End of the Year Presentations

 Thank-you to everyone for an uplifting evening!. The presentations were edifying, many parents told me how impressed they were with your ability to share your testimonies. You are inspiring. Please remember to thank your parents for the work they put into the evening too. The decorations were beautiful, the coloring fun, the bread bowls and food were delicious and we were so blessed to use the video/sound equipment and the church.

Here is what I meant to say for when I introduced the presentations (what I actually said may have resembled it somewhat ;) )

I am glad you could all make it here tonight to watch these youth present what they have learned the last couple of months.

As you know, these youth are such a blessing to the world. They have strong testimonies and a light the touches and lifts those around them. I feel richly blessed to know them and to get to discuss these beautiful truths with them.

A lot of what we do in this class is look for evidence. We test a principle for validity as we see if it works in the lives of those we read about and in our own experience. We also read the words of great thinkers to see how they have reasoned these truths and we reason them out ourselves. We are also learning that true principles are all over nature and so nature can add another witness of their truth.

One of my favorite scriptures is in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” As we gather this evidence, our faith in Christ and His truth grows. This faith gives us the desire and power to change this world for the better.

I know these youth are witnessing that power each day in their homes. Their insights are profound. They make deep connections. One of my favorite quotes this year came from Carson when he said, “Happiness is family.” This simple truth is becoming lost in our world, but when I watch these youth working so hard to do right, I am excited to see the light they will continue to bring to these last days.

As you listen to these youth share the what they understand about happiness at this point in their lives, the Spirit may whisper something to you that you will want to improve or sacrifice in your life to grow closer to Him, it may be a good idea to write it down, test it, and see if it works in your life. At the end of class each week, I try to give the youth an opportunity to share any take home messages or ah-has they had during the discussion. Sometimes they prefer to keep those things personal and sometimes they share them with one another. After the presentations today, if anyone here has any ah-has or take home messages you’d like to share – we’ll also give you a chance to share before we close.

So, before I turn the time over to the youth, I just want to share my testimony of God’s great plan of happiness. As I have studied it more deeply the last few months, I felt the great love that our Heavenly Father has for His children in giving His perfect, obedient, loving Son as a sacrifice that we may all have the opportunity to experience a fullness of joy like His. I know that we can experience joy even now, away from our heavenly home, as we live in gratitude for Their unselfish love and as we strive to share it with others.

Here are your presentations (I accidentally didn't push "record" on Gracious' song, the end of William's thoughts, and for part of John's closing thoughts, but I think I got most everything else. I also ccidentally dropped the camera a few times during a couple of the presentations, sorry about that. They are king of in order except the first few. Gracious, if you would like to record your song and send it to me, I can add it on here).




Thanks to all of you for being who you are.