Decide Now Wedding Dress Story

Wedding Dress Story

This is a devotional we did at girls camp. The girls were so affected by this program I would recommend it to any group!! This is what we did and the story we used. You can change or adapt it to your needs. Every time you see a group of x's on the program we cut a piece of the wedding dress off!! Yes! You heard me right we took a pair of scissors and cut off a piece of the dress. We saved the dress pieces and we are doing a repentance standards night where we will be putting the dress back together. I called the devotional "Decide Now".

I am so glad you are here today! I just want to congratulate each of you for taking a full week out of your schedules to be in the “best” place possible. Thanks for deciding now what is most important.

(something funny)

               I recently had the chance to see a leadership training that Sister Elaine Dalton did. And she said some things there that I would love for all of you to know about! She spoke on the value virtue and what they actually mean by virtue. When I need to know the meaning of a word I like to go to the scriptures and find what Heavenly Father means. So I found a scripture in D&C 121:45 that talks about virtue. (Read Scripture) It just so happens that there is a little more explanation for the word virtue in that scripture. There is a little b there. So I check the bottom of the page where the little b is and it says chastity. Oh… that explains it all! But wait what does chastity mean? In the FSOY they call chastity sexual purity. Ah when I say sexual purity or virtue I think that there are a lot of choices involved in remaining virtuous. With that in mind I would like you to listen to a song called virtue. (SONG VIRTUE) (I also showed the clip about little kids not eating a chocolate chip or something so they could get a cupcake if they waited. It is by Jenny Phillips and is called Worth Waiting For)

I would like to talk about choices for a minute. I have a bunch of sticks here that all look very similar don’t they? So at one end of each stick is a choice for you to make. (And there are hundreds each day) The choice at the end of this stick leads you to only one place…The other end of the stick. Let’s say the choice I make at the end of this stick is to not shower while I’m at girls camp. Lol. What is my only choice at the end of this stick? Yes! You got it! You are going to be very stinky by the time camp is done. Let’s try this stick. I am going to choose to brush my teeth. So at the end of this stick is clean teeth. Hmm… I like this stick, it is a choice to be nice to one person that I wouldn’t usually be nice to today. What would be at the end of this one? (have the girls choose some sticks for everyday choices we make) Let’s talk about the agency stick or sticks Heavenly Father gives us. There are only 2 choices or sticks. Let’s see what they are lets read from the scriptures ( 2 Nephi 2:27) What are the 2 sticks? (Eternal life or Captivity and Death) So let’s picture these sticks as very very long sticks lasting our whole life through! Of course there are the hundreds of choices we make each day that lead us onto one or the other stick. So if I don’t want to go to church on Sunday and I don’t ever go again, which of these 2 sticks would I be on? Ok perfect that is the long term consequence but what is at the end of this very short stick of not going to church? (loss of spirit) That is the short term consequence. So whose obligation is it to “Decide Now” to be on this good stick that leads to eternal life? (mine, yours) Good. So when your sticks are all spread out as choices running to one of these sticks called Eternal Life or Captivity and death does it affect just you? No! If I had the power to hand you the eternal life stick or the Captivity and death stick which would you want me to hand to you? Heavenly Father and Jesus have done all the work to make it possible for everyone to have Eternal Life so all you have to do is “Decide Now” to pick up that stick and keep it with you throughout your life. Can your Mom or Dad keep the eternal life stick in your hand? Only you can “Decide Now” to pick up and keep the eternal life stick throughout your life. By making the correct everyday decisions you will have the Eternal life stick in your hand all the time.

               So let’s talk about that virtue or sexual purity stick. It is a long stick in your life. I would like to tell you a story about a girl who did not “decide now” to pick up her Eternal Life stick.

               Sheena was 12 years old and very excited about going into Young Women’s. She had great plans of a temple marriage with her tall, dark and handsome. She also had great parents but she chose the wrong friends that very year. ######## Even though her parents always told her that if her friends didn’t lead her to choose the right they were her enemies. She also knew that the FSOY said that “Friends will influence how you think and act, and even help determine the person you will become.” Sheena couldn’t see how it really mattered because she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Yet…###### Before long her friends had talked her into sneaking out one night to meet up with some boys. ###### She seen nothing wrong with this even though she was only now 14. She even got caught by her parents to a few times and she was no longer allowed her cell phone. Then sheena met a guy that was awesome! Oh was he cute! They started to like each other a lot and by age 15 Sheena was “going out” with Mr. Gorgeous of the school! ######### Even though Shenna knew what the churches standards for this were her friends and the world told her otherwise. So one night that Sheena snuck out of the house she met up with Mr. Gorgeous. He only had one thing on his mind…and that was to make out!....##### Ugh. Sheena’s family just had a FHE on this very thing on Monday night! The one sentence her mom read to the family that stood out to her she was now being faced with!!! It says “Before marriage, do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private, sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing and do not do anything else that arouses sexual feelings. “ Sheena wanted to be popular. So she decided it was ok to only do a few of those things with Mr. Gorgeous that night. ####### Sheena did feel very guilty the first few times this happened but then after a while it was no big deal to go make out with Mr. Gorgeous.###### The only thing Mr. Gorgeous wanted to do for dates was watch movies so they could make out all the time ###### Sheena would have rathered the kind  of dates the FSOY talked about like “activities that are safe, positive, and inexpensive, and that will help you get to know each other.” But… Sheena was enjoying her new found popularity by being with Mr. Gorgeous. So she continued the relationship###### Before long things progressively went further with Mr. Gorgeous and before Sheena knew it she had had sex with Mr. Gorgeous.######## She had never meant for things to go that far! Oh she felt terrible! Like a big black hole was sucking her in and she had no clue how to get rid of the blackness that had taken over her life. But she allowed it to happen again.####### Sheena felt like she had the worst life possible! So she decided she would pray. She felt like she had nowhere else to turn. So she said a small prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help her through this and just as she prayed a song came to her mind called Godly Sorrow. (PLAY GODLY SORROW SONG) How had she gotten so far away from that temple marriage that she wanted so badly? Sheena now knew about Godly Sorrow and started the steps she needed to take to receive true repentance… and get back her dream of temple marriage!

               Sisters, please “decide now” and every day to pick up the virtue stick! Because if you do it will lead you to that temple marriage we all want and desire! So is it worth it to “Decide Now” to wait until marriage? Yes it is! (PLAY SONG WORTH WAITING FOR) I know someone that would like to tell you her story and how she got frustrated along the way but found out it was definitely worth waiting for… This is my daughter Joslyn and her husband Izac Hillam. (PLAY SONG HAPPILIY EVER AFTER) Joslyn truly let the Savior lead her to her happily ever after. Did it only affect Joslyn to wait for a temple marriage? No! I want to compare Sheena’s choices with Joslyn’s for a minute. As Sheena made her choices her freedoms narrowed. She had her phone taken away,  and her parents couldn’t trust her to drive anywhere. Like an upside down funnel. But the choices Joslyn made had the opposite effect. Her funnel is right side up and she now enjoys more freedoms because of it! And isn’t her wedding dress just lovely? Especially compared to this other dress that got chopped up with each bad choice. Which dress do you want? The key to this is to “Decide Now”! You have to make a commitment to yourself to do the things it says in the FSOY under sexual purity now! The last 2 sentences in the FSOY under sexual purity is this…”Make a personal commitment to be sexually pure. By your words and actions, encourage others to do the same. So turn to your friend and make that commitment now!!!!(give them 30 seconds or so) Now check up on each other from time to time! But most importantly make a commitment to Heavenly Father and yourself to remain sexually pure. There is so much information in the FSOY under sexual purity. Please study it together as ward Young women and individually! “Decide Now” to be virtuous! Like it says in Proverbs 31:10 Your price will be far above rubies!! “Decide Now”!!!! Stephanie Munns will now sing live it. I would like you to pay special attention to the lyrics. To all of the sentences that say I will. After the song we will hear from President Follett. We are so glad he is here to speak to us. Then we will sing the live it song all together. and then       will say the closing prayer. (PLAY SONG FOR STEPH TO SING TOO!) (President Follett) (Then sing song one more time)



A sink full of hot sudsy water

Today I wanted to write about fixing dinner and a few things to help ease the process. If you are starting with a messy kitchen take 10 minutes and put everything in the dishwasher. Then wipe your counters. This will give you the space you need to fix your meal, clear your mind, and no one will care if dinner is 10 minutes later than expected. Once you have a clean space run a nice hot sink full of sudsy water. The key here is to clean as you go. During the cooking process it seems there are always a few minutes (SSS)  you can snatch to wash a pot here and wipe a mess there. This is always easier if you have a sink full of hot sudsy water. Then the cleanup process is so much easier and mostly done by the time you put dinner on the table.
     I hope your new small and simple routines are still going ok. Don't add anymore things until you have established a habit. You know it is a habit when you don't have to think about it you just do it! Give yourself 3-4 weeks for this to happen. Happy cleaning!!!!

Small and Simple Seconds Schedule Day 2

Well were you able to keep that sink shiny yesterday? I have to admit I almost went to bed with dishes in the sink. One quick check and I discovered I had to put a few dishes in the dishwasher then rinse and dry my sink. It is always so refreshing to wake up in the morning to a clean kitchen. It only took me 2 minutes to tidy it up before I went to bed too. So yep those were 2 minutes well spent! Today let's add a simple morning routine and a simple after dinner routine. These routines are meant for maintenance only. We will get to the declutter phase in a few days time. Be patient with me and establish a few easy routines first. We didn't get in this mess in a few days so don't try to do it all in a few days either. It's not fun to crash and burn because we bit off more than we could chew.
     Here is your small and simple morning routine. Get up and make your bed as soon as you get out of it. My husband and I have a little competition with this. Whoever gets out of the bed last has to make it. If you leave the house and don't make it, you owe the other person 5 bed makings. (I have been as far as 20 in debt to Dave) If you are not leaving the house that day don't worry we have a rule in place for that one too. If you don't make the bed by noon you owe the same 5 bed makings. If noon is not early enough for you bump it up to a time that is reasonable for both of you.
     Next for the small and simple morning routine is go straight to the bathroom get dressed all the way to a lace up pair of shoes and fix your hair and face. (I'm a rebel here and fit the exercise in before I shower and do my hair and face) As you leave the bedroom in the morning take a load of laundry with you and start a load. Now you can head to the kitchen for the morning rush! If you did your after dinner routine your kitchen should be clean with a nice shiny sink. Take a few minutes to hit your "hot spots". This is anywhere that collects papers and junk faster than you know what to do with it. I have 3 in my kitchen, 1 in my front room and 2 in my bedroom that I like to hit every morning. Now don't be tempted to overhaul every spot. Just take 2 minutes every morning and before you know it those spots will get smaller and smaller until you have a happy space! I fit my scripture time in right around here too. When my kids were small I read scriptures at nap time.
     Your after dinner routine starts as soon as you are finished eating. While everyone is in the kitchen do all the dishes and shine the sink together as a family. Kitchen will stay clean for the rest of the night. I do one last check when I go to bed because someone has always had a snack and left something out. While you are still in the kitchen pack any lunches you will need the next day. This also helps you stick on the healthy eating goal you have. (or in my case want to have) Next just set out everything you will need in the morning. Clothes, backpacks, keys, purse etc. Kids also love the security of a routine. Involve them in this also! Now just take some time for yourself to have some down time or play with the kids. However you unwind. Get a full nights sleep! In Proverbs 16:32 it says He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. I am much slower to anger when I have a full nights sleep!

Small and Simple Seconds My First Task

On January 5, 2012 I will be demonstrating a class on cleaning organization. My main objective for this is to start little! Line upon line. In Alma 37:6 it says, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. So we are going to confound the wise!!! We will start by just doing some small tasks that take from 5 to 15 min. We all have 5 to 15 minutes scattered throughout our day! We just need to snatch those Small and Simple Seconds and off we go! The first Small and Simple Seconds (SSS) task I have for you is to shine your kitchen sink! Now this first time is going to take longer but once you get that done we will learn a 10 second task that will keep it clean! First things first get to your kitchen sink and lets empty all the dishes from the sink. I didn't say do all the dishes just set them to the side for now. Fill the sink to the very top with hot bleach water. A cup in each side will do. (I only do one side at a time so I still have a sink available) Let this set for one hour. Rinse well. Get some ajax or comet etc and scrub the sink. Rinse well. You might need to get an old toothbrush or a razor blade for the next step of getting off the hard water and scum that just attaches itself. Go to town gals! Be careful with a razor to not scratch your surface but it works well on hard water build up. If you want to shine the sink even more clean it with some window cleaner and you should have a shiny new sink! Yea! Are you still wondering how this can only take 10 seconds? Each time you use the sink just wipe it down with a dishtowel. Dry everything off and wala. It is just as beautiful! I keep my dishcloth right by my sink so it is always there when I need it. Now we have our first SSS task completed we will begin a journey of adding SSST(task) until we have built a SSSSchedule! (no I didn't stutter! Lol.) I like the information the flylady has. Her website is flylady.net. She has inspired me! Keeping a clean house is definitely a spiritual matter. In D&C 29:34 it says Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal. So have we been given a law by the Lord to keep our house clean? Because this scripture says if we have a law from the Lord then it is a spiritual matter. Well in D&C 88:119 it says Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; That is why I always feel good when I have a clean home. Because Heavenly Father wants me to have a clean home! Now I am not real great at this and will learn as we go too! If I try to do the whole house all at once I will crash and burn! So to prevent that lets start small! Tomorrow I will post a SSSS. Yes you got it Small and Simple Seconds Schedule. As for the rest of today? I know you want to do more but just keep that sink shiny. If you do want to do more. Have the family stay in the kitchen after dinner and clean all the dishes. It can be done in 10 minutes with the family helping. If you have to do it in the morning it could take upwards of an hour!