July 5th Guest Speaker Inspirements!

Our first guest speaker, Mo, will be speaking to us on July 5th at 6:30 pm at the Johnson home. We will briefly discuss the articles we read and then listen to his story.

Mo (his name is Muhammad but he now goes by Mo) was born and raised in Sierra, Lione as a Muslim. He came to America to participate in the Atlanta Olympics for his country. He was introduced to the LDS church while he stayed in America to go to college. He converted and was cutoff and disowned by his family.

I can't wait to listen to his experiences!

Here are the insprirements to come prepared with:

1. Read: https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/selected-articles/god-s-love-mankind

2. Read:  https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/selected-articles/understanding-islam

OR watch: https://youtu.be/M40mVocHcew

OR listen to: A Latter Day Look at Islam by Daniel C. Petterson (you can find it at Seagull Book)

OR read/listen/watch 2 or all three of the above. I learned cool, interesting, and relevant stuff from each one.

3. Think of a question you'd like to ask your peers or our guest speaker.

*Our next activity about the Middle East will be an art project by Bro. Pack and a discussion on the book, "My Name Used to Be Muhammad" - so start reading it if you'd like to come! (See the previous post about content). It will probably be on Wednesday July 13th from 11-1 or the following Wednesday.

Middle East Adventures

I hope some of you are as excited as I am to learn more about this culture. With all the recent events in our world, I have felt a pull to learn more about Muslims and how some of them are raised to think.  I have been impressed with their devotion and fascinated by their history and truth in their beliefs as well as the parallels in our LDS history. It is also interesting to see how some people can twist truth with pride in subtle ways to get what they want and how that can create awful things. It is helpful to see how this happens so we can be aware when it creeps up in our lives and what we can do to defend against it. There is lots to learn from their history and beliefs.

It's summer,  so this is going to be more informal.  We won't meet and discuss these weekly,  this will be a place where we share resources and our thoughts as we come to better understand the Middle East and it's people. We will plan a few things together and invite those who are interested... guest speakers, field trips, movie nights, maybe a Middle East dinner at the end.

Feel free to add books, articles, current events, videos, movies, field trip ideas, and guest speaker possibilities.

I keep being amazed at how God's work is growing in these very persecuted areas. I think they seek and need His miracles more than we do in our comfortable state, so they see them often.

Videos:
Here are some videos with a few examples:

CD:
I have been listening to "A Latter-Day Look at Islam" by Daniel C. Peterson that Sis. Pack recommended.  I have learned A LOT from that 90 min CD (I bought it at Seagull Book). I've watched some of his YouTube videos and learned a lot.  I really want to read his books now.

Guest Speakers:
Bro. Pack has a friend who converted from Islam who is willing to come tell us of his experience  - that will be fascinating! Sis. Pack also knows of an LDS refugee family that left Pakistan when things got really dangerous who may be able to tell us of their experiences. She also knows an archeologist that speaks 17 languages and digs in the Middle East who knows much about the area. The author of Saving Babylon is another possibility for a speaker. And so are Sis Pack's parents who served a mission in the area.

We'll send out articles to read before the guest speakers come so you can have some background information and better questions to ask. You'll also be more prepared if you read the books below since the guest speakers will be from the areas these books are written about.

Books, Discussions and Art Projects:
There are some books our family plans to read this summer. When we are finished reading each book, Bro. Pack will do an art project with us when we discuss it. We'll discuss the first one in the beginning of July, the 2nd one in the middle of August and the last one around the end of September. I will post specific dates when I know them, but if you want to come to the discussion and art project, you can start reading them now.

1. July:  My Name Used to be Muhammed. (We are reading this out loud and I have had to edit some parts out as we read - Sis. Pack recommends that maybe the parents summarize the chapters from "What is Love?" to "Higher Education"). Cassia and I heard him speak at a morningside a while back. His story is not only inspiting, but really helped us understand some of the culture and difficulties of trying to pull away from it.

2. August:  I Am Malala. We have the student version. I have heard he good things about this book, but haven't yet read it.

3. September:  Saving Babylon: The Heart of an Army Interrogator in Iraq Sis. Pack will probably be able to get the author to come speak to us.

Some books for younger siblings (or older... I personally love reading these books too)
1. Samuel Zwemer: The Burden of Arabia - Christian Heroes
2. The Arabian Nights  (you can listen to this too on Tales2go)
3. Three Cups of Tea - Mortensen
4. Bronze Bow - Speare
5. The Breadwinner - Ellis

If you want even more resources,  Sis. Pack collected a list of more possible books - including picture books you can learn culture from as you read to little siblings! She is typing a lot of them out with links, but in the meantime - here is a picture I took of her notes:

It has been a fascinating summer so far. I look forward to learning more. I hope some of you want to join us! Let me know :-)

Summer, Presentations, and Next Year

Sorry it has taken me so long to update and get information out. We have been having a busy summer so far! I hope you are all enjoying some family time.
I loved hearing your thoughts on our last day of class about the things you'd learned during the school year and your testimonies about God's love and direction. If you ever want to go through the "Joy Cycle" again with anything you are struggling with, or teach it to your family, here is a link to the handout I gave you:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BT2sPGY21qh4rw9mF8rcrs4o4ZFOkuCLIUg-MiplsbY/edit?usp=drive_web

Presentations:
Most of you were not ready to present to families yet. What I will do is have the family presentation happen at a vision night for families at the beginning of the next school year - at the end of August. So save your presentations until then if you have one ready and feel free to work on more through the summer.

What to present:
Just pick a project that interests you this summer or that you'd been working on last semester- weather it's a book you've been wanting to read, a video you've wanted to make, an activity you've wanted to plan, etc... and find a way to share a principle or lesson you learned from the experience. Keep in mind the creativity principles you learned from spring semester.

Next year:
As you know, our family will be moving in the late fall or winter. We will still be driving here and doing this class, but it may be at the Packs or rotating houses. We will still plan to meet Fridays from 2:30-4:30, but it may be bi-weekly instead of weekly. If we do bi-weekly - on the off weeks, we will have an online discussion instead.

Also, we will clump our activities into one weekend to avoid so much driving. In other words, each semester we will do an optional camping/overnighter (people can also drive back and forth in the evening and morning if you'd rather not stay overnight) where we will do a hike, simulation, discussion, movie night and temple trip.

We are going to study principles about how to live as we study cultures throughout the world. We will also be looking for creative ways to serve and teach others as we do so.

This Summer:
The first culture we will be studying is that of the Middle East. I have already felt my awareness, compassion and testimony grow as I'm learning about this area of the world. Sister Pack has shared some great resources and has some speakers she can schedule that we can learn from as we seek to understand this part of the world and the people in it. We are looking for places to visit as well.

If any of you or your families would like to start studying the Middle East with us this summer, I will write another blog post with resources, videos, books and current events that Sis. Pack has found. You can add other resources that you find in the comments section. Dads are especially encouraged to send links current events in the area! It would be also be awesome for you to also post your thoughts as you read and learn about these people and the culture.

When we have the guest speakers, I will post some assignments that will help you prepare to hear them speak.

Let me know if you or your families are interested in our summer Middle East adventures and if you're planning on continuing with this class next year. Thanks!

Spring Week 9 - Fail-proof Pattern

This is our last official class!  Let's make it a good one.  Please come prepared and ready to participate. I will do my best to make it worthwhile for you.

We talked about inspired ideas and acting on them because we love and trust God and want to do whatever He asks. And we discussed how we should never lose sight of that goal as ideas come and as some grow and some lead us to different ideas. We will gradually learn to better hear His voice and discern His will as we seek for it.

This week we will learn a fail-proof way to seek His will and do it.  It works.  I hope you will apply it, I can think of nothing that will bless your life more!

Inspirements:
1. Be prepared to share something that you've learned this year that has blessed you're life.

2. a)Listen to this talk:

b) Pick a prompting you want to be better at following and apply the pattern in the video to see how it goes. Be prepared to share what you learned.

c) Help one another with your personal and project goals. Most of you probably forgot them during Shine camp so today is a good day to choose one and get going on it again. It may be wise to combine your personal goal with inspirements 2a and 2b.

3. Bring what you prepared last week about a battle line you are interested in learning more about and what you've learned (We will get to it this week! )

4. Write a quote and discussion question below.

Spring Week 8

Thanks everyone for a great discussion last week. I loved hearing your thoughts on agency and motivation. I hope you have been practicing some of what we talked about in finding the underlying fears that demotivate and countering them with love and sacrifice.

Please do the following to prepare for class this week:
1. Read Creativity Inc. Chapters 7-9
2. Last week, you picked a battle line that interested you, this week learn something that is going on in the world right now in that battle line and be prepared to share.
3. Help one another with personal and project goals.

Spring Week 7 - Battle Lines

1. Check to see how your goal partners would like to be helped with accountability and help them. Work on your personal and project goals.
2. Watch the following video to 1:07:44:

3. Write a discussion question, quote and thought or principle from the video in the comments below. Also, be ready to share which "battle lines" appeal most to you and why.

*FYI - the video mentions a study done at BYU - that study has since been discredited because of faulty research methods.

Week 6 - Identity, Candor and Fear

Thank-you all for your inspiring participation during the discussion and for your hard work in recording the song. It is sounding great.

I did not want to take time from the discussion to ask each of you about your project goal and your personal goal because I thought it might be more efficient if you each wrote it out in the comments below instead. Please write it by Sunday. If I don't get everyone to write their goals in the comments, I will go back to asking you individually each class, but I do hope you'll write it yourself to save us some time.

I wasn't planning on having class this week because many of you will be busy with Maria, but since we were not able to film the music video last week, I wondered if we could find a time where we could get together to film? Let me know if you are available either Tuesday from 2-4, Thr. from 3-5, or Friday or Saturday morning.

For your ispirements, there is a bit more reading than usual since you have 2 weeks, so start it soon.

Inspirements that are due 2 weeks from yesterday (on May 6th):
Write: Project and personal goal below. Help one another with reminders and checking up.
Read: Creativity Inc. Chapters 4-6
Write: A discussion question, quote, and a way to apply something from the chapters to your family or to your collaborative projects.

Over the last two weeks, several people have neglected writing the question and quote. Please do not neglect it this week.

Spring Week 5: Maria and Filming

Alright, I am excited for this week and for what we have planned for the class. I apologize for the disorganization the last couple of weeks. We have had some difficult family decisions to make that have required some research and pondering and it has kind of absorbed me. But I think the hardest decisions are over and I am excited to move forward and get back on track with mentoring this class.

Thank-you for your feedback last week. Please feel free to offer feedback about anything anytime in the future - readings, activities, ideas - I want this to be a class that grows with us as we understand what we need from each other more each week.

We will be meeting at my house at 4:30 this week to record the song and do our book discussion. We will then drive to Bountiful to film the music video.  We will stop at Little Caesars on the way to Bountiful so if you have a couple of dollars to donate, that would help, but it's not mandatory.

If there is time after the filming, we can go back to my house for a movie (Either Mother Teresa or God Grew Tired of Us).

Here are this week's inspirements:
1. Read: Maria: My Story (chapters 1-11). Look for decision making principles.
2. Write: A favorite quote and discussion question from the reading in the comments below.
3. Accountability: Write your personal and project goal below. Remember to ask your accountability partners each day about: Personal Goal, Project Goal, and assignment.

Last week, everyone present when we started class had reached all their goals, but I still need to hear from the following people who were 45 minutes late to class or who did not come:
Miles
Carson
Caden
Isaiah
Cassia
William
Rachel
Ashley

If you all reached your goals and completed your assignments for class, we will have one week down and just 3 to go for our fun class activity. We still haven't decided on an activity, but here are some suggestions we can talk about:
Cliff Jumping at Causey Reservoir
Camping (if we can get 2 dad's to go and one more mom).
Go see a Play or Concert
Rock Climbing
Canoeing
Mystery Room
Other ideas?

See you Friday! (Let me know if you won't be able to make it.)

Spring Week 4

1. Read chapter 3 of Creativity Inc
2. Memorize the first 8 lines of If (by Rudyard Kipling)
3. Check on each other about your personal goal and your creative project goal
4. Write a discussion question and a favorite quote on the reading below!

Spring - Week 3 - Conference and Accountability

I left my camera in the car so the only picture I got was in the parking lot as we were leaving. Sorry, Caden and Carson had left by then!

I am glad so many of you were able to go to Salt Lake to listen to the Lionheart presentation. We missed those of you who couldn't come :-( But I will summarize my notes below - though they include some of my thoughts (anyone can feel free to add to my summary in the comments - I'm sure I miss good stuff.)

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Presentation:
They said to achieve your dreams you should:
1. Explore (you don't know what you don't know - learn about all sorts of different areas and see each experience as an opportunity for growth).

2. Reflect (take time to be still, notice beliefs you hold that are not true - like that you are not good enough - and crush them)

•  Tool: Think of a memory where you first encountered a feeling. Put the memory in your mind. Picture Christ stepping in at that point in time and telling you something true to replace the lie you walked from that experience with.

3. Jump off a cliff (take action, even if it is scary. You may not know the whole picture, but take the next step.)

• Tools: Tribe - Find people who encourage you
• Mentors (Christ is the ultimate mentor - develop a relationship with Him by doing what He prompts you to do, He may lead you to other mentors who can help).
• Systems: Set up an accountability system - write your goal, find a partner to keep you accountable, set up a consequence for not achieving it
• Affirmations (say positive things to yourself)

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Discussion:
We discussed that we don't necessarily have "ONE big dream" (besides exaltation), but that Christ can guide us along in accomplishing the dreams He has for us (which are sometimes different than we think and always better).

We talked about how we can use this class to help us "explore" - find true principles in everything we read, including great works readings, "reflect" - with one another in group discussion, online comments and in our reflection books, and "jump off a cliff" - set up goals and hold each other accountable

We were sitting in a circle and decided to report to the person to the right of us, and that person would hold us accountable that week. We can report to them through a quick chat message, text or call each day. If the person who reports to us hasn't reported that day - we may want to send them a reminder. It may be helpful to remind them too of the inspirements to do that day. We decided that if everyone accomplishes their goals and inspirements 4 weeks in a row - we would do something fun as a class (maybe a mystery room), but if someone does not keep their goals, then the whole class starts over.

Here are the goals and the person you are reporting to (Some of the order changed from last night because I dropped in the names of the people who were not here in between some who were so you could answer questions for them about it if they have any)

I know I probably worded some of your goals wrong -  so if I worded it wrong or you weren't there to tell me a goal, please comment or email me and I will put it up here.

Try to report as early in the day as possible once you have accomplished your goal to get the ball rolling through the circle.

Accountability:
Ashley: (reports to Cassia): To replace negative thoughts with kind words when she is frustrated with siblings
Cassia (reports to Isaiah): To write a daily priority list to keep her on track
Isaiah (reports to Adam): To make a priority list with time assigned to it
Adam (reports to Elisabeth): Write a daily list (I can't remember how you structured it...)
Elisabeth (reports to Megan):
Megan (reports to McKena): Replace negative thoughts with positive ones (I think this was more specific, but I can't remember how you worded it.)
McKena (reports to Rachel):
Rachel (reports to William): Do something she knows she ought to do, but is scared to every day.
William (reports to Carson): Finish his song this week to play on Friday
Carson (reports to Miles):
Miles (reports to Gracious): Learn something about a talent daily
Gracious (reports to Sydney): Remind herself that she is a child of God when she has negative thoughts.
Sydney (reports to Caden):
Caden (reports to Ashley):
Karen: (I will report to Cassia and William) - Make a list of action items after conference

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Inspirements:
Now, here are the inspirements for the week. I put a suggested day in brackets by each one so you have an idea of when it would be good to get them done, but you can adjust as needed as long as they are done by their due date.

1. Continue thinking about your semester project as you listen to conference. See if God puts any additional thoughts in your mind about what you can do or how you can do it. [Sat and Sun]
2.  Take notes during conference about decision making principles [Sat and Sun]
3.  Share the principles you found in the comments below by TUESDAY (and questions if you'd like) [Mon]
4.Read the comments and write your own principles in your decision making notebook as you read (answer questions if you'd like). [Wed]
5.  Answer 3 or more questions from last week on last week's post. Write a scripture, quote or experience that supports your answer. [Thu]
6.  Accountability Report and Memorization (first 4 lines on IF) [Everyday]

I would also like us to record "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" this coming week so if Elisabeth could bring her cello, Isaiah his guitar, and I will see if Nathan can come up for the piano (if he can't - can anyone else play the song?)

Also, I wrote a blog post the other day after watching the movie The Walk that goes along with what we discussed last night after the presentation. You can read it here if you'd like.

Spring Week 2 - Daily Decisions that Inspire Creativity

Thank-you all for your comments and discussion questions and principles today. I enjoyed learning from you and thinking about what sort of things entice me to procrastinate and what kind of love keeps me from doing so.  I appreciate each of you so much. I hope you are all excited for our final semester!


Here are this week's inspirements. You already wrote #1 in class so just post it below ASAP so we can encourage one another in our goals. Don't procrastinate the rest of the items though... #5 especially should take some thought. And have a happy Easter!

1. Post: Your goal for the week from Friday's discussion
2. Read: Creativity Inc. Intro - end of Chapter 1. I also copied and encourage you to read chapter 2, but I will leave it up to you. I found it fascinating. (And buy the book now if you haven't yet so you will have it for next week. This is the last time I will be linking the PDF on Google Drive)
3. Watch: Should You Live for Your Resume or Your Eulogy?
4. Write: in the comments below, a scripture and principle and discussion question from your reading or watching that relates to making daily decisions that inspire creativity
5. Prayerfully Decide: on a creative project for the semester, (you can use the decision making principles you have written so far to help you decide!) be prepared to share it with the class. (Don't worry, you can change your mind about it later if you find it doesn't work out).
6. Buy or find: notebook to keep track of decision making principles

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Here are everyone's presentations from Monday. I enjoyed listening to all of you and the variety of things you each learned! Thank-you for preparing for this and being willing to share with others... my phone kept running out of memory so if your presentation gets cut off, it is because my phone ran out of memory and I had to erase some things before I could film again. Plus, you probably noticed I was struggling with my little ones that day so the filming sometimes goes a little crazy.


 

Spring week 1: Daily Decisions

Thank-you all for your participation and insights on our nature walk. I hope the Spirit gave you something to ponder at home afterwards. If you want to share anything you've thought about since, please comment below!

One thing I thought about was how a better analogy at the river would have been to consider the bank of the river the boundary we discussed and the river could represent the filthy river in Lehi's dream... that seems more accurate because crossing the river took us to a beautiful view and that is not the case with crossing boundaries :-) But the bridge could have represented Christ's help in overcoming a temptation to get in the river... anyway I'm sure there are all sorts of other ways to see that analogy.

I also though about how when I really love someone, I don't try to see how far and how long I be away from them without offending them - instead I try to do all I can to stay connected to them and be around them. I want this attitude towards my Savior.

One more thought I had was a connection between the scripture Caden shared last week and the comment Elisabeth made when I asked about the state of our heart when we are trying to see how far we can get to the edge without breaking any rules (if you don't remember, she insightfully said our heart was already on the other side when we had that attitude). Caden's comment last week was "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." So putting those things together helped me realize the importance of keeping my heart on serving my Savior.

It's funny, but when I went to that Nirvana concert I mentioned in class - I really didn't think I was breaking any rules in the Strength of Youth pamphlet - and since I wasn't breaking rules (I thought Nirvana was "good" music) - it was okay for me to be there. I felt the same way about having a boyfriend in high school (even though we were together very often - we weren't going on official "dates" so it was okay). That was the attitude of a heart that was in the wrong place at the time of those decisions. (But just so you know - I had a different upbringing than most of you and I did not understand the gospel well in my teen years - thankfully I had a change of heart before it was too late).

I am excited to discover principles of decision making with you this semester. Last semester we learned all about the importance of rest and play along with meaningful work. This semester, we want to discover what principles can help us make decisions that will allow us to incorporate those things in our lives to live joyfully and wholeheartedly.

Correct principles of decision making should be practiced every day. Not only because we will need that practice when making big "life-altering" decisions, but also because it is the small, daily decisions that really determine where we go in life.

This is a very busy time of year for many of you so I will try to keep the reading light this semester, just be sure you are writing questions and quotes as well as applying the principles you discover each week to make this an inspiring end to your year.

Here are the inspirements for this week:
1. Make: A 5ish minute presentation about your take home message last semester to present to families on Monday.
2. Watch: Inside the Mind of a Master Prcrastinator
3. Find a principle (or more if you'd like) in the scriptures about how to become better at not procrastinating. Post your principle(s) with the reference and a discussion question below.
4. Reply to 4 (or more) people's comments.

Week 10 - Zayin, the Illusion of Fear, and Letting Go of Being Cool

 
I sure love you guys. Your online discussion last week was so beautifully profound, I wish we could get all the youth in the world to take a peak at it and see how great it is to be collaboratively seeking truth and helping each other dig deeper into how to joyfully live. You are incredible. I think you should try to continue commenting on quotes and questions in the future when you can - I believe it helped deepen the class discussion for everyone.

So the class discussion was also wonderful - we talked about how to stop judging ourselves, how to be still and how to practice calmness and joy through gratitude and love. We also listened to music as we made ourselves slashed names (like it talked about in Guidepost 9: writer/cook/philanthropist etc). If you were not in class, I encourage you to try this - use your patriarchal blessing as a guide too - and make your name as long as you want. Most of us had awesomely long names. We talked about how we are all unique and we need to stop pigeon holing ourselves into "one identity" that we are known by.

We also go into teams and made plans for a collaborative project to work present to families. You guys came up with such great ideas in just 10 minutes! Impressive.

Here are this week's inspirements. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Watch: Jim Statley talk about Zayin in the Hebrew alphabet.*
Read: The Illusion of Fear 
Read: Guidepost 10 and Final Thoughts
Write: A goal from last week's reading/discussion, and a quote and question from this week's video or readings. Comment on other people's questions and thoughts if you'd like.
Prepare: Take your writing from last week, and prepare a 5ish minute presentation to teach our families what you have learned this semester. You can do it in any creative way of your choosing - speech, skit, game, video, song, poem, art, powerpoint, etc.
Collaborate: on this Google doc to help with the collaborative presentation we will be putting together on Friday.


*Jim Staley is a Hebrew scholar and a preacher. I love his talks on the Hebrew alphabet. The letter Zayin is the letter of perfection. I think you will see connections to what we've been reading and discussing.

Here is another song about stillness:

And here is the song we played on our hike, if any of you were interested:

Week 9 - Letting Go of Anxiety and Self-Doubt

This morning was so nice and peaceful. I am glad some of you could join us for the temple and I hope everyone had a reflective hike.

We wrote and talked about things that "get in the way" of our spiritual daily habits, educational goals, family relationships and our joy and creativity.

We hiked with things that got in our way (with arms tied to each other's and then feet tied to each other's feet).

And we talked about why we let things get in our way. It was discussed that it is often because it is easier or more comfortable to get distracted or just go with the status quo. But we agreed that hiking with "things in our way" is much slower and difficult than when we let things go.

It was mentioned that chains can be broken one by one and how uncertainty is like faith (described in Alma 32) and it is where curiosity, inspiration, and creativity, growth and experimenting take place. As we feel truth swell in our hearts, enlighten our minds, enlarge our souls and become delicious - it grows into knowledge and our faith becomes dormant in that thing. Then we can get curious about the next adventure in growth.

We just have 2 weeks of class left before our family presentations! Any of you  are welcome to come over anytime this week to get going on them and we will make some time to work on it on Friday. We are available Tuesday before 5, Wednesday before 3, and Thursday after 2 and before 5:30.

Plan on an extra long class on March 18th (I had it on the calendar from 2:30-6:30) we will have a simulation and finalize our projects.

Here are your inspirements for this week:

1. Read Guidepost 8 and 9 in GOI,, comment below with: your goal for this week (from Guidepost 6 or 7), a favorite quote (from Guidepost 8 or 9), and a question by TUESDAY.
2. Carve out 30-60 minutes to sit quietly outside (somewhere without people) with a pen and reflection book, your Gifts of Imperfection book and the this printout with a review of the semester. Write down what you have learned about yourself and wholeheartedness through the last couple of months.**
3. Type out what you don't mind sharing.  Include a personal example. Post it in your own blog, a google doc, or on our discussion blog  by Wednesday. Type the link to your writing in the comments below. Several in the group are out of town this weekend and will need to see your writing so they can comment by Thursday. 
4. Comment on at least 4 questions and 4 writing links (8 total) by Thursday.

There are 15 youth in our class,  so we should have 16 goal/quote/question comments by Tuesday (including mine) and 16 more writing links by Wednesday (32 total). And don't forget to comment on 8 things by THURSDAY night.

**if you were not in class Saturday. It would be helpful to start your writing with the questions we pondered on our hike:
1. What gets in the way of your spiritual daily habits? Why do you let it?
2. What are your daily and long term educational goals? What gets in the way of your daily ones? Why do you let it?
3. What gets in the way of joyful family relationships or what causes contention in your home? Why do you let it?
4. What gets in the way of your daily joy and creativity? Why do you let it?

Week 8 - Things That Get in the Way

What a wonderful discussion last night! Thank-you for coming prepared with questions and quotes to make it so meaningful. I hope you learned as much as I did. It was fun watching Ashley be a shepherd to all of the blindfolded, baa-ing sheep as she tried to clap and whistle you into your sheep pen. I enjoyed hearing how you related it to the power of one person with vision, and the importance of uncertainty and it's value to faith. I hope you'll remember that weakness and uncertainty are good things as they help us desire to tune in to God's voice. I thought it was interesting how you all decided to find each other when you were blindfolded and then try to listen to Ashley's signals together. It showed how we can help one another and also hinder one another - depending on our ability to listen and how well we have learned to see and hear.

Remember, next week - March 5th is a Saturday morning activity. We will meet from 9am-12. Some of you wanted to stay after and work on your creative projects for the family presentation so please feel free to do that too!

Here are the inspirements for next week: I put the Gifts of Imperfection readings on Google Drive so you or your parents can know where to cross off swear words in your own books.

1. Read: The Things that Get in the Way  (GOI 31-53)
2. Watch: The Power of Not Knowing 
3. Read: Guideposts 6 and 7
4. Act: Today (Saturday) Write a goal from Guidepost 5 on the comments below and work on it this week
5. Discuss: Write a discussion question and a quote from your readings on the comments below
*Work on anything you were assigned in your collaborative project group and on your memorization

And here is a video I put together with some highlights from last night ;-)

 

Week 7 - Blindness

Thank-you to those who participated in a wonderful discussion on The Great Divorce yesterday. We had a small class, but you had great, edifying things to say. I love hearing your insights and watching you inspire one another.

We missed those who were not there. If you could not make it, please read and do #1 below:

#1 We discussed Cassia's question while we cross-country skied last week: "What hope do we have? If the Youngbergs, who are good skiers, still fall; and people like David (in the Bible)who knew so much still fell - what hope do we have for making it through alright?"

In class we talked about vines and how when a plant is connected to it's vine - it grows. When a plant gets disconnected it starts to decay. Unlike plants, because of the atonement, we can reconnect to our Vine whenever we have lost connection. But no matter how much we know - if we disconnect from the Vine because we put anything else in front of Him, we have no hope for growth or for reaching our potential.

The Great Divorce is about some of the things that entice us to put them in front of God. As a class, we wrote out the enticements and the way to overcome them for each person in the book.  If you were not in class, I am asking you to do this on your own for the following people:
                                               Enticement                            Remedy
The Frightened Ghost:
The Cynic:
The Grumbler:
Painter:
Robert's Wife:
Pam:
Ghost with the Lizard:
Sarah Smith and the Dwarf:

Example:                            Enticement                               Remedy
The Bishop:  Power, Position, To appear smart and new     Take time off to connect with God and check his motives.  

  Everyone: Please do the following for next week:
#2  Read: It Isn't a Sin to be Weak
#3 Read: On Certain Blindness in Human Beings 
#4 Watch: On Being Wrong 
#5 Write: A quote and discussion question below
 
What some need to catch up on from other weeks:
#6 If you haven't done so - write your thoughts on perfectionism or wholeness -  If you are stressing out about the "essay" - just write what you have learned so far about one or the other - don't worry about making it professional or essay-ish. It doesn't have to be perfect ;-) Even a paragraph of your thoughts would be alright.
 #7 If you didn't read Guidepost 5 last week - read it this week. We will be discussing it in class. Keep working on your gratitude goal this week.

Note: If you are behind in class and didn't attend yesterday - you have 7 things to do this week (8 if you still have to finish The Great Divorce), so get started early.
If you are all caught up and came to class yesterday - you just have 4 things to do this week.

Please be sure you check them all off before Friday. We want to inspire one another, not set the bar low for each other about what is expected in this class. I know everyone feels very busy right now. It's that time of year. But as much as I LOVE you all, I'd rather not mentor a class where the bar is set low. <3


 

Week 6 - Catch Up!

Thank you for being such a great group to take cross-country skiing. I was impressed with your perseverance and desire to help one another. We were skiing for 4 1/2 hours (not counting driving time!)  I hope you all had a good time and learned some things about yourself and how you play the "game of life." Thanks for always being respectful of me and my ideas and trying to discuss while staying balanced on cross-country skis. I heard bits and pieces of your discussions and I loved what you had to say and how you think.We missed those of you who couldn't come :(


It looked like some of you were behind on our assignments so this is sort of  a catch up week. There are a couple of new things so all of you will have some work to do, but those who are caught up will not have very much to do this week. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE COMMENTED BELOW ON #5 and #6 BY THURSDAY.... please - it is so much easier to plan class (and so much more pertinent to you) when I know what is on your mind by your questions, applications and quotes.

1.  Finish The Great Divorce if you did not finish it. We will be finishing the discussion this week (it was hard to discuss while skiing ;-) )
2. Write a paper on whole-hearteness or perfectionism (or a contrast paper contrasting the two - or some other theme that has emerged from our studies that you would like to look into more). Or find another way to present what you have learned about these attributes. (If you already sent me your paper, or if you presented something, you do not have to do it again unless you want to... that would be  Miles, Gracious, Nathan, Megan, William... I'm guessing most of the rest of you wrote but forgot to send it).
3. Finish Part 1 of On Writing Well
4. Read Guidepost 5 if you didn't last week and write your gratitude goal -  or how you're doing with or if you're modifying it this week it if you already wrote it -  on the collaborative group or on the comments below. 
5. WRITE A DISCUSSION QUESTION, FAVORITE QUOTE AND APPLICATION IN THE COMMENTS BELOW (unless you're Aaron because he is the only one who did it last week).
6. Sign up to help with something below for our family presentation night. We can have several people sign up for each if they want to collaborate - they can write their own ideas and then see which they like best or find a way to put them together. Write your choice in the comments below. You can work on more than one if you'd like. We will start collaborating on these this week in class so come prepared with written ideas.

• Write a new rendition AND/OR a way to present Precious Savior Dear Redeemer to the families.
• Think of a way to present the poem in a creative way to families
• Think of a way to present the scripture in a creative way to families
• Write or direct a skit about the theme of the sememster (whole-heartedness).
• Write a script for a short video (documentary, music video, play, interviews, etc...) about "creating a peer inspiring environment" to present to families and possibly put on youtube for others.  
• Create a different project to collaborate with others on to present to families

Week 5: The Great Divorce

We played with play dough in class today. We talked about how the play dough has the potential to become whatever we mold it to be. We also have everything in us - right now -  to become what we are meant to become.  We are whole. That whole can be make perfect someday as we ask God, "What lack I yet?" and let Him mold us step by step.

Thanks everyone for a great discussion on love, belonging and whether or not we can love others more than we love ourselves. I always learn so much from you and I love spending time with you each week. Here are the inspirements for next week:

 Sat. February 13th 8-1

1.  Post Goal for Guidepost 4 and Read Guidepost 5 in Gifts of Imperfection
2. Read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
3. Take notes on what motivated each character (and himself) and what keeps them from progressing.
4. Write a favorite quote, application and question in the comments below
5. Work on the Poem and Scripture
6. Work on creative project ideas! Maybe we can start filming while we ski!

Week 5 - Wholeness vs Perfectionism

Thank-you for your participation on Friday night! I loved your thoughts and insights. I have more I want to do for my creative project about a peer inspiring environment, but I will write about that on our creative collaboration google group later on tonight.

You will want to start this week's inspirements soon because you will need to do some research for your writing assignment (you have already done a lot of research in our readings so far, but you will probably want to research a little more on your own - a word study on perfection and one on wholeness would certainly help you). These inspirements go along with Carson's quote from Friday night, "I am most myself when I am serving. We are ourselves when we are missionaries."

Inspirements:

1. Read: Exploring the Power of Love, Belonging, and Being Enough (GOI pg 23-30)
2. Write  Compare and Contrast Essay on Perfection vs Wholeness (rough draft) or find some other way to present the difference between the two. If you want to improve your writing, and work on your essay skills - here are some guidelines to a "Compare and Contrast" essay. Bring 3 copies to class.
3. Act: Work on Guidepost 3, read guidepost 4 on GOI

 

Week 4 - Inspiring Peer Environment

Isn't this a creative rendition of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer"?
You guys had such profound things to say at our discussion on perfectionism. You thought of analogies I hadn't considered and I enjoyed your willingness to help one another by contributing your thoughts and your way of seeing things. I sure love you all!

A talented young lady in our class wrote the following poem last week, I thought it went well with what we talked about: The Dangerous Mirror.

I was going to put pictures of our activity on here, but I haven't transferred them to the computer yet - they are still on my phone, but you can see them on a blog post I wrote about it and read some of my take home-messages from our discussion here.

This week we have an evening activity so we are meeting later (from 6-10 instead of 2:30-4:30). If you are coming here from the ACT class that ends at 5 - you can bring a couple of dollars and we can order some pizza for those who wants to eat before class (maybe let me know ahead of time so I can have enough pizza ready.) We will be having an activity and discussion on Old Fashioned Girl, doing service and playing some fun games.

Also, if you have any sports equipment or like new (gently used) clothes of any size you can donate to an orphanage in Mexico, please bring those with you. I will be taking them to someone who is going to Mexico and can deliver them. We will be working on some fleece blankets for them too while you are here. If you want to donate any of your money to help pay for the fleece, please let me know so I can know how much I can buy.

Our Inspirements for the week are:

Fri. January 29th 6-10:00 pm

1. Read On Writing Well Intro-Chapter 5 (page ix-31)
2. Finish Old Fashioned Girl if you have not yet done so.
3. Watch:Embrace the Shake and  How Messy Problems Inspire Creativity
4. Email me 2 questions: One addressed to the girls in the class and one addressed to the boys. * See instructions below.
5. Read: Guidepost 3 on GOI
6. Work on your own goal from Guidepost 2 on perfectionism. We'll ask you how it went at the beginning of class.
7. Be working on your own creative project - if you are having a hard time thinking of ideas, I would love it if you guys could think of some creative ways to share our poem, scripture, song or theme (perfectionism vs wholeness) at the family presentation in March. Let me know if you have any ideas to throw out to the class so I can be sure to give you time on Friday.

*Question instructions: Old Fashioned Girl highlighted 2 different environments - one that seemed to focus on fashion, gossip, crushes and position. The other on finding mission, blessing others, doing right and reaching potential. Ask questions that can help you understand how you can best establish the latter (or why would want to) in our class or in any other environment (home, church, dances, other classes, etc) If it goes well, maybe we can share our message in some way - like a video - with others who want some principles about why and how to do this in their own sphere.Your questions can be general like, "What can a girl do to bring out the best in the young men around her?" Or more specific to the book like, "Mr. Sidney said ______ - do you agree with him? Why?"  Let me know if you have questions about this.

 So don't forget there are 3 things to email me about asap:
1. Do you want pizza Friday before class? (bring $2)
2. Do you want to donate any money for fleece?
3: 2 or more questions - at least one for the boys and one for the girls (yes you can ask the same question to both if you want) -  they will be anonymous to the class so you can feel free to ask whatever you'd like.

Week 3 - Battleground of Perfectionism

Today and next week:
Thanks for a great discussion in class today. I hope you all went home with some new thoughts about acceptance and diligence.. Thanks Nathan for leading a great discussion! Since the discussion was so good, I didn't want to interrupt with a few things in Old Fashioned Girl I still want to talk about and to relate to our Great Works environment (and other environments) so please finish it this week so we can discuss these things. It is really not a hard book to get through.

As you read, think about what it is that inspires the characters to be better, and what it is that keeps them down. Take notes on what you find. If you already finished it, just go through and skim so you can remember what those things were. If you already wrote a discussion question last week, you don't have to write another one this week unless you come across something else you want to discuss. I will look through both weeks for the discussion questions for this next class.

Creative Projects:
Until we have a blog going to communicate about what we are working on for collaborative projects, please let me know if you have an idea (on paper) that you would like to work on so I can give you time in class to share it. We got a lot of ideas last week and you were able to see what people were excited about, so the next step is to plan something with more details.

You will want to pitch your idea to the class so they will be excited to do it with you - so it should be well thought out - it won't be perfect yet - just a thought-out draft. Others will help you refine it and we will pool our resources together to make it work - but you should have a written draft with as much detail as you know, ready to share with the class. When you think you are to that point, shoot me an email so I can plan time in class for it and I will forward your email to Isaiah so he can start helping you refine it so it will be ready to pitch to the class.

Inspirements:

1. Finish Old Fashioned Girl if you didn't finish it last week...I am going to ask that you finish it instead of just reading certain chapters, but you can skip "Grandma" (this is different than from what I said in class).
2. Read: That’s How the Light Gets In by Jarvis and 
3. Read: The Battleground of Perfectionism (PDF) By Cramer and Change Yourself by Palmer
4. Write: a favorite quote, application, and question from the readings
5. Read: Guidepost 2 on GOI
6. Act: Do what you committed to do in your "reflection" writing in class (see below).

 

Reflection Question to act on this week:

if you forgot what the reflection question at the end of class was or you lost what you wrote down, here it is:

What is my take home message from this discussion and book? What vulnerable thing can I do this week to practice being authentic while I do it? What will I say to myself to remind me to be authentic when I am faced with this uncomfortable situation and others?