Last night I had the opportunity to give my first fireside to the Youth of a ward in Hurricane, UT. For those that aren't aware of the LDS jargon, a 'fireside' is a religious meeting where there is usually a speaker, sometimes more than one, and they give a talk on a certain gospel topic. They typically last an hour and some, like mine, include musical numbers. The gospel topic that I chose was, Virtue. Why Virtue? Well, the Young Women program in our church has a list of values that they would like the girls to adhere to. Some values on that list include: faith, integrity, individual worth, knowledge and choice & accountability. A new value was added to the list in 2008, it is Virtue. I felt it would be appropriate to talk about this new value because the word virtue seems archaic in our society. I wanted the youth to know what virtue means and why we need people of virtue and what attributes we need to have as people of virtue. Just to back up...A couple months ago I was chatting with my friend Marie who serves as Young Women's President in her ward. She asked if I would be willing to come do a fireside for them. (I think she saw my list of aspirations and goals for 2009 and creating firesides for the youth was on there.) I told her I would LOVE to do that if she didn't mind her ward being the 'guinea pigs'. So, I starting researching right away. There was so much material to choose from. I wrote up a huge speech that lasted over an hour and then I just started cutting it down and making it more personal. I didn't want too many quotes from other people in there, I wanted it to be my thoughts, BUT I had to stay within what was true to our church and not veer from that. I ended up with some scripture passages and a maybe three actual quotes from the prophets, Joseph Smith, Gordon B. Hinkley and Thomas S. Monson. The rest was taken from things I read from general authorities and scriptures, but just put into my own words. And of course, I used some of my own life experiences. Next I wanted to add music. I eventually would like to write my own songs, but I decided at this point to use church approved material to really invite the Spirit. I ended up with a song from the old Young Women Song Book (the purple book), two Hymns, and a musical theater piece that is inspirational (Never Walk Alone). The Hurricane Stake Center is beautiful and there was about 30 people in attendance comprised of youth, parents and leaders. I had asked Roger, my sister Franci and a couple good friends to come. I needed the support and the feedback. Thanks guys! Marie read a short bio (kind of awkward to write one up, it is like you are bragging about your accomplishments, I just kept it brief and added some humor...that stuff makes me uncomfortable) to introduced me and away I went. I felt a real connection with the people there and I felt they were all listening and that I didn't lose their attention. I feel like I started off kind of timid, but then as it went on my confidence grew and things got better. It was truly an amazing experience and now I am hooked! I want to do another one as soon as possible! I learned from this experience that my mouth has a tendency to get very dry, probably nerves AND the fact that I am talking and singing for 40-45 minutes straight. I had a water bottle handy but it was still hard to keep my mouth from drying out. I might try just holding a small candy in my mouth or something along those lines. I was also not prepared for the response afterwards. People you don't even know come up and give you these big hugs and just cry and you feel so close to them. They are filled with gratitude because the Spirit of the Holy Ghost is so strong and what you have said has touched them deeply in some way or it was just what they needed to hear or what a parent felt their children needed to hear. And the people that I had invited that were family and friends I felt even closer to. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! I am so filled with joy from this experience, and so proud that I set a goal to make it happen and did it! Thank you Marie for helping me accomplish this and for your support and love. And for anyone reading this who would like me to come speak to their youth, I am in the phone book! :)
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