Becoming a Latter-day Saint Teen

What a great decision you’ve made to be baptized and confirmed. As a new member of the Church, you will find many happy things to fill your life. The following activities and programs will help you learn and give you guidance in all parts of your life.

Attend Aaronic Priesthood or Young Women. Each Sunday, you’ll meet with the other teens in your ward or branch, the boys in Aaronic Priesthood and the girls in Young Women. Each week, the lessons will be geared to your age group.

Join your family in holding family home evening.Part of being a Latter-day Saint is becoming a better person. Family home evening can help you learn to be more kind and loving to your family as you study the gospel with them.

Go to Mutual. During the week, the youth and your leaders will get together for group or class activities and participation in service or sports. It’s the place where you’ll get to know good people, make friends, and have a lot of fun.

Attend seminary. From age 14 to 18, you can attend seminary, where you’ll have a chance to really get into the scriptures with an interesting teacher and classmates who are also there to learn. Even if you have to get up early to attend, you’ll learn more than you could have imagined.

Work on your Personal Progress or Duty to God program. Your Young Women or Aaronic Priesthood leaders will give you a small book outlining Personal Progress or Duty to God and explain the program to you. Your parents and leaders will help you choose the goals and experiences to work on. These programs can take several years to complete and will help you learn to set and achieve goals and develop important new skills.

Study the scriptures daily and pray often. Through prayer and scripture study you can receive answers to your questions and comfort in your trials. In prayer, give thanks for your blessings.

Learn to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost was given to you at your confirmation. As you learn to understand and respond to promptings from the Holy Ghost, you will feel God’s love for you and you will experience spiritual growth.

Photographs by Christina Smith, Garth Bruner, and Ruth Schönwald, posed by models