Young Women New Years Lesson

 New Years Young Women Lesson

Intro:  What Am I?

I am unused, unspotted, without blemish.

I will present each day for you to place upon it your imprint.

It remains for you to make of me what you will;

Each hour of the 365 days, I will give you 60 minutes

It is up to you to fill them.

I am the New Year.

Make me your best. 

I. Reflections on the New Year by Lloyd Newell 

(the Spoken Word January 1995)

In Roman mythology Janus is the god of beginnings.  He is responsible for the new year.  He holds sacred the first hour of the day, the first day of the month, and the first month of the year - January - which bears his name. He’s represented with two heads set back to back - one looking at the past and the other looking ahead to the future. Janus is a model of reflection and renewing. 

Many people set aside sometime every January to reflect and make written lists.  RESOLUTIONS. They ask themselves questions like: “What have I learned?” and “What will I do differently?”

II. Words of Wisdom 

When making these list, we tend to pause a minute look to the past and learn.  We learn from our mistakes and recognize the blessings.  We also take time to realize how far we have come.  Then we don’t linger looking back.  We look to the future, excited, energized, and ready to live. 

I love how we can find words of encouragement everywhere now days. Let’s look at some.   Can you recognize who said it and what is their simple message? 

Master Oogway: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift... that's why they call it present”.

Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.” 

Gusteau in Ratatouille

“If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.”

Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame

“Today is a good day to try.”

Shuri in Black Panther

“How many times do I have to teach you: just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.”

Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“It is not our abilities that show what we truly are … it is our choices.”

Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns

“Everything is possible, even the impossible.”

_______________

President Gordon B Hinckley:

“Simply do what you can do, in the best way you know how, and the Lord will accept your effort.”

President Thomas S. Monson:

“May we remember theses ABC’s as we begin our journey in to the new year, cultivate a positive ATTITUDE, a BELIEF that we an achieve our goals and resolutions, and the COURAGE to face whatever challenges my come our way.  Then the abundant life will be ours.” 

I love that we have a prophet on the earth today that can guide us during these crazy times.  Recently, President Nelson offered some suggestions for our list of Resolutions. 

III. President Russel M. Nelson’s NY Challenge

I’m sure many of you are setting aside time today to write down your resolutions for the coming year. May I make a few suggestions?

First, resolve to strengthen your spiritual foundation. This may involve setting a specific time and place to study the scriptures, praying more often, making temple worship a bigger priority, and letting God prevail in all aspects of your life.

Second, resolve to be kind to others. When the Savior Jesus Christ visited the Americas, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, one of the first things He taught was the need to eliminate contention in our lives. So, please be compassionate, be understanding, be slow to judge, and be quick to forgive.

Third, resolve to be resolute. The Lord loves effort. The Lord loves consistency. The Lord loves steadfastness. While we surely will come up short from time to time, our persistent efforts to hear Him and follow the inspiration He gives us will help us to “wax strong in the Spirit” (Mosiah 18:26).

May God bless you, my dear friends, and may this be a wonderful year of purpose and possibilities for all of us.

IV. New Girls/Love One Another

When Christ gathered his disciples for the last supper, he was preparing them for a new chapter.  He began to wash their feet and then gave them a new commandment.  

John 13:34 

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

I love that some of Christ last words to his disciples before he died was about Loving One Another. 

We have an amazing group of young women.  We have SIX brand new girls who have joined our group.  In all, we have 28 beautiful young ladies.  I want to challenge you - as a new years resolution to all to be ONE!

In Mosiah 18, Alma is preaching and in verse 21, he commanded them that …"they should look forward with one eye, having … their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another." 

What are some things we can do so become ONE or to have UNITY in our Young Women’s?

Unity is a spiritual quality.  It’s the sweet feelings of peace and purpose that come from belonging.…It’s wanting the best for others as much as you want it for yourself.… It’s knowing that no one is out to harm you.  It means you will never be lonely."  

Mary N.Cook, "Remember Kindness Begins With Me", April 2011 General YW Conference

 

Each of you have your own special way of showing someone that you care, that is part of your INDIVIDUAL WORTH.  Your differences is what makes a group of young women working together so powerful and successful in following the Savior’s example; to love one another!

In order to become one - we need to get to know each other better. 

V. Dutch Present

Conclusion:

Before we open this gift, I hope you will accept my challenge to become ONE with these girls sitting next to you. 

Look out for each other

Pray for each other

Serve one another 

Love one another.  

In this gift is something for each of you to wear.  I hope you will wear them and know that 27 other girls are possibly wearing theirs too. 

This little item has the same in purpose but LIKE each of YOU- they are also a little different.  

I have a strong testimony that we have a living Prophet on the earth today that speaks with God daily.  I know he is here to guide us and protect us.  And if we listen to his words we will receive the blessings we need to get through these tough times.  

President Nelson has encouraged us to:

1. strengthen your spiritual foundation - PRAY 

2. to be kind to others and avoid contention - PEACE

3. to show effort - SERVE

As we CHOOSE your gift, decide which one of President Nelson’s suggestions YOU want to focus on. 

Danube River Cruise

 

Oct 5: Travel

Leave SLC 2:10 pm

Arrive Amsterdam 7:30 AM

Oct 6: Passau Germany 

Arrive Munich 10:30 am 

Arrive to boat at 1 pm 

Lunch:

    Alfredo (D) Soup/Salad (A)

 Viking Ingve #29

Only 40 passengers (usual 200)

Covid test every day 

  

Michael cruise director

Daniel hotel manager 

Tom (& Nancy) at lunch 

Blondie on piano 

Gabor maitre de 

 Pay to use Restroom .50-.60 

 quiet vox 

 Aaron goes on city tour with tour guide - just him 

 

Dinner: 

       Shrimp (D) Short Ribs (A) Keylime Pie 

______________________________________

Oct 7: Passau, Germany

Navy Turtleneck, jeans, brown sandals, green rain coat, blue bucket hat (LOST)

Passau Walking Tour

 9-10:30 am

Passau: 

• three rivers (Danube, Inn, ___) converged to shape a distinctive city. 
• St. Stephen’s Cathedral w/ largest pipe organ. Stucco worker’s crying daughter is cherub 

TJ Max $22 Aaron’s shirt 

Lunch 1 pm cheeseburgers 

Slept. 

1:30 PM Ship leaves 

2 pm safety

3:30 pm apple strudel demo

4:15 pm Mozart presentation 

Dinner: krustenbraten (D) Ribeye (A) creme brûlée & walnut cake 

9 pm German language

Watched CCHS FOOTBALL 3:30-6 am

________________________________________

Oct 8: Linz Austria 

Black & white checked dress , black sweater, black sandals 

Linz Walking Tour

9:30-11:30 am 

• new cathedral beautiful stain glass windows 
• Roamed gentleman’s street to the city’s main square 

 Lunch: carbonara (D) soup/salad (A) peaches, vanilla ice cream, rasp sauce

Austrian Countryside

1:30 PM

• drove through farmlands outside Linz
• Farm & bread maker in Gutau, where we baked our own bread. Returning later to eat breads, meats, & cheese
• Visited Mittendorfer Schnapsmuseum and distillery. 

Dinner: osso bucco 

9  pm: sound of Salzburg (sound of music) 

________________________________________

Oct 9: Krems Austria 

70’s jumper white T-shirt, black shoes, charcoal cardigan

Lunch: farmers salad brownie sundae

Göttweig Abbey

 12:30-3 pm 

 4:15 pm shopping

Chocolates for kids $25

Jam & chocolate $37.50

Jacket for Aaron $32

Dinner: gross Braun’s buffet 

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Oct 10: Vienna Austria

 Gray & white collared dress, black shoes, black sweater

Panoramic Vienna 

8:45am- 12:15 pm 

• Vienna dances to a tempo all its own.
• Hofburg Palace
• St. Stephen’s Cathedral, crowned with a gleaming spire and colorful roof tiles. 

Cake $15

Schönbrunn Palace

2-5:30 pm

Wax Press $58

The Hapsburg summer home and gardens

Dinner: snitzell (A) chicken (D) 

_______________________________________

Oct 11 Bratislava, Slovakia

Blue & white floral dress - brown sandals brown cardigan

Bratislava Walking Tour

8:30-10:30 am

• Bratislavsky Castle 
• Old Town Bratislava: statues (working man, drunk soldier, happy man)
• Colorful buildings
• Napoleons “balls”/bombs in houses (no tax) 

Bracelets $20

Chocolate $52

Lunch: Asian salad

2 pm wheelhouse tour (only Aaron) 

3 pm life behind the iron curtain

6:15 pm disembarkation

10:30 pm arrive in Budapest see it lit up- sun deck 

_______________________________________

Oct 12: Budapest, Hungary

 Black Peter Pan shirt, black pants, snake sandals, black coat 

️Panoramic Budapest

8:15am- 12:15 pm 

• Castle District with its massive hilltop castle,  Matthias Church, named for the country’s most popular medieval king. 

Life Behind the Iron Curtain

️1:45 PM

• Take a seat in a Trabant, an inexpensively produced “cardboard” car that was ubiquitous in Eastern Bloc countries during the cold war.
• Memento Park, a collection of imposing statues of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, a powerful reminder of the country’s time behind the Iron Curtain. 
• Hungarian coffee house for cake, 
• Roamed liberty square 

Disembarkation:

2:30 am: luggage out

3:30 am: leave for airport

6:30 am flight

Lesson - Faith In Adversity

 Young Women Lesson 

How Can WE Face Adversity with Faith?

Sept. 12, 2021

_

 

Intro: Video Neil L Anderson talk WOUNDED

Watch first 3 minutes of talk.

On March 22, 2016, just before eight o’clock in the morning, two terrorist bombs exploded in the Brussels Airport. Elder Richard Norby, Elder Mason Wells, and Elder Joseph Empey had taken Sister Fanny Clain to the airport for a flight to her mission in Cleveland, Ohio. Thirty-two people lost their lives, and all of the missionaries were wounded. The most seriously wounded was Elder Richard Norby, age 66, serving with his wife, Sister Pam Norby.

Elder Norby reflected on that moment:  “Instantly, I knew what had happened.

“I tried to run for safety, but I immediately fell down. … I could see that my left leg was badly injured. I [noticed] black, almost spiderweb-type, soot drooping from both hands. I gently pulled at it, but realized it was not soot but my skin that had been burned. My white shirt was turning red from an injury on my back.  “As the consciousness of what had just happened filled my mind, I [had] this very strong thought: … the Savior knew where I was, what had just transpired, and [what] I was experiencing at that moment.”

There were difficult days ahead for Richard Norby and for his wife, Pam. He was placed in an induced coma, followed by surgeries, infections, and great uncertainty.Richard Norby lived, but his life would never be the same. Two and a half years later, his wounds are still healing; a brace replaces the missing part of his leg; each step is different than before that moment at the Brussels Airport.

Why would this happen to Richard and Pam Norby?2 They had been true to their covenants, served a previous mission in the Ivory Coast, and raised a wonderful family. Someone could understandably say, “It isn’t fair! It just isn’t right! They were giving their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ; how could this happen?”

Although the details will differ, the tragedies, the unanticipated tests and trials, both physical and spiritual, come to each of us because this is mortality.

1. Illustrate Scripture on the Board

Matthew 5:45 (Jesus Christ speaking - Sermon on the Mount)

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Illustrate this scripture on the board, sentence by sentence

Set it up to add the sand and rock for Primary song

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin spoke in General Conference. In his talk he says,

"You may feel singled out when adversity enters your life. You shake your head and wonder, “Why me?” But the dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another, everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.”

II. Don’t Compare - all challenges are hard

Miscarriage story TRACI: 

Complaining to my friend Traci at work.  Crying and on a pity party. I remembered that she had lost a little boy. I immediately felt dumb. My “storm” was so much smaller than hers. My friend taught me a very valuable lesson that day.  She said, 

“Every challenge is hard.  Heavenly Father knows just what we need and what we can handle.  He also knows what will refine us and change us for the better.  So, even though our challenges are different, the heartache, the frustration, the fear, the anger, the sadness, are all felt the same.”

Pass Paper

Write down a challenge or a “storm” in your life that you have endured.   

III. What are you Learning? 

Miscarriage Story GLORIA: 

During this time when I was devastated about this miscarriage, I was talking to my neighbor Gloria.  She like Traci listened to me cry and complain.  At the end of my pity party, she validated my feelings and then she asked me a question that I will never forget.  She asked;

“What are you learning?” 

I wasn’t ready to learn yet, but it got me on the right path. 

Paper

  Write down what you learned from that challenge?

IV. Personal Experiences

Personal Experiences:

I have asked a Delaney Dolphin and Kris Maxfield to share their personal experiences with trials and what they learned from them.

V. Scriptures Answers WHY

Ask: WHY do bad things happen to good people? 

Using the scriptures, lets answers that question

Doctrine and Covenants 29:39 

(Joseph Smith received this revelation just before a conference)

39 And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet

2 Nephi 2:11

(Lehi is speaking to Jacob about free agency)

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

(Joseph Smith receives this comfort while imprisoned in Liberty Jail)

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

VII. Answer HOW do we endure these storms. 

                Doctrine & Covenants 121: 7-8

“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; “And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.”

Using our primary song, answers the second question: HOW?

How do we “endure it well”? Strong foundation

Add Sand and Rock to Illustrate the scripture/primary song

                But BOTH got the STORM!

1. Pray for strength 

2. Repent to be worthy of the Comforter

(John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.)

3. Go to the Temple

4. Study your Scriptures

5. Have Faith

6. Serve others - 

(President Hinckley: “Forget yourself and go to work.” ) 

7. Remember who you are 

(Neil L Anderson: Look backward, remembering that you proved your worthiness in your premortal state. You are a valiant child of God, and with His help, you can triumph in the battles of this fallen world. You have done it before, and you can do it again.)

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE LESSON!!!

            8. Depend on your Savior - allow Him to CARRY you 

Doctrine and Covenants 98:1 LET

1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;

VIII. Personal Story: Losing my mom 

My mom passed away over 13 years ago this year.  She was 58 years old.  I was 35. From the day she was diagnosed with Melanoma to the day she died was only 3 months.  I can still remember those three months as if they happened yesterday. 

I remember pleading my case with Heavenly Father and begging Him not to take her from us.  I made all sorts of “deals” and promises. We fasted and prayed for a miracle.  

I knew it was going to be hard, but I don’t think I realized how hard it was going to be.  Somedays, I feel this trial will never end.  Although its been 13 years, there are days I miss her so much its paralyzing.  

A dear friend, Betsy Clayton gave me with a gift after my mom died.  It is one I cherish.  It is exactly what I needed.  It has been a reminder to me many times since my mom's passing 

 

Plaque: 

Sometimes God calms the storms.  

Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms the child”

Conclusion: 

Testify: Always depend on your Savior.  Although he won't calm the storm, he WILL calm and comfort you. LET Him.

Put frames together with paper with trials on the back.

Velum paper over cute paper in frame.