Mormon Church

Mormon girls ages twelve to eighteen have a special program called Personal Progress. Similar to a Scouting program, it teaches girls to prepare for life in whatever form their society requires without taking from them their femininity and their place as a daughter of God. They learn they can get a good education and prepare for a career, but still plan to become traditional wives and mothers, whose educations will either prepare them to support a family if they must, or allow them to share their knowledge with their children. They can live in a world that celebrates immorality, but hold on to virtue as a guiding principle, supported by other girls and women who share their values. Mormon girls aren’t tucked away in a sheltered community, but are part of their world, but on their own terms.

This year, the program for the Young Women has been given a modern make-over. The new book that guides them is pink, to remind them to celebrate their femininity and to help them hold onto their sacred roles as daughters of God.

“We are excited about the color of pink, because we think these young women are pink. They resonate to the softness and the femininity of that color. We want them to understand that they are soft, they are unique, they are feminine and that they don’t have to be like the boys,” explained Elaine Dalton, who leads the Young Women’s program for the entire church (Weaver, Sarah Jane. “LDS Church News – Fostering spiritual growth among Latter-day Saint young women.” LDS Church News – Authorized News Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2010. http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/58379/Fostering-spiritual-growth-among-Latter-day-Saint-young-women.html.

The girls work throughout their teenaged years on a series of values the Church wants to them live and achieve throughout their lives. These values are faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. Virtue was added last year, in response to the increasing lack of respect for morality in our world.

Girls develop leadership by completing several ten hour service projects, which they plan and carry out. They may invite others to join them, but they are in charge. They also assist other girls with their own projects. Through this they learn to serve others, lead, and follow responsible leaders. Adult program leaders, parents, and other mentors guide them and monitor their progress, but the girls are essentially responsible for pacing themselves, deciding how to complete the program, and making sure they set and meet their goals. This helps them learn to be responsible adults who will continually progress throughout life. It prepares them for college, careers, and parenthood as well.

Because the program is now open to women of all ages, girls may work on the program with their mothers, even approving and signing off each other’s accomplishments. This allows girls to develop a closer relationship with their mothers and to be influenced as they watch their mothers strive for improvement.

Teenage girls are divided into three classes. Twelve and thirteen year olds are known as Beehives. Their class symbol is now a beehive, representing harmony, cooperation, and hard work, all skills they need to develop as they move into a more adult life. Fourteen and fifteen year old girls are known as Mia Maids. In the past, the program for all teenagers was known as MIA, standing for Mutual Improvement Association. Today, it is generally referred to as Mutual. The symbol for this class is the rose, representing love, purity, and faith. The oldest girls are called Laurels. A laurel wreath represents this class and stands for honor and accomplishment.

Girls earn ribbons for each value they complete, which can then be used as bookmarks in their scriptures. They also receive a certificate each time they advance to a new class.

Throughout the program, girls keep a journal that is provided to them. They record what they are learning and how it impacts their testimony and personal growth.

Girls work on the goals of the program throughout their teen years. If they complete the program early, they can serve as mentors to other girls. By mentoring others, reading scriptures again, and doing additional service for others, they can earn an award called the Honor Bee.

When the program is completed, girls receive a medallion that has the class symbols and the temple on it. The rose from the Mia Maid program has a ruby in the center, taken from Proverbs 31:10 (Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.)

The entire program is focused around the temple. Adult Mormons may receive permission to enter temples and the teen years are important to the preparation for that experience. The temple is an appropriate symbol for the youth program, because only worthy adults may enter. (Teens may enter only limited portions of the building after they turn fourteen.) The requirements to enter the temple are those they learn in their youth program. They must live a moral and virtuous life to qualify, upholding standards of purity, modesty, honesty, service, and obedience to the commandments of God.

Leaders remind the girls that the program isn’t an isolated part of their life—it is their life. The assignments for the program encompass the ordinary threads of daily life—schoolwork, socialization, church work, family life, and gospel living. When they sit down to work on the program, they will quickly realize they are already doing many of the things required. The goals they set are not separate from their lives. They work to improve their study habits, for instance, or investigate career possibilities. They learn to cook, to manage money, and to do other tasks they will need as adults. They read good literature and select good music. The program serves as a guide for gathering all the pieces of a teenager’s life and incorporating it into a Christ-like life that brings them closer to the Savior and helps them to live as He taught them to live.

The program also helps them to select and follow quality role models. Instead of modeling their lives after their favorite movie star, they work closely with adult women, including their mothers, who are living successful and moral lives. As they get to know these women as real people, and have glimpses into their lives and insights, they can begin to decide what type of adult they want to become, and to start making the changes and developing the skills necessary to do so.

The Young Women’s program serves as a guide for life, and the make-over is not a substantial change in content, but merely a modernizing and focusing change, to be certain girls understand the ultimate goal of becoming more like the Savior.

Tags: femininity, morality, Mormon teenagers, Mormons, Personal progress, womanhood

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 8:36 am and is filed under Array. You can follow any responses to this entry through the /feed feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.