Hi girls! I wanted to take a minute to introduce and explain our theme for this next year to you. As you know, the church wide theme for all of the youth this year is "Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved." (D&C 87:8) Our ward will be taking this theme and adding our own little spin to it--a travel theme. As leaders, we started thinking last Spring/Summer about how to make this fun and unique for you girls, and wanted to base our activities throughout the year around our theme.
Why a travel theme? There are a couple of reasons. Most importantly we chose the travel theme this year because we want you to know that no matter where your current physical location may be, you can choose to make it a holy place. Our ward has many girls travelling this year, and we wanted to take advantage and connect with other young women all around the world. We want this blog to a be a place where you tell us all about your journeys near and far, and share with us your testimonies of how you are standing in holy places.
The other reasons we chose a travel theme is because, well, I think it's cute and there is a lot we can do with it. Think maps, transportation, luggage, globes, gnomes, etc Yes, gnomes! Now I feel that the gnomes may need a little more of an explanation. Think of the roaming gnome on the Travelocity commercials. He may be the most notable travelling little gnome, but he actually wasn't the first. Back in the 1980's some gnomes began disappearing from their owner's yards and gardens, leaving nothing but a note. Some of these gnomes began travelling the world and sent postcards of their adventures back to their astonished owners. A couple of these gnomes have actually developed quite a cult following and have their own blogs, where their adventures are shared as they're passed from one person to the next.
We thought it would be fun to give you each your own little gnome to take with you on your adventures this year. I think it would be so fun if you will post pictures and stories of you and your gnome's adventures here on the blog. We bought extra gnomes for you to pass along to other young women as you go on all of your adventures. We hope these other young women will join us with their traveling gnomes and come to this blog to share their own stories and adventures. Can you imagine all of the places these gnomes could travel to this year if everyone continues to pass them along and write about it here!?
