2nd Ward YW in Excellence

The second ward’s young women have had an amazing year, and the Evening of Excellence was a great way to show off their achievements. The theme for this year’s program was “iPod…Incredible Potential of Daughters of God.” This was the perfect theme for our girls. With so many technological distractions that are out there today, our young women have not forgotten who they are!

The evening began with a talk by guest speaker Lindsey Servino. She shared a slide show of some of the world’s greatest masterpieces from artists, musicians, and other gifted creators. She then reminded us that we, as daughters of God, are His greatest masterpiece. Her talk was truly inspiring. The second ward young women admire Lindsey and always enjoy her presence!
Each of our young women was given the opportunity to present one of the personal progress values she had worked on during the year. For some, choosing just one was difficult, as everyone worked consistently on personal progress throughout the year.

Each young woman presented her value in the “iPod” format, reminding them that with each experience, they are building upon that incredible potential. Although there were some young women that were not able to attend the program, each girl was recognized for her achievement.

• Taylor Brodrick-iCrochet and iPaint


• Stephanie Corbett-iHomemaker


• McKenzie Pearce-iKnit


• Kathy Malinowski-iDesign


• Amy Aldana-iBless and iSing


• Zoey Hackett-iTeach


• Lindsey Wilson-iSport


• Holly Alberts-iWrite


• Jessica Crawford-iBabysit


• Kadee Boyce-iBand


• Laney Hackett-iSmile


• Maddy Kimball-iFlute and iPiano


• Hailey Hackett-iShare


• Avi Evans-iTravel


• Afton Wells-iServe


• Zoey Evans-iTravel


• Naomi Sweet-iSing, iPiano, and iGarden


• Jennifer Alberts-iSing

We were entertained by Jessica’s candid description of her volunteer babysitting experience, inspired by Afton’s service to the Challenger team, and impressed with McKenzie’s knitting abilities. We enjoyed the musical pieces by Amy, Naomi, Jennifer, and Maddy. We were encouraged by the successes of Lindsey in sporting and Naomi in gardening. We were deeply touched by Amy’s poem and personal expression of love for her mother. Finally, we were all amazed with Stephanie’s creative baking skills as she arrived with a cake in the form of an iPod!
Following the presentations was a musical number by the young women, “Where You Stand.” Anyone that attended girls’ camp remembers what a powerful song this is! It was a joy to hear. The evening was closed with some inspiring words from Bishop Kimball. No evening would be completed without refreshments, and the assortment of sugar cookies in each of the value colors was perfect!

The Evening of Excellence was a wonderful opportunity for our young women to recognize their incredible potential. We are looking forward to another great year of character-building and testimony strengthening experiences in Personal Progress!

Taylor Brodrick

Afton Wells

Lindsey Wilson

Stephanie Corbett

McKenzie Pearce
Jessica Crawford

Maddy Kimball

Written by Stephany Crawford--2nd Ward Secretary

October Presidency Message

Dear Sisters,

We are so excited about our new Lubbock Stake Young Women Leader’s Blog! We are really working hard to make communication accessible and easy for all of us. This will help us to all be on the “same page”. First and foremost I want to throw all kudos and praise going Cami Clifton’s way. She is the one who has masterminded and put this whole thing together. We are so blessed to have her!

It was so uplifting for me to meet with you at our Stake Auxiliary training in October. It was humbling to be amidst the best the Lord has to offer our youth. I felt of your strength, support and your deep desires to serve faithfully. I can hardly wait for March 6th when all leaders and advisors will meet for our next Auxiliary Training.

President Uchtdof reminds us, “Individual recognition is rarely an indication of the value of our service. We do not know the names, for example, of any of the 2,000 sons of Helaman. As Individuals, they are unnamed. As a group, however, their name will always be remembered for honesty, courage, and the willingness to serve. They accomplished together what none of them could have accomplished alone.

I know this to be true. I testify that it does “take a village to raise a child”. I depend on you, your bishop depends on you, the sisters you serve within your presidency depend on you, the parents of our beautiful young women depend on you, and particularly our young women depend on you. I know this is not an easy task. I know it takes many hours of your time, thoughts and possibly precious sleep. I do know that together with the Lord we can do it.

Simply, I send you my love and appreciation,

Marti

Elder Bednar Speaks on Technology

The General Young Women Presidency has given us this counsel:

As a presidency (General YW), we recommend that all Young Women leaders either watch or read the recent CES fireside address by Elder David A. Bednar. As leaders, we can assist youth in learning to use technology with wisdom and balance. “Be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, ear buds, twittering, online social networking and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you... miss the richness of person-to-person communication.”

General Young Women Presidency Message

On the Church's Young Women's website we were invited to read Sister's Dalton's talk:

We invite you to review Sister Elaine S. Dalton's address to young adults from the recent CES fireside, "Zion Is the Pure in Heart". She invites all to be virtuous and worthy to attend the temple. "Be there! Don’t get distracted now! Don’t forget who you are! And don’t allow anything to disqualify you for the blessings that await you in the Lord’s holy temple." Study her message or view a video archive of the broadcast.

Announcement

Dear Sisters,

In an effort to better serve you and to be more united in purpose as each of you strive to serve the young women in the wards and branches where you serve, we have decided to create a blog!! This blog will be private, open only to young women leaders and will hopefully be a continuing resource for ideas and inspiration.

This is our vision for the blog:

1. Each month a member of the Stake Young Women Presidency will share a message that we feel pertains to the needs of our stake.

2. We will have a calendar with upcoming events that will be continually updated

3. Each month we will also choose one of you to spotlight in an effort to get to know one another better and create unity within our stake.

4. We also want this blog to be a resource for ideas.

a. If you had a really successful activity,
b. or have a brilliant idea for Personal progress,
c. or a really cool and helpful website
d. or came up with a really neat handout or object lesson for a particular lesson
e. or, any other idea pertaining to serving in the young women’s
f. WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IT 
i. Email Cami at cami.clifton@gmail.com with your ideas and she will post them on the blog so we can all benefit from them. Pictures would be awesome too
ii. We hope this will also encourage you to keep up a history of what you have accomplished throughout the year and hopefully it will also lighten the burden of getting your ward or branch’s young women history report to the ward clerk at the end of year.

5. Tell us about your Young Women in Excellence nights and New Beginnings
a. As a Stake Presidency we will try to make it to these special events
b. Secretarys, would you please write a little blurb about the event, the girls who were acknowledged and what they had accomplished. Email them to Cami and she will post it on the blog.

6. We also want this blog to be a place where your concerns can be addressed
a. If you have a question and/or concern email a member of the stake presidency and we can address that issue anonymously on the blog, but only with your permission. We then would ask for your suggestions and ideas by commenting on the blog.
b. Some examples could be, “What do we do about cell phones?” or “What are some suggestions on how to address the issue of modesty?” or “What can we do to help our young women take on leadership roles?”

We hope this blog will be a blessing to each of you as you strive to magnify and serve in your callings. We ask for your suggestions and input as we strive to get this started.

Love,

The Young Women’s Stake Presidency