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History of the Young Women’s Organization Timeline Infographic

March 9, 2015

 

I’m not a big history person, because names and dates just don’t stick with me, try as I might. Nevertheless, I love stories about people who have done their part to influence change for good in the world. I think this is one reason why I love church and family history so much—because I can directly see the results of what they’ve done in my everyday life, because if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here. You could say that about any area of history, but it’s these focuses where the Spirit aids me in my study most of all.

 

Not long ago I was thinking about the women in the history of the church, and specifically the young women. We don’t hear a lot about them, so I decided to go digging and research the history of the Young Women’s organization. I was actually surprised by the amount of information I was able to find, and how much of it is unfamiliar to most young women and leaders. I saw this as an opportunity to share the small insights I found about the history of the Young Women’s organization.

 

I think that reading through all this information could be fun in a mutual activity, a fireside, or could possibly be used as the basis of Girl’s Camp! If anyone else is as intrigued as I was, I would encourage you to click through the sources at the end, because there are some really unique gems buried in there!

 

1843 – The Young Gentlemen’s and Young Ladies Relief Society of Nauvoo was developed by youth in Nauvoo under Heber C. Kimball’s guidance and Joseph Smith’s support. It began as casual social meetings, and eventually grew, having the Prophet speak to them on at least one occasion.

 

1869 – Brigham Young holds a meeting with his daughters, asking them to “retrench from extravagance in dress, in eating, and even in speech.”

 

1870 – The Young Ladies’ Department of the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association is formally organized.

 

1877 – The Name of the organization is officially changed to the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association.

 

1880 – Elmina S. Taylor is called by John Taylor as the general president of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association

 

1893 – Tuesday evening is designated as Mutual night.

 

1904 – Martha Horne Tingey is called as general president.

 

1912 – Liberty Stake held the first summer camp for Young Ladies.

 

1913 – Church introduces Beehive Girls program for young women 14 and up. It covered seven fields: Religion, Home, Health, Domestic Arts, Out of Doors, Business, and Public Service.

 

The Program included 3 ranks: Builders of the Hive, Gatherers of the Honey, and Keeper of the Bees. To achieve each rank, Girls had to complete at least 50 selected requirements from over 300 options.

 

Beehive Girls watchword was Womanho. “Wo” stood for work, “man” for mankind, and “ho” for home.

 

1922 – Gold and green become official MIA colors.

 

1929 – Ruth May Fox is called as general president.

 

Church publishes the Improvement Era.

 

1936 – First Churchwide dance festival.

 

1937 – Lucy Grant Cannon is called as general president.

 

1940 – Golden Gleaner award introduced for young women over eighteen.

 

1943 – Busy Bee Girl character illustrations introduced to Beehive Girls program.

 

Class symbols of beehive, rose, laurel, and sheaf of wheat introduced.

 

1948 – Bertha Stone Reeder is called as general president.

 

1950 – Class names and age-groups updated

Beehives: 12-13

Mia Maids: 14-15

Junior Gleaners: 16-17

Gleaners: 18-24

 

Felt seals would mark progress on a blue sash, called a bandlo.

 

1959 – Junior Gleaners replaced by Laurels

 

1961 – Florence Smith Jacobsen is called as general president.

 

1965 – For the Strength of Youth is published

 

1971 – The New Era is published for Youth.

 

(One event I forgot to add was the release of an updated version of For the Strength of Youth in 1972. And while I couldn’t obtain an image of the original New Era cover, it was very similar in style to the cover of For the Strength of Youth shown.)

 

1972 – Ruth Hardy Funk is called as general president.

 

YWMIA becomes a priesthood auxiliary.

 

1977 – My Personal Progress program introduced with six areas of focus:

1. Spiritual Awareness

2. Homemaking Arts

3. Service and Compassion

4. Recreation and the World of Nature

5. Cultural Arts and Education

6. Personal and Social Refinement

 

1978 – Elaine Anderson Cannon is called as general president

 

First general women’s meeting.

 

1980 – Sunday lessons begin with meeting schedule consolidation.

 

 

1984 – Ardeth Greene Kapp is called as general president.

 

1985 – First Young Women broadcast.

 

Motto “Stand for Truth and Righteousness” added.

 

1987 – Young Women Theme and 7 values and colors introduced:

Faith

Divine Nature

Individual Worth

Knowledge

Choice and Accountability

Good Works

Integrity

 

New medallion for Young Womanhood recognition.

 

1990 – New For the Strength of Youth pamphlet released.

 

1992 – Janette Callister Hales Beckham is called as general president.

 

1993 – New Camp Manual published, focusing of Young Women values.

 

1994 – 125th anniversary of Young Women program celebrated.

 

 

1997 – Margaret Dyreng Nadauld is called as general president.

 

2002 – Personal Progress is updated

 

New For the Strength of Youth pamphlet released

 

“strengthen home and family added to the Theme.

 

Susan Winder Tanner is called as general president.

 

2004 – LDS.ORG Young Women site launched.

 

2006 – Church Camp properties are purchased and developed.

 

 

2008 – Elaine S. Dalton is called as general president.

 

2009 – Virtue added as eith Young Women value.

 

Young Women Medallion redesigned.

 

Honor Bee charm added to Personal Progress

 

(another thing I left off due to forgetfulness—Personal Progress online (in 2010 I believe…))

 

2012 – 100th anniversary of Young Women Camp

 

New For the Strength of Youth pamphlet released.

 

2013 – Bonnie Lee Green Oscarson is called as general president.

 

Come, Follow Me curriculum for Youth introduced

 

General Women’s Meeting for women and girls 8+ replaces Young Women and Relief Society Broadcast.

 

SOURCES:

http://www.mormonshare.com/young-women/history-of-the-young-women-organization

https://www.lds.org/ensign/print/1977/08/program-changes-highlight-1977-regional-meetings

https://www.lds.org/liahona/1987/02/together-in-righteousness

http://www.vintagekidstuff.com/beehive/beehive.html

https://archive.org/details/handbookforbeehi03unse

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/06/presidents-of-the-young-women-organization-through-the-years

https://www.lds.org/new-era/2003/11/134-years-young

http://beginningsnew.blogspot.com/search/label/Friday%20Flashback

https://www.lds.org/callings/young-women/leader-resources/history/timeline-of-young-women-history

https://www.lds.org/callings/young-women/leader-resources/history/history-of-young-women-recognition

 

The entire infographic is below, but because of the size it’s uploading in very poor quality. I’m attempting to fix that, but in the mean time if you click on it you can see it in high quality.

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General Conference Study Packet | Free Download

March 6, 2015

As fun as egg hunts and mysterious bunnies are, the highlight of my early Spring holiday celebration is General Conference—which happens to fall on Easter weekend, so it’s the best of both worlds!

 

Every six months I try to see what I can do to get the most out of General Conference. This year I’m really trying to get a head start on the spiritual preparation by studying previous talks and pondering questions I’ve had in the months since.

 

Doing so has gotten me SO excited that I wanted to create and share this study packet. In years past I’ve done things similarly, writing out questions beforehand, and evaluating the inspiration I receive between sessions. Hopefully my system proves to be helpful to other young women!

 

General Conference time is an excellent time to think about Personal Progress and set goals again! To help you get in a Personal Progress mindset, there’s Personal Progress BINGO, or better yet you could create a whole General Conference Value Project!

 

To download the General Conference Study Packet PDF, click here.

 

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YW CAMP: Your Wonderful Journey Home

March 5, 2015

Our theme for YW Camp (2014) was “Your Wonderful Journey Home”. It was an amazing week! Here are just a few snippets from our week at camp:
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THEME SONG
“Coming Home”
Lyrics by Shawna Edwards

A hundred paths that lead,

to a thousand broken dreams

A million ways to trade your soul

for lesser things

The only path I see,

that is paved with love and peace

The one true way that leads to him,

is everything I need


CHORUS

He is hope, when a journey begins;

He is strength in the wind

He is faith when my courage wears thin

He is rest when I’m weary and worn,

He’s the place where I’m loved and I’m known

When I come unto Christ, it feels like I’m…

coming home.


A hundred thoughts to share,

and a thousand whispered prayers

A million ways to feel His love

and know He’s there

So trusting I will go,

whether long or hard the road

That He Will Walk, each step with me,
is all I need to know

REPEAT CHORUS
I won’t waste a day chasing trinkets and noise

I Will Walk in His light and hear only His voice

REPEAT CHORUS
When I come unto Christ, it feels like I’m…coming home
..…..coming home…..I am coming home
COLORS/NAMES
One of the most exciting things about camp is finding out what the over-all theme is and what color your “year” is going to be assigned. This year the over-all theme was world travel. This is what our camp looked like. Just imagine the decorations and attire!
1st Years 
Ireland
“Lucky Lassies”
GREEN
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2nd Year
Mexico
“Chiquita Bonita”
PINK
*
3rd Years
The Islands
“Tropical Beauties”
PURPLE
*
4th Years
China
“Dragon Warriors”
RED
*
YCL 2’s
Africa
“Safari Sisters”
BLACK
*
Adults
USA
“American Airlines”
BLUE

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DAILY THEMES
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MONDAY
My Wonderful Journey Home
2 Nephi 31:20
*
TUESDAY
He Walks With Me
Joshua 1:9
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WEDNESDAY
He Lights My Path
St John 8:12
*
THURSDAY
He is My Strength in the Wind
Heleman 5:12
*
FRIDAY
He Loves Me
Galations 2:20
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SATURDAY
He Is My Way Home
2 Nephi 31:20

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STAKE YW PRESENTATION

We were asked, as the YW Stake Presidency, to prepare a presentation for one of the night devotionals. We went with the theme of world travel, visiting all the the locations from around the world which were being represented throughout camp (Ireland, Mexico, Africa, the Islands, China). We turned our outdoor amphitheater into our airplane, the stage was our flight deck.
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We dressed as pilots, black pants, white collared/button-up shirts, we used yellow duct tape and permanent black markers to create our “stripes”, blue/red ties (to match the American Airline colors), pilot hats, dark sunglasses and pilot wings.
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There was a large screen in the center of the stage which we used for our in-flight entertainment and up-to-date flight status notifications. :) The three of us sat off to the side of the stage at our “control panel” (laptop and scripts).
*
This is what was on the screen as the YW and leaders boarded the plane (arrived).
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We had a couple leaders dressed as flight attendants. They passed out bags of peanuts and drinks to all the YW as they watched this short video:
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Then our journey began.
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pilots = narrators
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Here are snapshots of the presentation – including videos – which were shown on the large screen. As we traveled, we “visited” someone from each area. They shared a personal experience which exemplified one of the daily camp themes. 

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One of our young women from our Hmong ward, shared her father’s personal experience of his journey to America and finding the gospel. Such a powerful testimony.
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When this music video began, we (the pilots) each put on Hawaiian leis. We sang along and danced in our chairs. It would have been hard not too! :) Love this song!
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One of our young women dressed in an African attire, including head wrap. She shared, in first person, the story of the woman pictured below. The missionary shown in the photos is from our area and shared this beautiful experience for us to share with the YW.

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We ended the night by singing our theme song all together. And of course everyone stood arm in arm! Love YW camp!!

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General Women’s Conference Session Invitation | Free Download

February 28, 2015

I LOVE General Conference, and I especially love the General Women’s Session. I’m excited that now it’s being formally recognized as an official session of Conference, because it’s always been that way in my mind. In years past I’ve had some years when the Young Women would have a big party, and others when they’d forget about it completely.

 

In an effort to solve this predicament of forgetfulness, I’ve made super simple invitations that wards can distribute to the Young Women, Relief Society, and Primary as a reminder to the girls and women. It could be especially meaningful if the Young Women personally invite the Primary girls.

 

I’ve made them in three different color schemes—teal and pink, green and lavender, & cranberry and gold—and with four different times because of time zone differences, because some wards will hold a dinner beforehand.

 

The invitations are designed to be printed 4 to a sheet. One .zip file includes 12 different invitations (3 colors x 4 time zones) in 3 formats—JPG (300dpi), PDF (4 to a sheet), and full sheet PDF.

 

If you email [email protected] I will happily customize times, but not location (with some exceptions) or add further information.

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NEW Young Women Value Disney Princess Posters | Free Download

February 22, 2015

I’m so surprised and grateful for the enormous response I’ve gotten from the posters I created just 6 months ago featuring Disney Princesses. They’ve been viewed by countless young women around the world, and I hope that they’ve been enjoyable and inspiring. I was recently looking them over, and felt the need to update them a little—and here’s the finished product! The design is essentially the same. They’re slightly larger (11×14, 100dpi), have higher quality princess images, and some have had their quotes switched, or at least modified. I’m really happy with how they turned out, and hopefully they can reach even further than their predecessors.

 

Recreating these also prompted me to get started on more Princess themed resources that would be especially helpful for activities such as New Beginnings, Young Women in Excellence, and Girls Camp—so keep an eye out.

 

To keep things simple for me, they can only be downloaded in one .zip file which contains all 13 images in JPG format.

 

I will NOT be offering custom sizes due to the demand that has previously placed on me. Luckily with the larger dimensions, they can still be adjusted in size and retain decent quality.

 

Disclaimer: I take no credit for the images and quotes featured in these posters. They are property of The Walt Disney Company. These posters were created for non-commercial home and church use. The Personal Progress Helper does not claim ownership, though does ask for proper attribution as the creator of these poster.

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2015 Mutual Theme Glass Tile Necklaces

February 19, 2015

Here’s a fun project for your Young Women: 2015 Mutual Theme Glass Tile Necklaces! A sweet blog reader, Brittney, asked me if I could size my 2015 Mutual Theme Logos to fit inside some glass-tile necklaces she was making for her … Continue reading →

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Come Follow Me: The Plan of Salvation Handouts | Free Download

February 14, 2015

My FAVORITE gospel topic to study is the Plan of Salvation, because it encompasses EVERY other element of the gospel and makes everything so clear. And there’s always something new to learn from it, no matter how young or old!

 

 

I’m hoping to start creating more handouts to correspond with Come Follow Me lessons, and so to start out with I have a batch for The Plan of Salvation—specifically for the lesson “What is the purpose of life?” because that’s the topic I’m teaching later this month—but they would likely prove useful in other lessons as well.

 

First is a basic illustration of God’s plan of happiness, including the premortal life, mortal life (with the necessity of temple ordinances and the atonement), the spirit world, resurrection, judgment, and the three kingdoms (including the three degrees within the Celestial kingdom). Along the bottom is Moses 1:39.

 

Next, I have an acrostic poem which offers a different perspective on the purpose of life, with each letter outlining something we need to obtain or achieve in order to reach our ultimate purpose.

 

I also have this quote from Elder Gary E. Stevenson’s talk Your Four Minutes, likening the plan of salvation to a race, with the prize being Eternal Life.

 

And finally an excellent quote from Uchtdorf’s Your Happily Ever After talk to young women.

 

All the files can be downloaded at this link. I have JPG image files, and PDF files with four to a page.

 

At this point I still don’t know which handouts I’ll even be using, so I guess I’ll have to rely on the Spirit!

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Scriptural Women of Value Posters | Free Download

February 11, 2015

 

I love the countless examples of women in the scriptures. Many claim that there aren’t enough women in the scriptures, and while their claims are certainly valid, I see so much depth in the few portraits of women we have the privilege of finding in our scriptures.

Quite a few have seen my series of value posters with Disney Princesses, and several people have mentioned that they would love to see value posters pulling role models from the scriptures. The idea excited me, as it was in fact directly correlated with a project I’ve been working on for the past several months, and so I focused my personal study on seeking out the righteous examples we’ve been given in scripture and finding the values they emulate.

 

As a disclaimer in advance, I do not own the copyright to any of the paintings used. These posters are only for non-commercial home and church use. I make no profit whatsoever from these posters. I did my best to search the copyright of the individual paintings to see that I would be able to use these images for this small, non-profit project. That being said, I found each one of these paintings to beautifully reflect the divine spirits depicted in the scriptures of each of these women.

 

Each poster is available as a JPG file, and the set can be downloaded as PDFs. They are only intended to be printed 8.5 x 11, or smaller.

 

 

Image copyright belongs to the following:

“Abish,” by James H. Fullmer

“Emma Hale Smith,” Copyright by Julie Rogers Art

“Rebekah at the Well,” by Michael Deas

“I Arose A Mother In Israel,” {Deborah} Copyright by Elspeth Young. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Al Young Studios.

“The Joy Of Our Redemption,” {Eve} Copyright by Al Young. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Al Young Studios.

“Queen Esther”, by Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert

“Ruth in the Fields,” by Merle Hugues

“She Shall Bring Forth a Son,” by Liz Lemon Swindle

 

If the copyright holder of any of these images requests I no longer use their image, please notify me at [email protected].

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Your Happily Ever After by Dieter F. Uchtdorf Video featuring Disney Princesses + Free Handout

January 31, 2015

In case regular visitors of this website haven’t noticed, I absolutely love fairy tales being used as metaphors for the gospel. Something that certainly aided in this love for fairy tales is that one of my very first experiences in Young Women’s was w…

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