for another version click here

The Belief Boxes

The Belief Boxes were introduced at a workshop at a YW Open House in Salt Lake.  Here is the info I received:
"They sent out a letter to the YW asking them to create an artistic expression, using a provided white shipping-type box, about the size of a shoe box, of what they believe, in relation to the YW values. They were also asked to make a card with a quote or scripture that went with the belief, as well as a belief statement in their own words and their name and age. For example, one box was wrapped in gift wrap, open, and had tissue paper coming out the top. The card had a scripture to do with spiritual gifts and the statement was something to the effect of "I believe we all have divine gifts given to us." Another one had a light in the bottom of the box and tissue over that so it glowed and the card said something like, "I believe we all have the light of Christ within."

There was a book that the stake must have compiled with pictures of the boxes, and it showed all sorts of creative boxes with collages on them, sculpture-type creations...one had Cheerios glued all over it and said "I believe in being cheery"...all sorts of interesting creations. I believe they asked the girls, leaders and it looks like they even included the stake presidency in making the boxes."

Last year for YWIE we did something along those lines, except we did the belief boxes that were shown at YW Open house.  We wanted the girls to work on a value and what they believed about the value.  They also displayed something, (one thing, we'd had a problem with a few girls bringing over ten different things to display in the past) they had worked on toward a personal progress achievement.  But the boxes were the hit.  Seeing what each of them chose to work on and how they displayed what they believed in was wonderful.  A few weeks ago I was driving by one young woman's house and there was her belief box in her window.  Here it was 8 months later and she still had it to remind her of what she believes in.  We didn't want to see the same old violin or basketball as a display, not that those things aren't a worthy goal, we just wanted them to really think about what they believed in, and to give it more that just 10 minutes of thought before they grabbed what they could most easily display.  We were really tempted to display the boxes in the cultural hall on Sunday so that the whole ward could see what our YW believed in, but we thought it might not be appropriate, but that's how spiritually touching they were. Good luck on your program, it sounds wonderful.  And anything that helps the girls look within themselves can only help build their testimony.
Posted by Lori

 Someone posted a picture of them that they'd taken at open house, but it might be on the CD now.  Anyway, I bought a white box for each girl from a box supply co. on-line.  I think they were about .45 each.  The girls could decorate the box anyway they wanted.  They could leave it open, flat, close it up, whatever.  As leaders we each did a box and displayed it the Sunday we handed out the boxes.  This gave them an idea of what we were wanting and also an example of how different each one was.  We gave them three weeks to work on it and we highly emphasized that we didn't want them to spend money on them.  We wanted them to use what they had at home if possible.  We had a card for each girl that they filled our about their box with a description and a scripture that went with their belief.  For example, one girl's box was she believed in being clean and she put soap, toothpaste, shampoo and such on shish-kabob sticks and arranged them like flower coming out of the box, but her scripture referred to being clean in spirit.  One leader decorated her box like "Cheer" detergent and she put that repentance brought her "cheer" because she was now "clean" of all sin.  Do you get the idea?  One girl said she believed in being Stripling Warriors and she decorated her box with toy soldiers and some of our handouts from camp when out theme was "we are all enlisted" and we used military stuff.  Some of the sisters on this list actually went to open house and saw these.  Maybe they could give some more ideas.  We thought this was a wonderful activity and after some initial grumbling, the girls got into it and loved seeing everyone's boxes and YWIE.  I did have one mother who told her girls it was the stupidest thing she'd ever seen and her girls would not be decorating a dumb box, that she would just throw away that night anyway.  But her girls missed a wonderful chance and everyone was talking about them the next Sunday.  That's why I was so please to see the box in another YW window.  I thought of it as one of those quality projects that our kids bring home from school, that they remember the rest of their lives.  We wanted our girls to remember this for the rest of their lives and I think we were successful.

How about decorations, handouts, etc. focusing on others who believed when everyone else doubted-not just religious figures (Joseph Smith, Noah, Moses), but Thomas Edison (electricity), the Wright Brothers (airplanes), etc.
Melanie