Tonight was the YW's New Beginnings. It was beautiful! I was able to get out of school early so I could go to it. It was Natalie's first New Beginnings as a Young Woman. The room was decorated in green, white, and black. They had balloons, a sign that said, "Strong and Courageous" that was made up of black letters- each printed on a white paper then mounted on a green paper. There was a table with a black table cloth and things under the table cloth to have different levels and covering the table were black plaques for each girl with her name, in green, and "Strong and Courageous" in white cursive. They each got to take theirs home. Sis. Alison Parker, the Young Women's President spoke about the new Personal Progress program and talked about how important it is. She said that she knows we are all busy but that as we make it a priority to do it we will see how everything we do has a direct tie to being a daughter of God and testified of how blessed we will be if we are diligent in doing it. Yes, by "we" I mean me too- since they have made changes they are going to allow the moms to do it to. There is a new medallion that is beautiful. It has the temple spires in the background, the Laurel leaves around the boarder on the bottom 1/2 and on the bottom is a rose with a red jewel in it, and above/behind that and under the spires is a beehive- so each YW class is represented. I'm so excited I get to work with my girls to earn mine too! Following Sis. Parker, the Laurel class gave a presentation were each of them had turns getting up and giving a quote or thought from church leaders about the YW values. There were videos through out the presentation. One that hit me was a bit called "What are you attracting?" It started with a voice talking about if I put a certain scent on I will attract mosquitoes, if I leave my food out while camping, I will attract bears, I can attract a shark while swimming in the ocean from miles away with just a couple drops of blood. Then it talked about modesty. It showed a girl going through her closet and pulling out a tank top and while talking about the kind of attention it draws showed the shark swimming filtered behind the tank top. It taught that it not only affects the wearer, but those who see it. There was also a great clip with little kids singing "Scripture Power." So cute! Bishop spoke to us about being respectful in all ways. Amie Ashby sang a beautiful song called "Live Like You Believe" and the whole YW sang "Strong and Courageous." The whole thing was so great. For refreshments we had lime sherbet with sprite. Tasty! The girls also received a book mark and ribbons they had earned to represent the values they have completed.