personal progress: individual worth value project

In my church, the Young Women from ages 12-18 are encouraged to participate in a program called Personal Progress. The purpose of this program is to help teenage girls develop important values and attributes, and develop into intelligent, virtuous, confident women who are worthy to enter the temple. The values taught are supposed to aid us in building a family and accomplishing other life goals.

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The values are Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice & Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. For each of these values, we must complete six value experiences, so that we can learn and practice the values. Then, we have to plan and carry out a 10-hour value project for each value. After that is all done, we are rewarded with a beautiful Young Women medallion, among other things. It is something I dream of achieving. In a way, it is kind of similar to the Eagle Scout. Working on badges (or in this case, value experiences) and then a big Eagle project (eight 10-hour projects in total) at the end, resulting in an Eagle badge (YW Medallion).

I've been steadily trying to work on my Personal Progress since I was 12, and two days ago, when I created this blog, I had somewhat of an epiphany relating to my patriarchal blessing. I can't go into detail on that, but anyways, I realized later that I could use this as my 10-hour Individual Worth Value Project. This is what it says on the topic of this certain value project, which I was reading yesterday:

"You have a unique and divine mission to perform on the earth and have been blessed with talents to accomplish this mission. As you complete one of the following projects, you will witness the value and contribution of others and also see the influence you can have in the lives of others. Express your gratitude to those with whom you work, and record your experiences in your journal."

And then it hit me. I believe one of my talents is writing. I also believe that as I write this blog, I will be reflecting on the value and contribution that others have in my life. Also, the entire goal of my blog is basically trying to see if the things I write can influence the lives of others in a positive way. And on top of that, this is basically a journal, which I am recording my experiences in! It hit me so hard last night, and as crazy as it sounds, I actually think making this blog was something I was supposed to do.

So, that being said, I will no doubt have spent over 10 hours on this blog at some point. I'm really excited about this opportunity!

I also came across an amazing Mormon message from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that further inspired me. He speaks so eloquently! I know that we can all create.