February YSA Activity

We were so thrilled with the YSA activity held February 16th at the Maracas Waterall in Trinidad.  Every aspect of the day was planned with a theme.  The purpose of the activity this month was Unity.

 Check in/ sign image release form. Blessing on the light breakfast. Fill out name card.

When core numbers have gathered:

·        Group prayer; TBA, introduce theme: UNITY  & bird quote…. 

Unity quote:  It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.

 

·    Hand out copies of song, and sing together.  (Each life that touches ours for good, page 293)

3x5 card game – @ trail head

Principle: If we are going to be unified, we have to know people.

·      Card game – Each YSA has a 3x5 card with their name on it.  Divide the group into two groups.  Gather all the cards from one and keep them separate from the second group’s cards. 

·      Take all the cards from one group and pass them out in the other group.  Each YSA must go to the other group and find the person whose name they received and ask them the following three questions.  (Posted on a poster)

·      Tell me something that nobody else here knows about you. Name two things in your bucket list? ( two things you want to do before you die.)  If you could have dinner with anyone in the history of the world, who would you have dinner with and why?

·      After the majority seems to have finished the questioning, give them a minute to finish up. Invite some number to share what they learned with the group.  Would somebody like to highlight the person they interviewed?(Almost all of them introduced their new friend. )

·      Take reserved cards to the other group and pass them out, ask questions again and repeat the invitation to have some number of YSA’s highlight the person they interviewed. 

Application: It takes time to know someone. How much time have we invested in knowing other YSA’s who are less active and not with us today.  As we come together in this activity, how much time will you spend with friends you already have as opposed to getting to know someone new.  

Here they all were before the card game.  Gathering into groups of people they are comfortable with and already know.  The group was then divided in half and started the conversation with the other half of the group.  They loved this activity!

Recycled Animal Sculpture @ trail head

Principle: If we are going to be unified, we need to have clarity about our common goal.

·       “ And out of the ground I, the Lord God, formed every ^abeast of the field, and every fowl of the air;……… and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed into them the ^bbreath of life………

·       “ And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey.”

·       From the vast Serengeti plains in east Africa to the champagne colored hills of Kenya’s Masai Mara over 1.4 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and gazelle, relentlessly tracked by Africa’s great predators, migrate in a clockwise fashion over 1,800 miles each year in search of rain ripened grass.
One day as the rains begin to slow and grasses thin they begin to participate in this great migration  - By late July and August the countless herds, moving as one ,have amassed along the swollen Mara River - a final barrier from the short sweet grasses of the Masai Mara. Sometimes the crossing place they have chosen is shallow allowing the majority of animals to pass safely. In other areas the waters boil with drowning wildebeests and slashing crocodiles.  Regardless of the sacrifice, they forge on, compelled instinctually to follow a common goal for survival.

·         We, who among God’s creations, alone, were given agency, must choose those things that will guarantee our safety, spiritual survival and eternal destination.  We have something to learn from animals!  We are going to split into teams and fashion creature sculptures from recyclables.  Our success will be based on our working together to accomplish a common goal!

·       Divide the group into teams of 8. Each team is given the same amount and types of recyclables.

·       Each team is given 10 minutes to plan what creature sculpture they will create considering the recyclables they have. They can create any animal, fowl, or creature they want.

·       Each team has one roll of duck tape.

·       Allow 30 minutes for the construction to take place or as long as they are really engaged in the process.

·       The finished sculpture must be able to hold a phone book sitting on it without collapsing.

·       At the end each presents their creature and explains why they picked the creature they did and what they learned about unity or cooperation from that creature and their experience working together.

Application: Every idea can be improved upon. Sir Issac Newton, who discovered the laws of gravity, said: “If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.”

 Man's best friend creation group in the process!

 The whale group.  Can't you just see it transforming before your eyes from recyclables to an Orca whale?

 Here's the elephant group attaching the enormous ear!

 The bird group presenting their application of what we can learn from the creature they chose.  The presentations were thoughtful, spiritually grounded, and inspiring.

Enjoying the presentations

Sharing their thoughts about what we can learn from the behaviors and loyalties of animals.

 Working hard in the group creative process.

Presenting the Orca whale!

 The admirable qualities of elephants explained.

The elephant, dog, bird and nest and Orca whale on display while we hiked to the waterfall!

Hike

Principle:  To achieve unity we need to be aware of our brothers and sisters needs. The Savior said:…I say unto you, Be one, and if ye are not, ye are not mine. D&C 38:27

·       There are dangerous areas, slippery, steep situations in which we will need to help each other. 

·       In life, there are different levels of strength, physical competence, coordination and ability.  In our effort to reach the waterfall, remember that joy comes as we focus on helping others arrive safely in this journey, not charging ahead to celebrate our own superior ability! We will not succeed in this unity exercise as a group, unless each person arrives safely and without incident.

·       Application:  The Savior said: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love, one to another. John 13:35 We show love by serving and helping our brothers and sisters

 picnic and swimming @ waterfall

Electric pulse game @ waterfall

Principle: If you are involved in good things, pass the word along and bless someone else’s life.

·       Divide the group in half into two teams. Have each team stand in two long lines facing each other. Instruct each team to hold hands to form two long human chains. At one end of the two lines, in between the lines, place a stool with a duck tape ball on it. A leader stands at the opposite end in the middle of the lines facing the stool.

·       To play the game, have the two players at the front of the line watch the leader.  Have everyone else close their eyes and look downward.  Everyone has to be silent. 

·       The leader flips a coin and quietly shows it only to the first two players at the front of each line.  When the coin is “heads”, the two people at the front of each line immediately squeeze the hand of the next person in line as quickly possible.  Whenever each hand gets squeezed, he or she quickly continues to pass the current by squeezing the next person’s hand and so on. 

·       The goal is to be the first team to grab the ball on the chair when the last person in line feels the squeeze. 

·       If “heads” was flipped and a team grabs the ball, that team wins a point. 

·       If the team grabs the ball and heads was not flipped, then the point goes to the other team. After each coin flip, wait several seconds and then flip again.  Keep flipping until the coin shows “heads” The winner is the first team to score 10 points

Application: Next activity, invite a friend and reach out to those not with us today.  The Lord wants no empty chairs at the YSA table!

Scripture puzzle

Principle:  For the worth of souls is great unto the Lord. We need every one to complete his work.

·       Unity Scripture puzzle Mosiah 18:21 

·       “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”

·       Arrange teams of 8.  Each will receive a scripture puzzle in a baggie.  After everyone has received one, call begin and the teams work together to figure out the scripture.   The first team done gets 10 pints (or as many as there are teams) and on down to the last team get 1 pint. 

·       The group reads the scripture aloud together. 

Application:  We have a sacred responsibility to find the Lord’s lost sheep.

The groups raced to put together the scriptures with each word separated.  It was hard and we had some defectors trying to be spies to check out completed sentences. They had to post guards around their scripture to shield it from onlookers!  It was a very successful event and all that attended were uplifted by the theme.