Life is a Cruise and You are the Crew

 

O Youth of the Noble Birthright

By Brother Bradley R. Wilcox

First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency

Is it too much for God to expect you to live differently than His other children so you can better lead and serve them? Not when you consider the blessings—both temporal and spiritual—that you have been given.

Does your birthright mean you are better than others? No, but it does mean you are expected to help others be better. Does your birthright mean you are chosen? Yes, but not chosen to rule over others; you are chosen to serve them. Is your birthright evidence of God’s love? Yes, but more important, it is evidence of His trust....

Our mortal experience could be compared to a cruise ship on which God has sent all His children as they journey from one shore to another. The voyage is filled with opportunities to learn, grow, be happy, and progress, but it is also full of dangers. God loves all His children and is concerned about their welfare. He does not want to lose any of them, so He invites those who are willing to become members of His crew—that’s you. Because of your choice to make and keep covenants, He offers you His trust. He trusts you to be different, peculiar, and set apart because of the important work He trusts you to do....

When you look around on this cruise ship called earth, you might see other people sitting in lounge chairs drinking, gambling in casinos, wearing clothing that is too revealing, scrolling endlessly on cell phones, and wasting too much time playing electronic games. But instead of wondering, “Why can’t I do that?,” you can remember that you are not an ordinary passenger. You are a member of the crew. You have responsibilities that passengers do not have. As Sister Ardeth Kapp once said, “You can’t be a life[guard] if you look like all the other swimmers on the beach.”

And before you become discouraged by all the extra obligations, please remember that crew members receive something the other passengers do not: compensation. Elder Neil L. Andersen has said, “There is a compensatory spiritual power for the righteous,” including “greater assurance, greater confirmation, and greater confidence.” Like Abraham of old, you receive greater happiness and peace, greater righteousness, and greater knowledge. Your compensation is not merely a mansion in heaven and streets paved with gold. It would be easy for Heavenly Father to simply give you all that He has. His desire is to help you become all that He is. Thus, your commitments demand more of you because that is how God is making more of you.

Positive Relationships with Active Leaders

 

How the Children and Youth Program Strengthens Families

By President Steven J. Lund

Young Men General President

One of the most surprising and helpful things we have learned as a new presidency came to us from a multiyear Church study that asked active adults what important things happened in their youth that helped them identify as active members of the Church.

The key finding is surprising: those youth who grow up to identify within themselves as active members of the Church—as members of the crew rather than as tourists passing through—tell researchers that more important than the quality of activities, more important even than Sunday School lessons, which are very important, was the formation of positive relationships with active leaders who helped them develop a relationship with the Savior and with their Heavenly Father. It is about those second witnesses, about our young people’s ability to connect with them.

Parenting Tips From Teens

Dear Mom and Dad: 40 Parenting Tips from Teens

By Chad Conrad

Seminaries and Institutes

Photographs from Getty Images

Over the past 20 years as a seminary teacher, I’ve asked hundreds of my students, “What advice would you give your parents on parenting?” Their responses fascinated and inspired me—so much so that I started asking their parents the same question, only in reverse: “What advice would you give your teenaged children?”

The most frequent responses over the years are listed on the following pages.

For suggestions on how to use these lists with your teens, see the “What Now?” activity on page 39.

Communication and Building Trust

1. Trust us. If we lose your trust, make us earn it back.
2. Don’t always say, “Because I said so.” Explain your decisions to us if you can.
3. Don’t yell at us or overreact. And don’t let us yell at you.
4. Be willing to negotiate with us sometimes.
5. If we admit our mess-ups to you first, don’t be mad at us. Recognize our desires to change.
6. Admit when you’re wrong.
7. Talk with us and listen sincerely to our ideas.
8. Be sure your expectations for us are clear. Sometimes we mess up because we genuinely don’t understand what you want from us.
9. Instead of grounding us all the time, let us suffer more natural consequences.
10. Give us second chances.
11. More praise, less criticism.
12. Be our friends sometimes and just listen to us.
13. Really try to understand our side of the story before you judge us or punish us.
14. Apologize when you mess up.
15. Have high standards and expectations, but don’t force us to become something you want us to be.

Learning and Living the Gospel

16. Practice what you preach, or we’ll be less likely to follow you.
17. Go to the temple more—it puts you in a better mood.
18. Teach us the gospel; then let us make our own choices.
19. Have family prayer and scripture study.
20. Take us to church with you (but if we don’t want to go, find out why).
21. Talk to us about morality and intimacy—more than once. If you don’t, we’ll get answers elsewhere.
22. Have faith in us.

Family Unity

23. Treat all the children in the family fairly. If you treat one child differently from another, be certain we understand why.
24. Be happy.
25. Support our ball games and performances and activities.
26. Limit our screen time.
27. Don’t embarrass us around friends.
28. Respect our privacy.
29. Have family meals together.
30. Don’t try to be cool. Just be yourself. That’s what we need and who we love.
31. Have fun family nights and family activities. Play with us.
32. Tell us goofy stories about your life so we know you were a kid once.

Life Skills, School, and Work

33. Don’t work too much.
34. Teach us how to work (but don’t overdo it).
35. Teach us life skills like doing our own laundry and cooking dinner. Teach us to serve.
36. Help us with homework and encourage good grades (but don’t overdo it).
37. Teach us to be self-reliant and how to manage money.
38. Pay us sometimes for babysitting or extra chores.

Health and Lifestyle

39. Encourage us to be physically active.
40. Help us get more sleep and eat better.

New YW Theme

Beloved Daughters
BY BONNIE H. CORDON Young Women General President

I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I strive to become like Him. I seek and act upon personal revelation and minister to others in His holy name. I will stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things and in all places. As I strive to qualify for exaltation, I cherish the gift of repentance  and seek to improve each day. With faith, I will strengthen my home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, and receive the ordinances and blessings of the holy temple

Protection from the Adversary

Protection from the Adversary

“Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.”

Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead,” Ensign, Nov. 2012, 94.

Young Women Need to Know God's Love For Them

"If young women know of God's love for them, it will influence and shape all of their thoughts, feelings, and actions. They will understand they have a mission to perform in this life. They will have confidence in their ability to make responsible, righteous decisions. They will be able to resist temptation, to flee from worldly things, to dress modestly as is becoming of a divine daughter of God."

Susan W. Tanner

Get the Young Women to Serve in the Ward

Young Women in the Work

By Bonnie L. Oscarson

Recently Released Young Women General President

Each member should know how much he or she is needed. Each person has something important to contribute and has unique talents and abilities that help move this important work along. ...

 Every young woman in the Church should feel valued, have opportunities to serve, and feel that she has something of worth to contribute to this work....

Do those who sit on ward councils, or hold any calling in the ward, see the young women as valuable resources to help fill the many needs within our wards? There is usually a long list of situations that require someone to serve, and we often think only of the adults in the ward to meet those needs. ... They are capable, eager, and willing to do so much more than merely attend church on Sundays!...

We are grateful for bishops who take the time to visit Young Women classes and who provide opportunities for young women to be more than mere spectators of the work. Thank you for making sure your young women are valued participants in meeting the needs of ward members! These opportunities to serve in meaningful ways bless them much more than activities in which they are just entertained.

Youth Resources

@LDSYouth Instagram Account

This Instagram account shares inspiring photos, stories, and testimonies of youth around the world.

Check it out at the account @LDSYouth on Instagram.

LDS Youth Mobile App

This mobile app has videos, articles, and music.

Download the LDS Youth app at the Apple App Store or Google Play.

LDS Youth Facebook Page

The LDS Youth page on Facebook posts videos, photos, testimonies, inspirational messages, and much more every day.

Check it out at facebook.com/LDSYouth.

Youth Activities Website

Need ideas for a Mutual night? Or did you recently do an awesome activity that you’d like to share? On the youth activities website, you and the youth can browse through activities by topic, use online tools to plan an activity, and submit activity ideas to share with others. This is also where you’ll find an archive of past Face to Face event broadcasts.

Check it out at lds.org/youth/activities.

Youth Website

The Church’s youth website has videos, articles, and (perhaps most popular of all) music for youth. In addition, it’s your portal to the Come, Follow Me lessons for youth, the youth activities website, and programs such as Personal Progress and Duty to God online.

Check it out at youth.lds.org.

New For the Strength of Youth book

Young Men general president David L. Beck emphasized the value of this resource for youth, parents, and leaders as they strive to live faithfully.

“It is our hope that these standards will be thoroughly studied in our homes and in Church classes, and that the principles taught in them will go down into the hearts of the youth of the Church,” he said.

No Young Woman Should Be Judged For Not Serving a Mission

No Young Woman Should Be Judged for Not Serving a Mission

“President Monson never intended for all of the young women in the Church to go on missions by dropping [the] age [to 19]. We’re very grateful for those who go. It’s changed the face of the Church. … But we do not want anyone feeling inadequate or left out or undignified or tarnished because she did not choose to serve a mission. And we’re a little irritated with young men who say, ‘Well, I’m not going to date you because you didn’t serve a mission.’ … We do not want that kind of climate over dating or marriages. … It isn’t our place to pass a judgment.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Face to Face broadcast, Mar. 8, 2016, facetoface.lds.org.

Youth and Gospel Learning

Many of our young people are more familiar with Google than with the gospel, more attuned to the internet than to inspiration, and more involved with Facebook than with faith....

Teach them about the challenges they face when relying upon the internet to answer questions of eternal significance. Remind them that James did not say, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him Google!” (see James 1:5)....

before you send your students into the world, inoculate them by providing faithful, thoughtful, and accurate interpretation of gospel doctrine, the scriptures, our history, and those topics that are sometimes misunderstood.

To name a few such topics that are less known or controversial, I’m talking about plural marriage, seer stones, different accounts of the First Vision, the process of translation of the Book of Mormon or the book of Abraham, gender issues, race and the priesthood, and a Heavenly Mother....

Church leaders today are fully conscious of the unlimited access to information, and we are making extraordinary efforts to provide accurate context and understanding of the teachings of the Restoration. A prime example of this effort is the 11 Gospel Topics essays on LDS.org7 that provide balanced and reliable interpretations of the facts for controversial and unfamiliar Church-related subjects....

You should also become familiar with the Joseph Smith Papers website,8the Church history section on LDS.org, and other resources by faithful LDS scholars.

The effort for gospel transparency and spiritual inoculation through a thoughtful study of doctrine and history, coupled with a burning testimony, is the best antidote we have to help students avoid and deal with questions, doubt, or faith crises they may face in this information age.

• DECEMBER 2016
• BY STUDY AND BY FAITH

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By Study and by Faith

By Elder M. Russell Ballard

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Take Teaching Opportunities

Take Teaching Opportunities

“Besides showing youth the way by example, we lead them by understanding their hearts and walking alongside them on the gospel path. To truly understand their hearts, we must do more than just be in the same room or attend the same family and Church activities. We must plan and take advantage of teaching moments that make a deep and lasting impression upon their minds and hearts. …

“I would hope that we would have the opportunity of bearing our testimonies that we know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I would hope that we would bear our testimonies so that our children will know where our hearts are and that we love them. The greatest love and the greatest teachings should be in our homes.”

Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation,” Liahona and Ensign,May 2010, 95, 98.

Youth and Family History

Your technical skills are a partial fulfillment of this prophecy, and I hope you are feeling a sense of urgency about this work. You were born in this age to do temple and family history work. Your family needs your help. Your ward or branch needs your help in this important responsibility.

Julie B. Beck, "This is Your Work," Ensign, Feb 2012, 42. 

Mirror of Eternity

Young women, look into the mirror of eternity. Remember who you are! See yourself as our Heavenly Father sees you. You are elect. You are of noble birth. Don’t compromise your divine inheritance. You were born to be a queen. Live so you are worthy to enter the temple and there receive “all that [the] Father hath.” ¹⁸Develop deep beauty. There is no more beautiful sight than a young woman who glows with the light of the Spirit, who is confident and courageous because she is virtuous.

Elaine S. Dalton

He Knows You

 I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. ¹That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise. Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. 

Jeffrey R. Holland