be strong and of a good courage

Last night,
we had the wonderful opportunity
of attending the
General Young Women's Meeting
at the Conference Center
in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The theme for the meeting was:
"Be strong and of a good courage,"
a scripture found in Joshua 1:9.

I've mentioned before
that I serve as a leader
for the 12-13 year old girls
in our Church group.

Every March, our Church
holds a worldwide meeting
for the young women ages 12-18.

Many local young women gather
in the Conference Center
with their mothers and leaders.
But most watch the meeting
from their local churches
as the meeting is broadcast
to church buildings all across the world.

Usually we watch from our church,
but this time a friend got tickets
and we were able to take
a couple of our young women and attend.

What an awesome experience.
It's an amazing feeling
to gather with 21,000 women
who believe the same way you do,
and listen to speakers
who motivate and encourage
the young women to be strong and
to stay close to the Savior
in these troubled times.

One of my favorite quotes
from the meeting
was by Elaine S. Dalton:

"The world places so much emphasis on our physical attractiveness and
would have you believe that you are to look like the elusive model on
the cover of a magazine," she said. "The Lord would tell you that you
are each uniquely beautiful. When you are virtuous, chaste and morally
clean, your inner beauty glows in your eyes and in your face."

I love how our Church

focuses on these young women.

With a great goal setting program

called Personal Progress
and activities that center around
spirituality and
self-improvement
and service,
these girls are given
great tools to help them
negotiate their way
through their teenage years
and into adulthood.

Every Sunday,
Young Women groups
all across the world
meet together and we say
the Young Women theme,
which goes like this:

We are daughters
of our Heavenly Father,
who loves us, and we love Him.

We will "stand as witnesses of God
at all times and in all things,


and in all places" as we strive to live

the Young Women values, which are:

Faith

Divine Nature

Individual Worth

Knowledge

Choice and Accountability

Good Works

Integrity and

Virtue.

We believe as we come to
accept and act upon these values,

we will be prepared to
strengthen home and family,
make and keep
sacred covenants,

receive the ordinances of the temple,
and enjoy the blessings of
exaltation.

Every time they say this theme,
they remember who they are,
why they are here,
and where they are going.

I think it's beautiful.

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