Follow the
Prophets
January--Follow the Brethren
Prophet: George Albert Smith
Purpose: Introduce the year's theme and explain why it is important to know and follow the teachings of the prophets
Put on a skit based on the primary song "Follow the Prophets."
Play prophet charades (guess the prophet based on acting clues)
Learn the song "Latter-day Prophets" to memorize the modern-day prophets in order.
February--Love One Another
Prophet: Gordon B. Hinckley
Purpose: Learn to love and fellowship each other as youth--active and inactive, and to love those around us
Provide community service--clean a park, help an elderly person with shoveling snow, preparing for a garden, cleaning indoors, provide entertainment for people at a hospital or elderly care facility.
Make Valentine's for all of the less active youth and deliver them with goodies.
Hold a Service Road Rally. Go to houses in the ward and provide up to two services there. Have a person sign off your sheet next to the services performed. The group that performs the most service gets a reward. See Service List for ideas.
See Service Index
March--Temple Worthiness
Prophet: Howard W. Hunter
Purpose: Learn how to live worthily to enter the temple, prepare for temple covenants, make temple the symbol of our religion
Decorate a picture frame for a picture of a temple, make a glass etching of a favorite temple.
Have a Special Temple Night
Modesty Night--design modest clothing that can be worn with garments, learn to sew or choose modest clothing and discuss benefits of modesty, learn how modesty relates to thoughts, media choices, etc.
Develop a game to learn about covenants and the importance of keeping them.
April--Turning Hearts of the Children to the Fathers
Prophet: Joseph F. Smith
Purpose: Learn more about generations ahead of us--both living and dead
Do genealogy work, go to the temple and perform baptisms for the dead for the names you submit.
Learn more about the older members of your ward. Interview them, make books about them, put on "Here's Your Life" skits about them, plan a dance for them based on what you learned about them.
Put together family history books, learn interviewing techniques for collecting family stories from older relatives, share stories from your family history.
Have each youth research and make a presentation about an ancestor.
May "No Other Success Can Compensate for Failure in the Home"
Prophet: David O. McKay
Purpose: Learn to value and enjoy what we do in our homes and with our families
Have a Homemaking Night.
Plan a Mother/Daughter or Daddy/Daughter activity. Use ideas from Mother-Daughter Fun and Daddy Daughter Dates.
Plan a surprise for the Moms for Mother's Day or Dads for Father's Day.
Have a family picnic. Plan lots of fun games for people of all ages.
See Games and Family under Idea Index.
June--Seek for Truth
Prophet: Joseph Smith
Purpose: To develop an individual testimony of the Gospel
After opening with a spiritual thought and song (try "Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning"), take the youth on a nature hike. Let each person have a few minutes alone to reflect on God, pray, read scriptures, etc.
Have a treasure hunt using scriptural clues. The treasure could be special issues of the New Era, pictures of the temple, YW stickers, pictures of prophets, a CTR ring, etc.
Have a Book of Mormon Night
Have a Doctrine and Covenants Night
Have a Bible Night
July--Doctrines of Salvation
Prophet: Joseph Fielding Smith
Purpose: To become more knowledgable about gospel doctrines.
Play Doctrines of Salvation games
Role play investigators asking questions about basic doctrines of the Church and let everyone have a chance to answer questions. Or let each person write a question related to the Gospel on a piece of paper. Then read the questions together and answer them using scriptures and prophetic writings (It may be a good idea to get your Bishop involved).
Memorize the Articles of Faith and discuss the doctrinal significance of each one. Try to learn the Primary songs for the Articles of Faith for easier memorization.
Sing the songs in the Children's Songbook in the Yellow section (The Gospel). Read the scriptures listed before each song.
August--Marry the Right Person at the Right Time in the Right Place
Prophet: Ezra Taft Benson
Purpose: To emphasize the importance of proper dating and temple marriage and learn what to do to reach these goals.
Have a dance and practice appropriate behaviors.
Have a Bride's Night (adapt to Brides and Grooms Night if young men are also invited)
Have a Dating Conference. Use the ideas in the Dating section--have classes for each section, have creative games to get you from one classroom to the next.
September--Secure Yourself in the Gospel
Prophet: Heber J. Grant
Purpose: To strengthen testimonies of Gospel principles
Have a Testimony Night--play and sing your favorite hymns, share testimonies. Maybe do it around a campfire or bonfire (get permission first from landowner and from local fire department--not on Church property unless it is okayed first--most Church property you can't though), or sit around under the stars on warm blankets with a warm drink and share how you feel (Have bishops involved).
Have a Conference Night
Have an activity comparing the gospel to armor or a Book of Mormon stronghold. For example, make fake armor with cardboard and have a snurfball fight. Have armor labeled using scriptures (feet shod with preparation of the Gospel, etc.) and have snurfballs labeled as darts of the evil one, etc. Then show how the gospel can protect us in modern times.
October--Tithing Will Open the Windows of Heaven
Prophet: Lorenzo Snow
Purpose: To understand the value of paying tithing and the blessings it brings
Clean the wardhouse to learn how to take care of the things paid for and maintained by tithing funds.
Watch the video, "Windows of Heaven"
Learn how to budget money (paying tithing first) and have people share when tithing helped them in some way. Collect tithing quotes to put in a financial folder for future use.
Collect materials for each person--pictures of temples and meeting houses, BYU, BYU-Hawaii, Ricks, LDS Business College, etc. and quotes from the Brethren about tithing and make a talk resource file.
November--Every Member a Missionary
Prophet: Spencer W. Kimball
Purpose: To gain a testimony about missionary work and to learn how to be a missionary now and in the future
Go out on Missionary Splits
Make a web page with youth testimonies
Have a Missionary Night
Have relay race night based on missionary behaviors--getting dressed up, sewing a button, walking down a "Street" and knocking on doors and returning, putting on a bicycle helmet and riding bike or tricycle down a specified path, eating a "meal" (maybe a cracker) and singing a short song, showing all the pictures in a flip chart, etc.
Bring friends and share a fun activity based on our values--have prizes be For the Strength of Youth pamphlets, Book of Mormons, hymn books, New Era magazines, Mormonad posters and postcards, CTR Rings, etc.
December--Organize Yourselves
Prophet: Brigham Young
Purpose: To learn organizational and leadership skills, to prepare for greater Church service, to prepare for a future home that will be a house of order and a house of God.
Plan for your next year's activities and evaluate how the past year's activities could be better organized for more success
Learn how to budget time or money
Learn how to organize school papers, photos, momentos, jewelry, make-up, shoes, etc.
Learn how to clean and organize an efficient kitchen
Learn how to decorate a dorm room or small apartment to make it cozy and functional--great for Priests and Laurels going to college, going on missions, or moving away from home soon.
Learn how to use and balance a checkbook and pay bills
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