Church Callings

The Young Women is a youth organization within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The official definition of its purpose is "To help each young woman be worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordnances of the temple".  They have a motto, "Stand for Truth and Righteousness", and they have a theme, which is:

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love him.  We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places.   We will strive to live the Young Women values, which are Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue.  We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordnances of the temple and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."

Girls enter The Young Women organization at age 12, and remain until they reach the age of 18.  During these years, they are charged with completing the "Personal Progress" program.  Personal Progress is a goal-setting and achievement program, the purpose of which is to help each young woman:

Know she is a daughter of God;

Rely upon the Holy Ghost;

Develop personal religious behaviors, such as scripture study, prayer, obedience to commandments, and service;

Keep her baptismal covenants and prepare and qualify to receive temple covenants;

Develop talents and skills that prepare her for her future roles; and

Establish a pattern of step-by-step-progress through her life.

The Personal Progress program is all tidied up in a neat little booklet that the Young Women carry with them to document their progress.  Each value that is mentioned in the above theme has a series of "Value Experiences" and a "Value Project" that they must complete.  

This program typically takes the duration from ages 12-18 to complete, although some girls complete it earlier, and some more than once.  Once completed, the young woman has an interview with the Bishop to verify her completion of the program and her willingness to meet the standards of the program.  After that, she earns the Young Womanhood Recognition Award, which is a certificate and a beautiful pendant with the temple in Salt Lake City, Utah on it.

All right, that was the textbook Wikipedia version of the both The Young Women organization and the Personal Progress program.  And now lets just  move into my take on it.

This program is how Mormon girls get their reputation as being cooking, sewing, canning, gardening thrifty Moms and housewives that also happen to be virgins on their wedding night.  This is the basis behind all that.  Generations and generations of Mormon women have completed this program and in turn have turned into the leaders that teach it to the next generation.  Granted, some women get through this without THINKING they have those skills, and maybe they just don't like to do it, but I guarantee you in a pinch, they could dust off the skills they learned and put them to work.  

But what about people like me?  I converted to the church when I was 18, so I did not get to participate in the program when I was younger. 

I was really blessed by being called to be a teacher for the local Young Women organization in our church.  Leaders get to participate in the program alongside the young women and have the opportunity to earn the Young Womanhood Recognition Award too.  

Yippee!  

Let me tell you, and the ladies that served alongside me will agree, I jumped into it head first.  I always felt that if I had had that background and experience when I was younger that my teen years would have turned out much differently.  I wished on many occasions that I had those values instilled in me and the doctrine to go along with it as a child.  I was SO excited to have the opportunity.  I spent two years with those girls, and I loved nearly every second of it.  As an added bonus, I developed a really strong bond with the girls.  I love them very much and when I was released from my calling and called to a different organization, I cried for two days straight.  I cried in church when they released me, and some of my girls cried too.

That calling was a huge testimony builder for me.  To hear the scriptures and doctrine related in a way that comes from a spiritually beautiful and virtuous young woman resonated with my soul and helped me understand my Heavenly Father's plan for me in a way that I couldn't have gotten in any other organization.  I may have been a little late to the party, but I got there eventually.  And I'm thankful for the experience of participating in Personal Progress, and for the relationships formed with both the girls and the other leaders while I served with them.  

But most importantly, I'm thankful for the opportunity to earn my Young Womanhood Recognition Award.

Better late than never.