Jazzing up our Testimonies

This week we started working on our binders.  The girls reviewed the requirements for activity girls Faith in God booklets.  We, then spent the evening making a background for which we would write our testmonies on.

They were very creative with how they mixed and matched their colours.  All the while, we were talking about the importance of testimony and what kind of things we tend to testify about.  Don't be fooled, but these ladies have do have their own testimonies already!

They were very proud of their hard work and what they had written about their testimonies.  And rightly so.  It takes time to cultivate a testimony and each of every one of them has started to nurture and cultivate their very own.  

It will be fun to see how each of their testimonies grow during our time together.  I expect them to change dramatically as I suspect you do too.

P.S. next time we shall finish up with our binders and do some planning to find out what the girls would like to do over the year.  Next meeting will be the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

All things virtuous....Tammy

Red + Blue = FUN

This evening was our "End of Summer Party" where we tye dyed some shirts (and other articles) and then had a cake to finish off the evening. The ladies were all very excited. Some brought more than just a white shirt to dye.

First, we put elastics tightly onto different areas of our shirts. Some ladies tied the sleeves in knots for a different effect.

Once they had placed the elastics where they wanted them, they were ready for dying. We used wine red and navy blue dyes. We also had a salt water bath to help set the colours when the girls were happy with the shade.

The ladies were so excited that eventually the two colours became one as they dipped from one to the other. Some just let the garment sit in the dye while they stirred it round and round. (I do not advise this as these ladies got their shirts confused with others.) We all made sure to do the salt water dip before letting them sit for about 1/2 hour to dry a little. Then it was time to take off the elastics and view our creations.

You can see from the photo below that they placed their elastics different ways to get different effects. They were so excited to see all the different patterns. The girls were most impressed with the 'bullseye' effect that was accomplished by grabbing the center of the shirt and placing the elastics down from the center. This particular person was also very careful in how she dipped her shirt so she could have more distinct colours. The tighter the elastic, the more 'white' the void was.

Overall the evening was very much a success - there was a lot giggling, purple coloured hands and shrieks of delight. The cake (a jello poke cake) was so delicious that barely a crumb was left in the pan. Someone even licked off the whipped cream from the pan's lid. An activity to be proud of! I am very grateful to M.P. for requesting this as our activity!!!

Note to our Activity Girls:
Starting next week, we are changing our activities to twice a month (as per the bishop's handbook) so we will be meeting the first and third weeks of the month. I made up a calendar to help everyone to know when we shall get together. I will continue to post what the next activity will be! And considering that it is the start of the school year, we will be making Activity Girl Binders and activity idea sharing. So put your thinking caps on because I want your input!!!! Till the next time...

All things virtuous...Tammy

10th Article of Faith

Tonight we studied the 10th Article of Faith and tried to make it a little more fun. I printed out the article we were studying such that everyone could have their own copy. We read it together. We then went into Genesis 35 to discuss who were in these ten tribes.

We, then, found the names of each of Jacob's sons, spoke about who was each of their mothers. We drew out a family tree to better understand the relationship to Jacob. We also discussed how most of the church members today are members of either the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh. We continued the discussion that as the church grows , more and more members will be from one of the other ten tribes. We then went on a scavenger hunt through the church building for the ten tribes. (I had previously hid the ten slips of paper throughout the building before the meeting began.)

The girls really liked the chance to look for the slips of paper. Once they found all of the slips, I divided the girls into two groups and gave each group half of the slips to hide in the building and then they had to find the slips from the other group. Fun was had by all...next week we are all looking forward to tye dying for our end of summer party...until next week.

All things virtuous...Tammy

Arboritum

The ladies decided that they wanted to go to the Arboritum for a walk and to take in the flowers. This large flower garden is close to our meeting place and is located beside the experimental farm that is located in the center of town. The ladies took pictures of those flowers that interested them (or they had me take the picture). We intend to scrapbook the pictures at one of our future get-togethers.

The vibrancy of colour is why this picture was taken. The red could be seen from some distance and actually drew the girls to it.

The shear size of this leaf was mammoth. Since it is heart-shaped, we were able to use it as a frame for each of the girls to get a portrait done.

This flower reminded me of a hibicus flower although the size, again was humungous. Each blossom, in pink or in white, was the size of the girls' faces. When we go to scrapbook the pictures, I hope to have the names of the plants for the ladies. Good thing I do not live too far from this garden so I can go back and get their names.

It was a very enjoyable evening. We were able to explore, laugh, goof around and just have fun. It was a great way to pass an evening together and get to know each other. Till the next activity...

All things virtuous...Tammy

Welcome!

I have newly been called as the Activity Girls Leader of my ward. I am excited as I hope you are for this great adventure. I am fortunate in that I was recently the assistant, although I am sure that I have quite the shoes to fill just the same. I thank the previous leader for setting the example that she has and I aspire to be a leader like she was in order to prepare these fine individuals for Young Women.

My thought in creating this blog, is to help other leaders come up with ideas that co-ordinate with the Faith in God for Girls. I intend to do a write-up after every activity with a description and hope to post pictures to help those of us that are visual learners. And most of all, my goal is for everyone to have fun. Bye for now.

All things virtuous...Tammy