YOUTH GOAL ACTIVITY. DECISIONS DETERMINE DESTINY planner.
HOW DECISIONS DETERMINE OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER
YOUTH CAN TEACH others to use this planner as a checklist of things they want to do to be more responsible in driving their goals to the right destination. Say, “At HOME we might be more helpful, at SCHOOL be kinder to a shy student, or at WORK put in your best effort (D&C 82:24).
USE FOR: COME FOLLOW ME, Sunday School, Seminary, CHURCH & HOME
LESSON LIFESAVER Activity/Handout
Decisions Determine Destiny planner
“Our lives will depend upon the decisions which we make for Decisions determine destiny.” – Thomas S. Monson
Description of Lesson Activity. Tell youth that every decision they make can determine their destiny or the destiny of another. They can put themselves in the driver’s seat by making responsible decisions.
Challenge youth to make responsible decisions each day at “Home, School, Church,” and “Work” as they think about being dependable. Make decisions by writing ways in which you can be dependable.
Read D&C 82:24. Tell the youth that the celestial kingdom can be their destiny if they are steadfast in keeping the commandments.
TO MAKE print activity in color or black and white. Laminate.
Tell the youth that celestial possibilities waiting for you and your reward can be great according to Joseph Smith’s revelation: “Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.” (D&C 76:5–6.)
THOUGHT TREAT Lifesaver Car. Glue (with frosting) four Lifesavers candies to a package of Lifesavers (candies to create wheels). Tell the youth that they can drive safely each day by making dependable, responsible decisions and being steadfast in those decisions. Decisions determine destiny, allowing us to make it to the celestial kingdom (D&C 82:24).
MUTUAL NIGHT OR FAMILY NIGHT ACTIVITIES
“THANK PARENTS FOR BEING DEPENDABLE” BREAKFAST: Help youth cook and serve breakfast to their parents. Have them tell how their parent is dependable and what they admire about them. Take pictures of each youth and parents. This can also be done with grandmothers and aunts.
WELCOME BASKET: Help youth individually welcome new members or class members by creating a basket filled with notes and lotions and treats.
SUCCESS IN THE HOME / WARD BRAINSTORM:
Have a brainstorming or buzz session where youth decide how they can improve the home and ward. Then assign tasks to get buzzing-busy making positive changes.
1. Read the prophet David O. McKay’s words reminding us of the family and home: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home” (quoted from James Edward McCulloch, Home The Savior of Civilization [1924], 42; in Conference Report April 1935, 116).
2. Talk about ways we can concentrate on home success or success in the ward by welcoming new members and encouraging each other. Talk about being a good listener and attaching things they discover to a service list. Ask young women to share how they project themselves in the home or ward and succeed there.
Ideas at Home: Spend time with the children, focusing on their needs: spiritual, mental, physical, and social. Care for yourself to feel good about yourself. Plan for a career you can do at home or one you can do before or after you raise children. Have the youth reflect on the times their mother was and wasn’t home when they arrived. Focus on the future now and begin to prepare, for tomorrow is just around the corner. Plan for an eternal marriage so your family can be together forever.
Ideas in the Ward: Complimenting ward members on something, learning about them, inviting them to activities, and following up (never assuming others are giving them the attention they need to feel welcome). Especially focusing on the elderly. President Thomas S. Monson said, “Fellowshipping, friend-shipping, and reactivating are ongoing in the daily life of a Latter-day Saint.”
SOURCE: YW3.41
THIS ACTIVITY CAN BE USED FOR Come Follow Me
• JANUARY Lesson 5 “Who am I, and who can I become?”
• Lesson “Why do the choices I make matter?”
• Lesson “How can a patriarchal blessing help me?”
• Lesson “What does it mean to be self-reliant?”
• Lesson “What can I do to help a new member of the Church?”
QUOTES TO PONDER ON DESTINY:
“A woman’s richest rewards will come as she rises to fulfill her destiny as a devoted daughter of God. To all faithful Saints He has promised thrones, kingdoms, principalities, glory, immortality, and eternal lives. (See Rom. 2:7; D&C 75:5; D&C 128:12, 23; D&C 132:19.) That is the potential for women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is exalting, everlasting, and divine.”
– Russell M. Nelson, Talk: “Woman–Of Infinite Worth” ⇒
“A worthy woman personifies the truly noble and worthwhile attributes of life. A faithful woman can become a devoted daughter of God—more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish, more anxious to exercise compassion than to exercise dominion, more committed to integrity than to notoriety. And she knows of her own infinite worth.”
– Russell M. Nelson, Talk: “Woman–Of Infinite Worth” ⇒
