Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Fireside

I am idea hunting for a good fireside I need plan for September. We just had the bishop talk on dating and have done one on education. Has anyone planned or been to a great fireside for youth lately? I have a couple of ideas that I got from sugardoodle but nothing has really hit me yet.

Please share if you have any good ideas! Thanks

17 comments:

Mindy said...

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but as I taught seminary and worked with EFY one of the most powerful concepts was always teaching them who and Whose they are, children of God ... And how once they know that why their lives can never be the same. I have some awesome quotes etc. if you are interested. :)

NatalieHemingway said...

We had a great one a couple of years ago. We did a missionary panel. We had our own ward's full time missionaries, a younger man in his twenties, a sister in her 30's, a brother in his 50's and an older man, who I think is around 70. We prepared questions for them and had a great discussion. They brought with them some memorabilia from their missions... mission call letters and such. One of the older men even had his OLD discussions and little presentation board they used years ago. It was really neat to see and talk about how missionary work has changed so much over the years. How different (and similar, of course) it is depending on where they served. Good luck!

FYI... I'm a blog-stalker from the Detroit area, MI. I found your blog while doing an Individual Worth lesson for my Young Women and your post was very helpful. Thanks. I think I've read your whole blog now and have actually just recently referred to your "guide" to help a grieving friend. Thanks again. I think you're amazing.

Taylors said...

We did a fireside.... "My Master's Masterpiece" I don't know if you have heard the EFY song Masterpiece, it is amazing. It talks about how he molds us and we are His. I think it is from 1996 but I'm not sure. Anyways we had a guest speaker come and speak and then at the end we did a slide show with the song. At first it talks about his creations and so the pictures were at first landscape pictures and then randomly we had the girls pictures pop up showing that they are just as much his "masterpieces" as everything else. The slide show was my favorite. Our speaker was really good too. Good luck in whatever you do, it's always nice to get new ideas :)

Rena said...

I don't know how large your group is but, we have a fireside where the bishop/leader just answered questions regarding concerns that they had or questions that they needed answers to. It helped us see what concerns the kids had and help us gear our lessons and activities towards their specify needs. In addition it gave us tons of idea for furture firesides. Good Luck!!

Lizzy said...

How about money management? Or something about the affects of getting way over your head in debt?

Heather said...

I was in charge of planning a fireside about Standards and Repentance. We had rooms around the building with a question and a bowl of pea gravel. They had to read each question and depending on their answer take a piece of gravel and place it in their shoe. We took what was said about each standard from the FTSOY book...for example:

Music and Dancing:
Music is an important and powerful part of life. It can be an influence for good and helps you draw closer to heavenly Father. However, it can also be used to wicked purposes. Unworthy music may seem harmless, but it can have evil effects on your mind and spirit. Choose carefully the music you listen to. Pay attention to how you feel when you are listeneing.

Have you ever listened to music or danced in a way that drives away the Spirit?

or

Language:
How you speak says much about who you are. Clean and intelligent language is evidence of a bright and wholesome mind. Use language that uplifts, encourages, and compliments others. Do not insult others or put them down, even in joking. Speak kindly and positively about others so you can fulfill the Lord’s commandment to love one another. When you use good language, you invite the Spirit to be with you.

Have you ever said something mean about someone else?

We purposely wrote questions so that by the end most everyone had at least a few pebbles in their shoes. Then we ended in the chapel where the bishop gave a great talk on Repentance and how the pain that the pebbles were causing was like sin in their life and through repentance the Savior can take that pain away...and he had them remove the rocks from their shoes that they had been walking on all night.

I think it was pretty powerful for our youth. I think it made the standards feel more like a protection from sin rather than restrictions. If you want the other questions just drop me an email: lehifamily(dot)hotmail(dot)com

Anonymous said...

When I taught Seminary we always did a seminary kick off in August or September. I had someone from YW, YM, and Bishopric testify of seminary or share a favorite story from the book we were studying that year. I then wrapped it up with a video, sometimes from CES.

Heather said...

The yearly Youth theme is always a good one. You could also find loads of good quotes about virtue - Return to Virtue - Look to the temple- from Sister Dalton in her conference talks - and also many for the YM from last conference. Hope it goes well!

Unknown said...

Elder Bednar's recent talk on Technology. I believe it was a BYU devotional, but it is very timely.

EvaMarieva said...

One thing we have been hearing about a lot lately is to have faith in the lord's plan for us. I have had some great opportunities iwth the YW in our ward to discuss planning their future and teaching them to remember to include Heavenly Father in those plans. The plan Mike and I made when we first married has changed over the years and where I thought I would be after 8 isn't the same yet it is the right path. It is a great reminder to not get disapointed when something you hope and dream for doens't work out how you thought it would.

gillman said...

talk by elder bednar for the youth. i think every youth should have a copy of this talk. it is great.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705301231/Bednar-warns-of-dangers-on-Web.html

Anonymous said...

one of my favorite firesides as a youth was a q&a with the bishopric (and maybe some other ward leaders...). We all submitted written questions (so they were anonymous) and they went through as many as they could. It was great.

We also had a really good one by the stake patriarch about partiarchal (sp?) blessings.

I remember always liking firesides that brought in outside people (from the stake or wherever) instead of listening to brother so-in-so's mission stories for the hundredth time.

Good luck!

chloe's clan said...

I have the fireside for you! :)
Invite the Patriarch to come out and teach about preparing for and receiving their blessings as well as another person or two to give testimony and personal experience of their what their patriarchal blessing means to them and how it has played a part in their life. We did this a few years ago and it was great. Tweek it however fits best and let the spirit guide. :) Good luck.

Laurie said...

All these topics are great. My husband and I are preparing to give a fireside for our ward youth on becoming self-reliant/preparing for education/career. I'll be talking to them about learning how to work hard/being dependable/ reliable, taking learning opportunities, etc.

Hilary said...

I realize that the suggestion that I have is most likely not a possibility due to finances, but I will share any how. There is a woman in our ward here in Spokane that served some time in prison due to a choice that she made to drink and drive (the next day actually) when she was a teenager. Unfortunatly that decision cost a couple their lives. She is an amazing woman, and her story is ver inspirational. She has been asked to give firesides throught the area, and absolutly loves doing it. If you are interested please contact me and I will get you in touch with her.

Nathan & Michelle Watabe said...

We did one called "Stump The Bishopric," where each youth brought an item. They had to have thought of a way that it relates to a gospel principle. Then the bishopric had to pull an item out of the bag and come up with a gospel analogy on the spot. Then the youth told what their analogy had been. It was really great. The bishopric did a great job bringing in the spirit and we covered a lot of different principles.

We also did one with a panel that was called, "Things I'm glad I knew and things I wish I had known when I was a youth." Each member of the panel started with a brief description of one thing they were glad they had done in their youth and one thing they wish they had done differenty (we were sure to tell the panel people not to have it be a confessions session and not to tell anything that would give the youth any crazy ideas -- things like, "I wish I had shared the gospel with more of my friends," "I wish I had spent more time with my family.") Anyway, then they took questions and had a discussion with the kids about those topics.

Anonymous said...

Several years ago (before I had children), I was invited to speak at a fireside that seemed so unusual (and even kind of weird), but honestly that experience has stayed with me. Back then, I was a young married woman who had been trying and trying to get pregnant, with no success, and my husband and I had just prepared our application to adopt. Anyway, the point of the fireside was something like "what happens when your plans are not God's plans" etc. I spoke about returning to school for a graduate degree (something I never would have done if I had gotten pregnant when I wanted to) and even doing some high-profile writing work, all of which was good for me at a time when almost everything seemed bad. I remember that some of the others there were a husband/father whose wife had died of breast cancer at 34; another man who had been so certain he wanted to be a doctor but just could not get into medical school, despite several years of trying, etc. I remember that the youth at that fireside were so attentive. I also remember how full of possibility life is at that age, and how I thought maybe that fireside was too much of a downer. But it really wasn't. It was good. Anyway, for what it's worth -