I DID IT! I FINALLY EARNED MY YOUNG WOMAN’S MEDALLION!
This is a huge deal to me, and my convert heart is elated!
It took me 2 months to do the whole thing because I wanted to finish it before Young Woman in Excellence in my ward on November 1st. It was a lot of work. It was most of my nights spent at our kitchen table reading and writing. Just ask Ben, I wasn’t fun to hang out with some nights, haha. But I was totally driven—having that deadline to work towards kept me on track.
I tried years and years ago but was completely overwhelmed by it all and gave up after just beginning.
My current ward uses these [free] packets from –HERE– and WOW did it make the WORLD of difference! Each packet is a different value and it has everything you need to do right there. It was organized, simple, easily laid out, and completely stress-free. Each night I would do all the reading and writing of 2-3 packets and then I’d write down a to-do list of all the goals, if any, I needed to do that week to work on and accomplish. On the back of each packet it gives you a long list of ideas for your 10-hour projects.
[Other resources I heard about that can help are: The PersonalProgressBinder (binder or an app version) and RedHeadedHostess products].
I obviously learned and grew so much, but what was even more amazing from doing my Personal Progress was that every night I sat down, sometimes for 4 hours a night, working on it, Gracie, on her own, sat down at the table with me to “read” her Book of Mormon and “highlight” and “make notes” like mom.
I mean, her copy is completely scribbled in and illegible with every color marker and pen and pencil you can think of. But, every time I would work on it, there she was, reading and marking her scriptures on her own for as long as I would. Hours sometimes!
“you reading, mom?”
“yeah”
“me, too.”
Never have I been more amazed in my life! What 3-yr old willingly does that? Man oh man, the impact we have on our kids when we don’t even realize it sometimes. After seeing such a huge change in her, I rededicated myself to do better to teach by example. Can you imagine the impact you could have if you did your Personal Progress in front of your friends and family?!
I’m BEYOND grateful for my ward’s Young Woman’s leaders to reach out to me to get me started. I’m beyond grateful for so many peoples support and love to help me accomplish this! Grateful for Ben for supporting me and sacrificing time for me to do this–and for the sunflowers he got me when I finished to show in his own way this was an important thing to accomplish.
And I love what our Young Women leader said last night when I crashed their Excellence night. She held the bookmark ribbons and said, “each ribbon doesn’t just represent a value, it represents a lot of hard work and accomplishment.”
If you are no longer a Young Woman and still want to do it, you still can! It is never too late. YOUR AGE DOES NOT MATTER. Being a convert or not, does not matter. Whatever your calling is, (I’m not in YW’s) does not matter.
I asked my Bishop what things need to happen to get started, and he said all you need to do is let your bishop know and he’ll get you going!
If you have done it, work towards your Honor Bee!
This is life changing. This is worth it. Your soul will thank you!
If you need help finding the time—check out my blog post on 5 Ways to Make More Time for Scriptures for some good ideas. TRUST ME – if I can do it, ANYONE can do it.
I think it’s healthy to regularly evaluate our lives and how we spend our time so we can get rid of anything that doesn’t matter and always seek to improve. Let’s vow to ourselves and our soul to focus on things that matter most instead of the fleeting things of this world! 🙂 Ask for help in prayer. Ask for help from leaders and family members.
The reality is, we make time for whatever it is we prioritize and deem important. Set goals. Say prayers. Work hard. Few things in life are worth so much dedication while proving to be life changing. But I believe this is 100% one of them.
Happy growing!
xox AL
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