January 2021 YW Newsletter – Riverview Program

Dear young women,

I recently reconnected with an old friend and we were discussing our goals for the new year. She told me that she would rather label her New Year’s resolutions as New Year’s “Intentions” and that she wanted to go into the new year intending to be more kind to others. Her words resonated with me for two reasons that I would like to share with you girls.

Growing up I thought New Year’s resolutions were always supposed to relate to weight loss and my resolutions always failed me. The diet I chose would force me to ignore my body’s hunger cues and my muscles would be too tired to carry out my next workout. These goals were causing me to be unhappy, hangry, and disappointed when my results never came.

The more I research the more I realize that I was investing my energy into the worldly idea that being smaller would make me a better person. And that is wrong. What your body looks like does not determine your worth as a person, although our society may scream those words at you everywhere you look.

In his General Conference talk “You Matter to Him” from October 2011, Elder Uchtdorf said,

“Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.

God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.”

The first reason my friend’s response struck me was that her goal was grounded in eternal principles we’ve been taught since Primary – to love one another.

The second reason my friend’s words resonated with me was because she used the word “intentions” instead of “resolutions”. Intentions makes it feel like it’s not about our end goal, it’s about the journey this year will bring. We shouldn’t have to wait until December to be happy with our accomplishments, we can self-evaluate each day and celebrate if we’re on the path we want to be.

I would like to challenge you girls to make some New Year’s intentions this year that align with your eternal values and reflect on how they affect your daily life.

Love,

Sister Law

January 12th: Olivia Wahlquist
January 27th: Kate Merrill

Kate Merrill

Kate is 17 and the second oldest of 4. She has three sisters and one pup. She enjoys art and English in school. Kate loves to paint, watch movies, go on walks, and hang out with her sisters. Kate loves the beach and being outdoors.

We love going to Disneyland and while Kate was on a ride in Cars Land, her Mickey ears flew off and she shut down the whole ride. We had a good laugh after we got off the ride but Kate was really embarrassed.

*Sister Merrill, thank you for telling us about Kate.*

Hannah Gilbert

Hannah is 14 years old and the oldest. She has 3 little brothers. She loves them dearly despite what she may have told you! In school she enjoys P.E. She loves dancing and exercising, so P.E. is a good break from sitting in a desk at school.

During quarantine, Hannah got really good at nail art. She got gel nail polish and a light for her birthday, and she’s gotten really good at giving herself manicures! She always has something cute painted on her nails!

When Hannah was little, she was very afraid of Santa. She would act like a fainting goat and pretend to be asleep no matter what she was in the middle of. We got a lot of laughs!

*Thanks Sister Gilbert for sharing more about Hannah.*

Sarah Herre

Sarah is 11 and attends 5th grade at American Leadership Academy. Besides enjoying recess and lunch, Sarah likes math and science at school. She is the youngest of 3 girls: Emma is 15 and goes to ALA and Lauren is 19 at U of U. Sarah has always enjoyed playing Minecraft but during quarantine, she’s added Animal Crossing and Zelda:Breath of the Wild to her list of favorite things to do. She also loves to paint and sculpt things. When the weather’s warmer, she is all about playing soccer and being with her friends. Sarah wants to be a lawyer when she grows up and can’t wait to sue people. She’s always shaking us down for money. We joke that she’ll either be rich or in jail. We love her so much!

*Thank you Sister Herre. We are excited to have Sarah in Young Womens!*

New Sunday meeting schedule:
10:30am: Sacrament Meeting
11:30am 1st & 3rd Sundays: Youth Sunday School
11:30am 2nd & 4th Sundays: Young Women classes
Currently, Young Women classes and activities are online.

January 5th: 16+ class activity TBD, 14-15 class “Get to Know Your Leaders” activity 7pm on Zoom, 12-13 TBD
January 10th: YW combined class, Sister Law is leading the discussion
January 12th: 16+ class activity, TBD, 14-15 yr class “Theme Intro” activity 7pm on Zoom, 12-13 TBD
January 17th: Stake Conference
January 19th: 16+ class activity TBD, 14-15 yr class “Get to Know Your Class” activity 7pm on Zoom, 12-13 class activity TBD
January 24th: YW classes
January 26th: 16+ class activity TBD, 14-15 yr class “Secret Ingredient” activity, 12-13 class activity TBD
January 31st: Combined with YM

We appreciate your patience as we get new class presidencies organized and plan for the new year after the holidays. Keep an eye on your GroupMe chat. Feel free to share online activity ideas with your leaders!