In November we held the Annual Young Women in Excellence night. It was a really special night, partly because we knew it would be our last big shebang as a presidency! We were released a few weeks later and I have to say I REALLY miss serving the YW in our ward. I felt so blessed to have the calling as long as I did, and I made some really wonderful friends.
Our theme for the night was "Be your own kind of beautiful", inspired by the Mormonad with the vase full of roses and one white daisy. We felt strongly the girls NEEDED to understand how beautiful and unique they are in the eyes of our Savior and our Father in Heaven. Don't we all??
We started off the night with a get to know you game we called "Getting to know your "buds". I should mention our ward boundaries had JUST been changed a few weeks before so we had several new girls that noone knew too much about. We just did a fun matching game where you had to match the girls name to a little known fact about them. It was very entertaining thanks to our Secretary (you make a great Vanna, Shantel!:) and I learned something new about most of the girls.
Then we did the project presentations. Each girl just came up and spoke about a project she completed. We also had tables set up all around the room to display things they had worked on throughout the year.
After that our amazing YW president spoke. She did a wonderful job talking about Sunflowers and how they always move towards the light. It was a really great talk. Then came the best part of the night. We had previously contacted all the parents and asked them to pick one flower that they felt represented their daughter. We then bought all the flowers and had them sitting in vase. It was so gorgeous, each flower unique and different. Then each parent came up and said why they chose that flower. It was SO beautiful to hear the tender words of love these parents had for their daughters, and a beautiful moment for all!
After that I said a few words, expressed my love for the YW, and gave them a little gift (big wooden flower shaped magnets with a scripture). Then we finished off the night with some fruit flower bouqets, chocolate dipped strawberries, and banana and pumpkin bread. It was a beautiful night, I hope the girls enjoyed it as much as I did :)
