At the start of this year, I had already finished my virtue project as well as my faith one. But, to make it easier on everyone, I'll just go down a list of the values and what I did for each project. First, I should explain what these projects are for. In the old young women's program, we had a theme that had a set of values we strove to have/understand: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue. The whole program was centered around these, with 8 sections. All focused on one value. Each section would have a required mini projects and a required 10 hour project. Once you finished all 8 sections, you were done with personal progress!
FAITH:
For this project I had to think about something that would help improve my faith, and teach me some life long lessons along the way. (because I'm extra) In the personal progress book, there is a scripture index that holds all the scriptures the writers came up with for each value. There are roughly 125 scriptures in there (some whole chapters) and I decided to read them all. Not only did I read all of them, but I wrote in my journal about each of them, and my impressions I had gotten while studying them. It's amazing the way the spirit works. This whole project not only strengthened my faith, but it also helped me practice personal revelation because as I'd read the scriptures I'd listen to the Spirit and really try to listen to what was in my heart. What's truly amazing to me about this has to do with the new youth program. It's completely based off of personal revelation, and I know I was inspired to choose this project so that it would prepare me for the new program. I had a blast reading, marking, and studying these scriptures, and it also made it so that I can no longer just read the scriptures anymore (haha!) I know that I get so much more out of the scriptures when I study them, and it makes me so much more fulfilled when I do, and I really found that out through this project.
DIVINE NATURE:
This one was probably my favorite. And the most useful, I'd say. Divine nature is found in many ways. And it's totally between you and God. Your divine nature might be different than your neighbors, but the one thing that I know will remain constant is that we are all children of God. Our underlying divine nature is that of God. So, I'm thinking about what my divine nature is and pretty much the first thought that comes to mind is being a missionary and sharing the gospel with those around me. A friend once told me that I don't need a tag to be a missionary, if I have a desire to serve, I am called. He specifically quoted D&C 4:3, "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called." So, for my divine nature project, I made a booklet with short lessons or my testimony on specific topics. I'd read a talk and love it so much that I'd write my testimony on it with lessons and quotes and all sorts of stuff. It's already saved me in seminary when I got called to give a spiritual thought and wasn't prepared, I looked in my booklet and see what I wanted to read to the class. While I was working on it, I had this thought that I would use it throughout my life, and I really have. I love it so much! It's really helped me to learn to condense my thoughts into short devotionals, so I don't drive people to sleep when I'm called to give a short thought.
INDIVIDUAL WORTH:
This project took me a very long time. I decided that I would use this to keep track of my individual worth and how I have grown and matured over time. So, I wrote in my journal every day. For two years. Then I was done. Every month or so, I'd read through some entries. Those nights were so fun because I'd go through memories and laugh or cry, or feelings would be brought up again. It's actually amazing the effect going back and reading journals can have on you. You learn so much.
KNOWLEDGE:
Oh man, everyone in my family benefited from this project. This one was kind of a no brainer. I thought, well I love baking, but I don't have too much experience, so I should just spend 10 hours baking! And I did. For a while, every Sunday we'd have a new treat at our house that we made. Most desserts that I made were really good, but every so often, I'd make a dessert that wasn't so good, and then I'd just throw it away... I'm definitely more comfortable in the kitchen now, and I actually feel a lot closer to my aunt Suz, because she has an amazing taste for food and is a wonderful cook and baker.
CHOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY:
Everyone who isn't crazy knows it's hard to begin a workout plan. This is something that is actually really hard for me. I love working out, I find it so fulfilling and I feel so good after, but it's incredibly hard to start the workout. Well, it's a choice to start, and it was almost too perfect of a project for this value. I decided to plan and implement a workout routine in my life (outside of sports, of course) This was actually really tricky and took a ton of motivation, but I feel stronger both physically and mentally. Mentally because I have this knowledge that I can make good decisions. I know the mental strength that I've built up will help me a ton in the future. My biggest lesson from this was that the hardest thing is starting something you don't want to do. That doesn't only apply to working out, but it can apply to fears too. If you're afraid to sing in front of people, the hardest thing in that fear is starting to sing. Once you begin, it's not too terrible. I'm definitely still working on being good at the starting part of hard things.
GOOD WORKS:
I would say that this project was the most fulfilling and eye-opening. For my good works project I decided to go to the temple 10 times, since each trip averaged to one hour. I had so much fun doing this. I went to the temple with friends, by myself, and with my mom. It was amazing the things I learned. I now have such a strong testimony of the power of the temple. I got so much revelation when I went to the temple with intent, or when I went when I was prepared. I made it an effort to try to study the words of prophets before I went into the temple every single time, and it's really cool the difference it made. Going to the temple when you're prepared will leave you with such a different feeling. During this project I went to the Provo City Center Temple, Mt. Timpanogos Temple, Draper Temple, and Salt Lake City Temple. The first time I entered each of these temples, I was just blown away by the beauty and diversity of each. Especially SLC. When I went to the Salt Lake temple, the minute I walked in I was just in this state of shock. The Spirit had taken over me and I knew I would have cried if I had stayed in the lobby much longer. As we were walking through the halls, I couldn't stop gaping, it was so beautiful, and so real. It was truly the most amazing experience ever. I loved draper because no one else was in the font, so they let us do two sheets of names, rather than just the one. And it was perfect for good works because I know that every time we do baptisms, the angels whose lives we are blessing are so grateful to us, and like some prophet (can't remember who...) said, 'when we leave the temple, we are protected by spirits and strengthened with the power of heaven.' What's truly amazing is that every time I was sitting in the font area and I sought after the Spirit, I found it. I promise that everyone who seeks after the Spirit can find it too, not only in the temple, but also in their own lives.
INTEGRITY:
This one really used a lot of personal integrity. I also realized that this is another project that was wonderful preparation for the new youth program. I looked at my life and prayed and thought about ways I'd need to improve in my life. And I spent a month working on every separate one. I felt really happy after this because I felt like I had improved so much. It's so amazing what happens when you set your mind to something you want to improve about yourself. If you really seek to change, you will see so many wonderful things happen in your life.
VIRTUE:
This project is standard across the board. The project for virtue is to read the Book of Mormon. "The Savior chose to live a virtuous life. Follow His admonition to 'learn of me'; by reading the entire Book of Mormon." (personal progress booklet) This project happened to perfectly coincide with President Nelson's challenge to the women in the General Women's session of 2018, to read the Book of Mormon and look for all the references to the Savior inside of it. So I took on that challenge, and this project and kind of merged them. It also worked with my faith project where I was learning to truly study the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon and I have no doubt that everything written in it actually happened.
What was truly spectacular to me about this whole thing was A) how so many of my projects worked together to change me in some certain way, and I didn't even plan it like that! B) a good number of my projects really prepared me for this new youth program that we have. This whole experience was just a wonderful testament to me that the Spirit really works in mysterious ways, and God has this amazing plan for all of us that we can't even see until we look back with godly eyes. I love the personal progress program, and will be sad to see it go, but I know that President Nelson is leading this church through the direction of Jesus Christ and that this new program is preparing everyone, not just the youth and children, for the second coming. The things that happen in our lives are perfectly tailored for us. It's so amazing. I love God, I love this gospel, and I love the wonderful opportunity I had to participate in this program before it ended.
