Young women in the American Fork Utah East Stake have taken the mission of the Church to heart. Since 1989, they have participated in projects designed around the Church's mission statement. Through the projects, the young women have helped proclaim the gospel, redeem the dead and worked to perfect the saints.

In November 1989, the stake's Young Women presidency introduced projects aimed at helping all young women in the stake "come unto Christ" through each segment of the Church's mission statement.In the category of proclaiming the gospel, young women attended workshops to help them gain the spirit of missionary work. They spent a Saturday morning learning and teaching the first missionary discussion. They were then challenged to return home and teach the discussion to their families.

Several touching experiences occurred after the workshop, explained Rose Ann Gunther, stake Young Women president.

One member of a Beehive class from the American Fork 9th Ward, Janae Parker, gave the lesson to her great-grandmother , a non-member, who lives with the family. The family had tried many times to share the gospel with the great-grandmother and asked her if the missionaries could come, but she always said no.

When Janae asked her great-grandmother if she could share the lesson with her, however, she agreed. That was the beginning to her heightened interest in the Church, and the great-grandmother began to read the Book of Mormon.

In November 1990, the stake young women workshop included classes in scripture study and physical preparation for missions, as well as learning and teaching the second discussion.

For November 1991, each ward's Young Women leaders were asked to use their Sunday lesson time to teach the third discussion. The young women will go later in groups of two or three to teach the discussion to an assigned family in their respective wards.

To participate in redeeming the dead, the young women began in January 1990 to work with the Church's Family History Department. They were given a complete microfilm of English parish registers the department copied from microfilm onto paper.

The young women copied the names and identifying information of the individuals onto forms that were sent to Salt Lake City for clearance in preparation for temple ordinances.

Once the names were cleared by the Family History Department, the young men and young women in the stake performed proxy baptisms for approximately 6,400 individuals.

Then in January 1991, the same program was again undertaken and completed. This time the young women extracted 2,400 names and young women from a neighboring stake were given another 2,400 names. Those names are currently being cleared for temple work.

In January 1992, the stake's young women plan to work with the Family History Department using its new names clearance process that allows individuals to immediately clear names at their local meetinghouse for temple work.

"This process will allow our young women to extract, enter data, and clear names for the parish register records, and then take them directly to the temple on diskette so that the ordinance work can be performed," Sister Gunther remarked. "This will allow each young woman to perform baptismal ordinances for the names she extracts.

"We hope this project will give the young women a chance to feel the spirit of temple and family history work."

To assist girls to help perfect the saints, the stake Young Women presidency planned a project that would help them learn unselfishness and service.

Stake Young Women leaders decided that whenever a stake function was held, there would be no refreshments or decorations provided. The young women and their leaders agreed with the decision.

The stake Young Women budget for 1990 and 1991 was saved, with the exception of funds being used for a Young Women recognition banquet and the purchasing of copies of the missionary discussion for the November activity.

Stake Pres. Lawrence Clark agreed that the budget monies and the Young Women's portion of the combined Young Men/Young Women budget could be spent on service projects. With the money, young women purchased materials needed to make items to be distributed through humanitarian services of the Church's Welfare Services Department.

From April 1991 to August 1991, 100 young women and leaders worked a total of 1,500 hours on the project. They made 50 full-size quilts; five crib quilts; 19 afghans; 100 wooden, hand-painted toys, and 76 first aid kits.

They plan to do the same through next year, making more quilts and afghans, hygiene kits and first aid kits.

"There has been a great outpouring of love from the young women for Heavenly Father's children," Sister Gunther noted. "As a presidency we felt some problems existing with our young women would clear up if they began helping their brothers and sisters. We've seen that happen."