President Boyd K. Packer has reiterated twice in his recent addresses specific to youth that they are living in "enemy territory" (October 2011 general conference and broadcast commemorating the 100th anniversary of seminary; see Church News, Jan. 28, p. 3).
Strength of Youth Media 2012: Arise and Shine Forth is a rich media resource that youth, leaders, parents and priesthood leaders can use in a variety of ways to help strengthen our youth morally, arising above the "enemy" of righteousness.
What is Strength of Youth Media 2012?
Strength of Youth Media 2012 is an online resource supporting the 2012 theme, "Arise and shine forth" (Doctrine and Covenants 115:5). It has three parts:
Where can Strength of Youth Media 2012 be found?
All these downloadable resources are available on youth.lds.org. Look on the right side of the home page and click "Youth Theme 2012." All of these resources are available to download. Additionally, one DVD will also been sent to each ward and stake. The DVD is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. It may be copied and shared with multiple leaders and youth.
Who can use Strength of Youth Media 2012?
Youth will enjoy watching and sharing the messages with their friends and family. They can download the music and other great songs from the youth website to their phones or MP3 players. Several of the videos teach about friends and being a good example. They may benefit class presidencies or can be used in Mutual opening exercises.
Parents can use the videos in family home evenings and even at family gatherings and reunions to teach gospel principles. They are a great way to start conversations and help youth find answers to their questions. Many families are using the music downloads as a wonderful way to invite the Spirit into their homes and while driving in the car.
Leaders can use the resources to teach standards and the application of gospel doctrines in Sunday lessons, Mutual activities, youth conferences and camp.
Priesthood leaders can use the video messages to teach leadership principles to youth in bishop's youth discussions, stake youth councils, bishopric youth committee meetings or even during ward council when focusing on the needs of the youth.
What does Strength of Youth Media 2012 teach?
The messages teach youth to arise and keep their standards high — to stand as witnesses to those around them. They are targeted to three audiences: (1) Young Women; (2) (Young Men; and (3) Everyone! Each message has a brief description of the video and under the description is a list of topics the video addresses, such as friends, service, scripture study, missionary work, family, example, gratitude, faith, prayer, miracles, adversity, conversion, testimony, dress and appearance.
How should Strength of Youth Media 2012 be used?
When teaching with media, always have an objective in mind. It's more than just showing a video. Ask youth to watch for specifics such as: What did the young woman in the video do to strengthen her faith? In what ways was she an example of righteousness in her family? Take time after the video to process the young woman's experience. Ask questions such as: How did this video make you feel? Why did you feel that way? How will you change? What will you do differently as a result of seeing the video? See "Using Media, For Lessons" at medialibrary.lds.org
Why should we use Strength of Youth Media 2012?
These video messages show real youth having real challenges and arising! Youth can follow their examples and lead out in being virtuous and righteous leaders in their families, at school and at Church.
Many youth have commented after seeing others arise that it gives them courage to live the gospel. A feeling of connection comes as they see others happy and succeeding in keeping their standards high. These videos touch hearts in a way that cause youth to ponder their own lives and how they can arise.
Now, should you still be wondering about using this great resource, I invite you to watch "Pure and Simple Faith." This is the story of a sweet young woman from the Philippines whose biggest worry was having enough money to pay for the fare for her family to ride on the jeepney (public transportation) to Church on Sunday. You will see how her great faith acquired from a righteous mother, prayer and scripture study brings about a real miracle in her life. After viewing the video for 5 minutes and 30 seconds, I promise your life will be changed.
How can we share Strength of Youth Media 2012?
All video messages are shareable by email, Facebook, Twitter and Delicious. Let's change the world by flooding the Internet with these "virtuous, lovely or of good report"(13th Article of Faith) messages of youth arising!
How to download a video from Youth.lds.org
1. Go you youth.lds.org and select the video you want to download.
2. Right-click the light blue "download" button at the bottom-right side of the video.
3. A dialog box will appear. Select one of the options that lets you save the file ("Save file as", or "download file as")
4. You will be then asked where you wish to download the video. We recommend that you download it to your desktop so you can find it easily.
5. Click "Save"
6. The video will now be downloaded to your computer. You will then be able to play it from there, or burn it to your own DVD using software that comes with most computers.
