Earlier this year we had an awesome missionary youth conference! For anyone looking for a fun thing to do with your youth, this is what we did! We got the idea from:
http://courtneyaitken.blogspot.com/2013/04/mutual-activity-ideacalled-to-serve.html
and
http://goforwardwithfaith.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-of-missionaries.html
The purpose of the activity was to help the youth feel the spirit and prepare them to share the gospel in the future & NOW.
We challenged the young men and young women to think about how they could prepare to be missionaries throughout the activity
FRIDAY:
Arrival 5 pm
- Receive missionary badge
- Get assigned a companion
We used these three continents to split the youth into districts. Once a young men or young women had opened their call, they would go to a designated spot for their district. All of the missionary tags had a dot on the back in a color representing their district. Once they had found their district, they found the person who had a matching “call". The person who had the same call became their "companion" for the weekend.
- Pictures by map with companion
- Go to opening Devotional
Welcome and Opening Devotional
- We sang the EFY Medley (Sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman)
- Brother Darren Schmidt spoke about missionary work (he’s a seminary/institute/efy speaker)
Dinner 6:30
We then went back to the church for mini-missionary
Workshops
Divide into 3 districts (two young men companionships and two young women companionships in each district) for the workshop rotations. When they received their mission calls they were called to specific missions with three areas. (ex: European, Asian, Spanish) Those were the 3 districts. Each districts had 2 adult leaders, one who happened to serve full time missions in the respective areas and their spouse. They were the ones to run to the “language and culture” workshops.
Rotations:
- Language and Culture:
Each group learned about their own specific mission area: European, Asian, or Spanish (depending on which missions their adult leaders served in).
*Things discussed and shared included:
- Language
- Culture
- Food (samples)
- Items from areas served - money, pictures etc.
- "Why did I go on a mission?"
- "How did you knew the church was true?"
- One story from mission experience
- Testimony
*We had everyone do this rotation first, then we broke into the other classes. *
- Door Approaches
The youth were given a brief (3 minute) instruction on effective door approches. They then had 6 different doors, designated throughout the building, to knock on. Little did they know, each door provided them with a unique experience. Golden Contact, Slammed Door, In a Hurry, Courteous But Not Interested, Bible-Basher, and spoke a different language.
3. Book of Mormon
We got Book of Mormons for everyone, and had a list of good scriptures to mark before giving it away, so they spent this rotations marking the Book of Mormon.
4. Questions
We got a list of FAQ on mormon.org and put all the questions in a cup, then gave each companionship a cup and had them ask/answers all the questions.
*We didn’t do #5 but I love the idea*
5. Returned missionaries: The Importance of the Spirit and Bearing Testimony
We had decided that we wanted to have 2 returned missionaries come
and speak to the youth about their missionary experiences.
We wanted to invite a sister and an elder.
The youth (especially the young women) loved hearing from a returned sister missionary
The sister was a returned missionary from the Tucson, Arizona mission where she taught in Spanish.
She talked about the importance of always having the spirit.
She explained how the spirit guides missionaries but also how having the spirit NOW could bless the lives of the youth.
The young men and young women loved hearing her testimony and were captured by her experiences and faith. It was a great way for the youth to recognize how they could prepare for their missions now.
The youth also loved hearing from a returned elder who served in the Paris, France mission.
He talked about having the courage to always bear testimony. It was awesome the way he related to the youth. He talked about how often we feel scared to share our testimonies with others.
He shared a few experiences of how he overcame those feelings on his mission and
was able to share his testimony and change the lives of others.
He encouraged the youth to prepare NOW
by sharing their testimonies with others.
End:
End with a song and a prayer, and go home. Be back at the Church at 7 am for breakfast and other activities.
SATURDAY:
7:30 am: Meet at the Church
Have the full-time missionaries teach about companionship study, then do companionship study and prepare a lesson to teach that night.
8:30 am: Go tubing at Solider Hollow (or whatever activity you want to do)
1 pm: Get home
4pm: Go back to Church for Service Project
We talked about the importance of writing missionaries and providing support from home. We have several missionaries serving in our ward and created folders for each one. We had small note cards for the the young men and young women to write notes to them. It was great for the youth to be able to share their testimonies with the missionaries and express their gratitude for their faithful service. We also put together care packages, with donations from ward members, for missionaries serving in the Salt Lake South Mission) We also watch Missionary Parody Videos while we wrote the letters.
6pm Dinner
We had ward members sign up to “Feed the Missionaries” then assigned each companionship a house to go to. They were fed, and then left a message with the family.
7:15pm Come back to Church
- Slideshow of leaders, parents, and siblings serving missions.
- Slideshow of pictures from the weekend
- care packages (small package of candy for each youth, letters from home—requested and collected from parents prior to activity— Small cookbook with easy recipes and cooking tips)
I actually thought it would be fun to have someone, dressed as a Mail Carrier(BISHOP), come into the gym and deliver the care packages and letters.
- Go home.
SUNDAY
- Fast & Testimony meeting: invite the youth to share their testimony. We had all the youth sit on the first 2 rows together
- Sister Missionaries taught the 3rd hour combined ym/yw lesson. The taught about why they served a mission, and the importance of knowing why you want to serve a mission.
- Concluding Fireside 7pm (in Relief Society Room)
- We had David A. Christensen speak about preparing to serve a mission.
Everyone had an awesome experience! It was fun and we all felt the spirit so strong. It was one of the best Testimony meetings that I have ever been too! We will definitely be doing it again.
