How Gossip Effects Your Spirituality

Have five youth act out the skit.
Take youth outside (must be done OUTSIDE)
place 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke(must be diet)
in the parking lot away from cars (about 10 feet)

tell the youth that the 2-liter bottle represents their bodies, the soda inside represents their
spirits, and the mentos candy represents gossip
and hurtful words. Then tell them they are about to
witness what gossip and hurtful words do to the
spirits and self esteem of everyone involved,
mostly the gossiper. Hurt feelings is one of the
number one reasons why people leave the church.

place the mentos candies into the 2-liter
(quickly, and move away ASAP)
the soda will shoot from the bottle straight up
about 10 feet.

Here is the skit we used in our YW activity:
Characters: Sarah, Irene, Nancy, Kristin, Jessica
Setting: A Youth Social

Narrator: Sarah, Irene, and Nancy all grew up together in their small ward.
Kristin grew up with them too, but as they got older she didn’t hang out
With them as much. They all used to car pool to firesides, dances, and
Other church activities. Kristin started to feel uncomfortable around them,
Because they started to talk bad about the other youth.

Sarah: Man, these things are so boring! Why do we even come?

Nancy: One word…. Parents.

Irene: Yeah, tell me about it. I thought summer vacation was supposed to
Be a vacation, my mom won’t even let me sleep in past noon. I tried to tell
Her that I was up late online, but she doesn’t care.

Sarah: Yeah, whatever happened to free agency anyways?

(Jessica walks up)

Jessica: Hi girls! I haven’t seen you in so long. How are things going?
Sarah, your hair looks great! Well, I hope you all have a good time.

(Jessica leaves)

Sarah: Yeah, I know my hair looks great, but it looks like my little brother
Cut hers.

(Sarah, Irene, and Nancy burst into laughter)

Kristin: Why do you three always talk bad about people? Jessica is really
nice.

Irene: Because it’s fun.

Sarah: Yeah and besides, if they weren’t so stupid, we wouldn’t have
anything bad to say about them, so it’s their own fault for being the way
they are.
Irene: Hey, look at Jordan, where’d he learn how to dance… his great
Grandpa?

(More laughter)

Kristin: Well, I just think maybe you should be nicer to the other youth,
I mean, we all have enough peer pressure as it is, being LDS and all.

Nancy: Speak for yourself. I am just like everybody else at
School.

Kristin: You mean your friends don’t know that your LDS?

Nancy: would I have friends if they did?

Kristin: Well, yes, true friends anyways. You should never have to change
Anything about yourself, to make friends. That just jeopardizes your
Testimony.

Nancy: Well, I don’t even know if I have a testimony, so I guess I’m not
Jeopardizing anything.

Kristin: remember when we had that mutual a few years ago, and we were
Talking about how we felt when we were baptized, and how we knew it
Was the right thing to do?

Irene: I remember.

Kristin: Well, remember when we each had to stand up and share
Experiences, and Nancy talked about her grandma passing away, only
Two days after her baptism, and how grateful she was to know that she
Would see her grandma again someday, because they were all sealed in
The temple.

Nancy: yeah, so.

Kristin: Well, that was a testimony! You bore a testimony of temple work,
And eternal families! We all have testimonies of something, but, as we
Keep the commandments and do what Heavenly Father expects from us,
We gain more and more testimonies of all kinds of things. Testimonies
Don’t always have to be about good things, you can have a testimony
About bad, hurtful things, too.
Nancy: You can?

Sarah: How can you have a testimony about something bad?

Kristin: Irene, remember last year when we went to girls camp?

Irene: I’m trying to forget.

Kristin: Well, remember how you felt when those girls from the Kalamazoo
2nd ward asked you whose trash can you dug through to get your dress?

Irene: yeah.

Kristin: remember after you stopped crying, you said you would never
Go to girls camp again.

Irene: yeah. Those girls were such jerks, people like that shouldn’t even
Be aloud to call themselves LDS, don’t they know they give the church
A bad rep.

Kristin: Exactly, that’s what gossip and rude words do, it is one of the easiest sins to commit, but one of the hardest things to correct. When you punch someone, the bruise goes away fairly quickly, but when you hurt someone with words, the cut in their spirit rarely ever totally heals. That is
Why a lot of people stop coming to church.

Irene: I guess you’re right. It still really hurts, when I think about what
Those girls said to me.

Kristin: And the bad thing about gossip is that the gossiper rarely ever
Even knows the damage they have done, or even that they hurt someone, but, most of all they don’t realize how much they are damaging their own
spirit by gossiping.

Visual aid:
Take the five diet coke 2 liters, and set them about four feet apart on the
Cement outside. Take the mentos candies out of their packages and
Hand each of the five young women about three of them. Explain that the 2
Liters are the young women from the skit. The diet coke is their spirituality.
The mentos candied are the gossip and hurt feelings from the gossip.
Tell the five young women to drop their mentos into their 2 liters and get
Back out of the way as quickly as possible, and see what gossip does to
Spirituality.

(Moral) Gossip severely lowers our spirituality, and makes our inside feel
Like bursting out. Gossip is a very painful thing. Words are sharper than
Knives, so please be careful how you use them.