Around the first of the yr we asked our Young Women to write down a goal for their Personal Progress and had them plow information technology in. Nosotros did this for a couple reasons. Offset, nosotros wanted them to think for a few minutes about their personal progress, where they were, where they wanted to be and what they are going to do to get in that location. We tin can exercise this by looking at our tracking sheet but I wanted THEM, the girls, to look at it. We wanted to help them reach their goal by focusing on them through various lessons, common activities and different events we have throughout the yr. I'm And so GLAD we did this. Almost every girl listed "read the Book of Mormon" as a goal, in fact a handful of the girls but needed to read the BOM to end their Personal Progress or Honor Bee. We saturday downwards as a presidency and began billowy ideas around. Finally, one of the ladies told the states almost a friend of hers who read the Entire Book of Mormon in 24 HOURS!! Yes, y'all read it right, 24 HOURS!!!! Nosotros were so excited about this idea, we were literally jumping up and downwardly. With a grouping of 30 young women, and because most of the leaders take picayune people at home, nosotros decided we would do the read-a-thon at the church; this started the very beginning of the planning stage. We wanted to get it done before the Stake Recognition Nighttime, so those girls that just needed to read the volume could be washed…but this only gave us merely a few weeks to plan and execute.

I idea the girls were going to groan and complain when we told them well-nigh our "Super Activity" merely I was blown away, they were so excited. In fact i of the girls called me afterward that night and said, "I talked to my mom and we'd like to accept the read-a-thon at our firm!!!" WHAT?!? Seriously, I take the all-time girls.

School was in total swing without a holiday in sight, so we started after school on Friday and finished around 9pm Saturday dark. It was one of my favorite activities and the girls loved it also.

I spent ALOT of fourth dimension on Pinterest and Sugardoodle, reading every blog I could observe of people doing the same thing. I took a little scrap from everything and came up with our schedule and plan.

A few things to consider. Kickoff, you will be reading, listening or watching someone read THE Entire 24 HOURS!!! Then information technology'southward really of import to get good healthy protein packed meals. Practice NOT , I repeat, Practise NOT feed the girls a lot of sugar. They will crash and you lot don't desire that.

We as well put a packet together for each daughter. In the packet, we included a Volume of Mormon reading nautical chart, colored pencils, flavored drink pack and a sucker. I also had a agglomeration of scripture related developed coloring sheets that I made copies of and had laid on a table with colored pencils and crayons. (I wish I would've asked the primary if they needed annihilation colored for music time or sharing fourth dimension, we could have included those every bit a "service project"). For some great ideas check out http://tomiannie.blogspot.com she has some amazing coloring pages! We also asked the girls to bring the journal that nosotros made at Girl'south Camp.


I wrote a alphabetic character for all the parents explaining what we were doing at the activity and asked the girls to leave all electronics at home. We used paper scriptures and as well listened to information technology from the Gospel Library app. I continued my phone to my Amazing Bluetooth speaker, I highly recommend this (not an affiliate, simply a lover of this amazing speaker) I use that matter for EVERYTHING!

We explained the importance of getting there on time every bit we were on a tight schedule. The girls that had other activities came when they could and finished what they didn't read with the states on their own. AND THEY DID IT! I got several texts from those girls on Sunday evening afterwards they finished the Book of Mormon on their ain. It was AMAZING!

We sent a few sign-upward sheets around the ward for help. First, we asked for help preparing the food. Nosotros, the leaders, wanted to spend every second with the girls and we were invested in reading the entire Volume as well. They had our undivided attention! We prepared the carte du jour, did the shopping and delivered the food to those that signed up to prepare and deliver it.

We also asked for help with Cameo appearances from the Ward. This was hands downwardly the Best role of the activity. Nosotros got the idea from another blog. Nosotros had 7 unlike stories we asked people to sign up to present to the YW. We asked them to play it up and gave them two rules; outset, evidence upwardly on fourth dimension and stay within the fourth dimension limit we provided, second, the story had to be READ not summarized. That'south it. Nosotros didn't follow up or give them ideas. They were all AMAZING. I was shocked at what happened. Each family unit, group or individual that came in diameter their testimony of the Book of Mormon. We didn't ask it just came naturally. They each came up with a fun style to share the story they signed up for. Here is a PDF of our cameo sign upward.

Here are a few examples of the Cameos. Lehi's Dream was presented to usa using Barbie'southward, the atomic number 26 rod was fabricated with tin foil and the tree from some small fairy set up. Each presenter got us involved, nosotros cheered for Moroni and we booed at Amalickiah. We yelled "apologize" during Samuel's speech to the Lamanites. We closed our optics and were told to imagine the destruction at the time of Christ's crucifixion. We even had someone read the 2000 Stripling Warriors to us from Columbia, yes the country. They actually brought the scriptures alive for us.

During the group read, we listened to Gospel Library and started out at 1.5x speed but by the end kept up just fine with 2x. We did Round Robin sometimes every bit well. In the middle of the night when we were getting tired, the girls would read with different accents or emphasize different parts. It was fun! During our individual reading time, nosotros had soft music in the background. Surprisingly information technology wasn't distracting merely the opposite. It added to the story and almost felt like it was a theme song to the story.

Coloring page by Tomi Ann Colina at http://tomiannie.blogspot.com/2016/02/all-things-through-christ-coloring-folio.html?1000=1


We did have breaks. We line danced, played a balloon game, and stretched during some of the breaks. While we listened, we ate, colored, and made friendship bracelets. Equally a group we forged friendship, like we did at military camp. We became a closer group as nosotros tried finish this lofty goal. We laughed, cried and had an amazing fourth dimension. Most importantly we strengthened our testimonies.

Equally you can imagine, past 9pm when we finished the Unabridged Book of Mormon, we were exhausted. In that location was a lot of cheering, dessert and so everyone cleared out of at that place. We had 9am church building the next morn. For our YW lesson we sat in a circle and invited each girl to share an experience about the Book of Mormon. It didn't have to be from our Read-a-Thon but they could share near that as well. We went effectually the circle and each girl and leader shared; past the terminate there wasn't a dry out eye. We closed by inviting the girls to go dwelling house and have Moroni'due south Challenge.

Here is a re-create of our reading schedule. If I were to exercise this again, I would tack on an extra ten minutes for Jacob 1-vii and too for Alma 37-45. We didn't finish those in that amount of time. The rest of them were just about perfect!

It was a lot of piece of work to put this activity together, especially the schedule. I would practice information technology again in a heartbeat. It was exactly what we needed to inspire, uplift and unify our girls. Happy Reading!!!