The pandemic has made things challenging for unity within our ward. People have different opinions and they have reacted in a wide range of ways to the pandemic, to church closures, to wearing masks, etc. It's getting closer to normal--we go back to second hour church meetings in person in 2 1/2 weeks. But I feel like the level of unity and friendship in our YW group has suffered. So I have thought and prayed about what to do. And I've tried to do a variety of things. Communicate regularly. Drop off little treats and quotes. A couple of times I have written letters or sent postcards. Keep inviting, inviting, inviting. For months, I have been doing "Waffle Wednesday" where I make waffles for my girls after school on Wednesdays and they sometimes invite friends--and a couple of times I have invited all of the YW to Waffle Wednesday (though the result from that has been mixed.) And now I am trying to take small groups of YW out to ice cream to get a chance for them to interact outside of church/church activities and hopefully strengthen friendships. I've only been able to take one group so far...but it was SUCH a fun evening. It was a bit chilly. But after eating their ice cream, Sofie, Gabby, Claire and Brielle played on the playground and they laughed and talked and seemed to have a great time. I really enjoyed watching them interact as well as interacting with them myself. I want to do it again soon with some different YW.
One other thing that I think went well. We had a cupcake decorating activity yesterday. One of our YW is gluten free, and she hasn't been attending much recently. So I reached out to her and her mom that morning and let them know that I had gluten free cupcakes for her for the activity that night. I got a response from her mom almost immediately, thanking me for making sure to include her daughter. And that young woman and her sister came to the activity! And I think they had fun. I may be mistaken, but I doubt they would have come if I hadn't reached out to let them know that I had made gluten free cupcakes for her.
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