“Mutual Theme 2015: How’s the Sailing So Far?” New Era, September 2015, 40

Mutual Theme 2015: How’s the Sailing So Far?

Youth are discovering lots of ways to explore this year’s Mutual theme in weekly Mutual activities.

This year’s Mutual theme encourages us to serve God “with all [our] heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2). Mutual is a perfect place to follow this commandment because there’s power in serving God together.

Here’s how some youth have found joy in serving God together with their quorums and classes.

“We hosted a spa night for the Activity Day girls to help them get excited to move from Primary to Young Women. We served the younger girls by doing their hair and nails. One girl I didn’t know very well was sitting alone. I went and asked if she wanted her nails done. She got this big smile on her face and nodded. She was really excited to have an older girl help her. It was a good lesson for me because sometimes I’m kind of shy about talking to people I don’t know very well. I know she was really happy when I went and talked with her.”

Kara W., 13, Washington, USA

“During our annual planning meeting at the beginning of the year, we planned several service projects in our quorums and classes. One was when my quorum helped a family in our ward trim the large tree in their backyard.

“It was pretty awesome! We worked on the tree with chainsaws and branch cutters. With all of us working together, we finished in no time at all. It was also really fun because we got to use power tools. We’d just been looking for an opportunity to serve as a quorum when we heard of this family’s need. At the end, our quorum and the family were very happy!”

Andrew S., 14, Arizona, USA

“One of our Young Women leaders is deaf. For New Beginnings, we decided to perform “Embark” [the 2015 Mutual theme song] in American sign language [ASL]. Our leader taught us the chorus of the song, and she signed the verses. I loved this activity because any young woman who wanted to could have a solo in the song while all of the girls signed. I feel good that we’re learning another language that may help someone we may know in our future. Also, I hope it inspired other people to want to learn ASL.”

Piper W., 17, Missouri, USA

“In our stake all the youth were introduced to the theme in a standards night at the beginning of the year. We watched a bunch of clips including the theme song [see lds.org/go/embark9NE]. I instantly loved it. Then we talked about some of the standards in the For the Strength of Youth booklet. We finished by talking about Elder Neil L. Andersen’s temple challenge [see templechallenge.lds.org] and how important it is to find and bring your own family names to the temple.

“At home, I picked up my phone and looked up #embark on Instagram. I found tons of pictures of the theme scripture, logo, and some Mormonads. I posted a few pictures of #embark, and a few minutes later I got a comment from someone at school saying she’d seen me at the standards night. Before that I didn’t know that anyone else at my school was LDS—let alone someone in my grade. I love this theme so much!”

Haiden G., 13, Alberta, Canada