New Beginnings

New Beginnings was our biggest activity of the year in Young Women's: an opportunity to do an introduction to Young Women's for the girls coming into the program this year.  It also is an opportunity to focus on and talk about the young women values and theme.  In addition to the young women, all of the parents are invited, as well as the young women leaders, the Bishop, and any girls that turn 12 this year.  The theme for the year is "Peace in Christ", so the theme we chose for New Beginnings was "Peace in Christ Helps me Live Happily Ever After."  We incorporated Disney princesses into the talks about the young women values - faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice & accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue.  Each of the young women chose one of the values (and princess) and gave a short talk.  They did a great job!  

The young women also sang "Peace in Christ" - the theme song for the year.  I got to play the piano for that song.  

We listened to President Uchtdorf's talk "Your Happily Ever After".  It went really well with our theme. 

Here are some of my favorite parts from his talk:   

“Once upon a time” promises something: a story of adventure and romance, a story of princesses and princes. It may include tales of courage, hope, and everlasting love. In many of these stories, nice overcomes mean and good overcomes evil. But perhaps most of all, I love it when we turn to the last page and our eyes reach the final lines and we see the enchanting words “And they lived happily ever after.”

Isn’t that what we all desire: to be the heroes and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and, in the end, to live happily ever after?

Today I want to draw your attention to something very significant, very extraordinary. On the first page of your Young Women Personal Progress book, you will find these words: “You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose.”1

Sisters, those words are true! They are not made up in a fairy tale! Isn’t it remarkable to know that our eternal Heavenly Father knows you, hears you, watches over you, and loves you with an infinite love? In fact, His love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of “once upon a time,” complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

"...In each of these stories, Cinderella, Belle, and the miller’s daughter have to experience sadness and trial before they can reach their “happily ever after”...In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy...It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop...Enduring adversity is not the only thing you must do to experience a happy life. Let me repeat: how you react to adversity and temptation is a critical factor in whether or not you arrive at your own “happily ever after.”

"Be strong and of good courage. You are truly royal spirit daughters of Almighty God. You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your “once upon a time” is now."

I found a website that already had pictures of the Disney princesses with the values and a quote from the movie, so I just had to print those out.  I did have to come up with a synopsis of how the Disney princess could relate to the young women values, as an aid to the young women in preparing a short talk.  Here is an example of that for Cinderella:  

Cinderella had faith and kept believing in her dreams,

despite her hardships in life.  She lost her mother and father, and then

had to suffer abuse and be a servant for her wicked step-mother

and step-sisters. She was patient in suffering, worked hard, and she

showed courage and kindness.  With help from her fairy godmother

and her friends, she was able to make her dreams come true. 

Use the quote and value description on the front of this card,

the comments above, and your own experiences to

present a short talk (less than 3 minutes) about FAITH.  Think

about how faith has helped you in your life or how you

have progressed in faith.      

I spent quite a bit of time making things for the evening:  invitations, cardboard purses and heels, paper flowers (52 roses and 117 forget-me-nots), pretty glitter vases, bracelets, paper lanterns (to resemble the ones in "Tangled"), the princess values framed, and the cake.  Besides cake, fruit, and some other snacks, we had Schloer, which is similar to Martinelli's (those are the drinks you see on the table:  non-alcoholic!).  I also had to order the white tablecloths because the church didn't have any.  We also had to order the pretty plates, utensils, and the plastic easels for the pictures.  We found the pretty glass cups already in the cupboard.  It was a ton of work to put it all together, but it turned out great!  

We only had one unfortunate thing that evening - after we had sent out invitations to our activity, another invitation was extended to the older girls to attend another activity the same time as ours.  A couple of the girls chose to go to that activity instead... we missed them!  Other than not being able to get everyone to attend, the night went really well. 

Each of the girls had several things to take home with them, including a bouquet of flowers!