This is a great way for boys and girls to get to know other kids in Hastings Farms and promote a strong sense of community. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please send me a message and I'll give you more specific details. Thank you!
Activity leaders can ask the children in their groups what their friends are interested in and keep that in mind as they plan activities. We should strive to include the community where possible. If there's a service project, open it up to kids in the community on FB, etc.
It was emphasized that we are home centered and church supported. Individual goals should be the child working with their parents, even if they are less active or not members of our faith. Leaders ought to be in communication with parents to help encourage the program in their homes, and ought to keep parents updated on what is happening at our activities. Leaders can teach what goals are, and how to make and keep goals, but children do not need to share what their goals are with their leaders. Individual goals are not the responsibility of the primary activity leaders.
If you've read this far, thank you!!!
Let's catch the vision, keep our focus on the Savior. Help our kids to recognize that He is the source of our joy. Let's create those spiritual experiences as often as possible, and always point it back to our Savior. Every activity should point back to Him.
As the meeting drew to a close, Elder Holland gave us an apostolic blessing. He blessed our children, that our righteousness would be the enticement that brings wayward children back. The best way to help wayward children is to be the best Latter Day Saint that we know how to be. If we are true to our covenants, our wayward children will come back. Repentance will still be needed, all that was wrong will have to be made right, but someday, our covenants will save them. They will use their agency to come back. This is a church of happy endings. The spirit was so strong. Tears flowed from my eyes as we sang the final song of Our Savior's Love. I know that those reading these words will probably not feel quite what was communicated to my spirit because my words are human and frail. But, I write them anyway so that I can remember, and so that my children will know that I believe in Christ. He is my Savior. Every good thing in my life is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is my privilege to share it with those around me.
