Young Women
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In Mormonism, girls from 12 to 18 go to Young Women’s. This program’s split into three groups beyond that. The youngest group are the Beehives, the next is Mia Maids, and the last and oldest are Laurels. There are seven values in the Young Women theme. These values have a special focus. They are as follows: Faith—Faith in Christ is essential to our happiness and salvation. As such, it’s very important for all young women to develop. It’ll only get stronger as you get older, if you develop it through prayer and scripture study. Divine Nature—Mormons believe that we’re all the literal spirit children of God. Our nature is, therefore, divine, and God wants us to become like him. Christ was our ultimate example of how we can live. That He would sacrifice so much for us to be able to overcome our sins, through turning to Him, marks our worth. We should act according to our divine nature, and not just according to our immediate desires. Individual Worth—And individual worth is a part of this. In Mormon belief, we are all worth, as God’s spirits, an infinite amount. We should think of ourselves accordingly! We should never get too down on ourselves and others—we should remind ourselves how much we’re worth to God. Knowledge—Both scripture and school knowledge are essential. If we want to do well in life, we need to be well studied in both. Strive to excel in school and do daily scripture study (from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, conference talks, all of the above!). |
Choice and Accountability—We’re responsible for our own choices. This is a good thing! While we need to take responsibility from our sins and repent from them, that lets us improve constantly. We aren’t forced to be good. We choose to be.
Good Works—We need to do good. Part of making good choices is making a point of serving others and looking outside ourselves. It’s not enough just to have good feelings—we need to do things that help others in times of need. We need to be kind to everyone on principle.
Integrity—And we do then have principles. Integrity is about being true to these principles—and yourself—even when it’s hard, or no one else seems to want to.
Something that young women in the Mormon Church do to promote and clarify these values is “Personal Progress.” This is roughly comparable to Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, only with a very religious slant.
For every value, Young Women do six experiences and one ten hour project. This way, they can be balanced in all the values, instead of in just a few. The experiences tend to be short, but the project takes some real time and preparation. You have to really think about what you’d like to do and how to do it. And this self-direction might be more important in the long run than doing the smaller, set experiences.
If a young woman completes Personal Progress, she receives her Young Womanhood Recognition, roughly comparable to an Eagle.