Moroni’s Promise

These activities were submitted by Whitney:

JANUARY
YM/YW Joint Activity: Tree of Life / Lehi’s Dream

Invitation:

“The life & road of Joseph is past and gone
So now the adventure begins as we move on.
The church at 7:00 is where you will want to be,
This Wednesday night for our “first” joint activity.
You will have fun, just come out and see
You will experience a dream that ends with a tree.
So tell all your friends and plan to be there
And take part in a dream that you’ll want to share”

“P.S. Most desirable refreshments will be served!!”

When we got there we were taken one group at a time down the hall. There they put blind folds on us. We were guided into the gym where balance beams, stairs, bridges, inclines, and tires were set up. we had to hold on to the rope the whole time. we were guided through it with a Holy Ghost helping us (it actually changed ppl thorughout, I wouldn’t reccomend this). Some temptations were also there, like saying come off and we’ll give you pizza!

Once through the gym we went into the hall where they removed our blindfold and we went through a really thick mist (from a fog machine) where ppl offered us video games and pizza.

When we got into a room there was a tree set up with white lights and there was fruit to snack on. Then they told us about Lehi’s Dream and we read in the scriptures.

[Later Whitney gave some me more information on a similar Lehi’s Dream activity she did at Girls’ Camp]

Another time when i did this was at Girl’s Camp and we walked down a trail in the woods and had one leader helping us and lots of leaders and older girls yelling at us. We had to keep our hand on the rope until someone touched us and then we took off our blind folds and saw the “angels” in white and they hugged us and we sat down looking at a huge tree w/ white lights and listening to music and were told to write down our feelings.

FEBRUARY
Combined activity – King Benjamin’s Address

Invitation–tan paper that had burnt edges on one side. Pictures of continent and egyptian type people. It said

“A Proclamation to the people of Nephi”

“Gather yourselves together at the Temple, which is a place called the Cultural hall, to hear the words of King Benjamin. Arrive by 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, February 18, 2004. Pitch your tent (also known as a pillow or blanket) according to your family, with the door towards the Temple. Bring with you the written record, which is the Book of Mormon. Your spirit wil be fed by the words and your body will be fed with food of the land”

We sat on blankets and listened to a guy dressed up give King Benjamin’s address from a “tower.” there were blankets strung up to look like a huge tower and he was standing on something. We had different competitions and games to do throughout his speech. One was decoding a message onto gold aluminum foil w/ a chopstick so it looks like engraved plates. We got Nephite money (Senines and Senums) which we used to buy nachos and toppings from Benjamin’s Bistro later.

Afterwards we had Nacho’s at “Benjamin’s Bistro” We bought toppings for our nachos with our money (you may want to let some people keep the money so they can scrapbook it or something)

MARCH
Combined Activity: Book of Mormon Live Drama

Invitation-looked like an ad for a new movie

written on a “billlboard” “NOW APPEARING Book of Mormon Stories Live!” In a star “Exclusive engagement! For the Young Women & Men of the Fifth Ward” On a film strip “Wednesday March 17 7:00 PM, Admit one, seats available in cultural hall, “Two Thumbs Up”–5th ward bishopric, enjoy cool refreshments”

We got another invitation on a bag of popcorn with paper around it that says the same thing as in the star above…..inside was a program for the night.

Each group was taken into a room and given props and a story to act out. We had “Abinadi” “Waters of Mormon” “Alma the Younger” “Nehor & Gideon” “Alma & Amulek” “Ammon” “Anti-Nephi-Lehies” and “Korihor” The groups then presented them for the rest of our youth. There was a stand (like you hold pictures on for display during lessons) that they put posters on with the name of the next act and had intermissions. They were preformed on a stage with trees and stuff from the foyers.

APRIL
Combined Activity – The Testaments

Invite–

“We are joining together for a journey through darkness. We must hold strong and prepare ourselves. Through this experience we wil gain knowledge and testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Meet in the Primary room Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at exactly 6:00 PM. We will begin our travel at 6:15 sharp. Provisions will be provided for your nourishment.” Then it quoted 3 Nephi 15:9.

We went to see Testaments together. They provided sack lunches with like nuts and granola bars. Stuff they would eat back then (kind of).

MAY
Combined Activity: Build Jaredite Barges

Invite

“Young Men & Young Women Combined Activity

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

7:00 P.M.

Let’s go to work to build barges according to the instructions of the Lord.
They must be small and light.
They must be tight so no water can get inside.
The ends must be peaked and the top must be tight.
The barge should be the length of a tree.
It should have a door that shuts tightly.
For fresh air cut a hiole in the top and the bottom of your barge.
How will you provide light for your journey to the promised Land?
When you have safely crossed the waters, floats will be served.”

We were given milk jugs, string, paper, sticks, etc. to build barges with our groups. We had to put a couple of stones in there like the brother of Jared did. “The brother of Jared” came and talked to us beforehand. Then we went to someone’s pool and raced. A couple of teams untwisted the string and tied them together and then pulled them across the pool. Then we had root beer floats and grape floats.

JUNE
Youth Conference: Moroni’s Promise

We were planning on everybody coming to Youth Conference because everyone participated [in the Moroni’s Promise program], but the stake said the 12 and 13 year olds can NOT go. So we had an activity Wednesday and then YC Thurs–Sat.

Wed–“Moroni” came and talked to us about when he was all alone and everyone had died. We had the “final battle” Nephites (blue) and lamanites (red) fought it out behind the church on a field by stepping on eachother’s baloons. Those that finished reading the Book of Mormon got a really cool award.

Thurs–supposed to go to 7 Peaks theme park..but it was raining so we went to the mall and hung out while we waited for Shrek 2 to start and then we watched that. Afterwards we went to the Manti Pagaent (we got rained out halfway through but it was cool). We also went to a talk about it (that may have been the next day)

Fri–we went to a lake and could go mountain biking, canoeing, or just hang out.

Sat–go home