TX LDS Teens Find Fun in Service
Janene Nielsen
Denton County, Texas, teens from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turned out en masse Saturday, July 30, 2016, in service of Riding Unlimited, an organization that provides equine therapy for people with physical, educational, intellectual and emotional disabilities.
“We’ve never had the opportunity to have a group this size come out to help us to this degree at this capacity,” said Pat Delleman, Riding Unlimited executive director. “If we do get funding, it goes into programs vs. facilities. For people to be willing to come out and help [with the facilities]—that just makes everything better for the whole program.”
The service project was part of a 3-day youth conference themed Press Forward With a Steadfastness in Christ.
“Service is such a vital part of the gospel,” said Troy Johnson, Denton Stake Young Men President. “It must be engrained deep in the hearts of our youth. They must learn that it is by losing themselves in service and working for the benefit of others that they will find themselves and become more like Christ.”
LDS teen, Sam Norwood agrees. “Youth Conference 2016 was quite the experience. Not only did I re-discover the real value of service, but I was also touched by a unique spirit that only comes when hundreds of youth are gathered together. It’s a beautiful feeling knowing you’ve really made an impact on the lives and programs of other people. [The work] my friends and I did truly showed us that the best way to learn to love someone is to serve them.”
Guest of Honor at the youth symposium was Elaine S Dalton, the thirteenth president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Dalton spoke on a variety of topics with a central theme of the strength and power of righteous youth.
“I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the spirit, can change the world,” said Dalton.
The youth also participated in a variety of games and other activities with the goal of knitting the youth together in friendship through good fun and shared memories.
“The events that followed our service just got better. I was truly touched by the spirit while going about the various games, workshops, or talks given by experienced leaders and teachers. It was an amazing bonding experience,” said Sam Norwood of Denton. “The opportunity to share my testimony [with my peers] really strengthened it more than anything else. I’m very grateful that I got to participate in such an amazing activity.”
For an overview of the Denton Youth Conference 2016 watch:
Riding Unlimited is located in Ponder, Texas. Its mission for the past 25 years has been to Turn Disabilities Into Possibilities. Riding Unlimited’s therapeutic horsemanship program is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with disabilities through the power of the horse. http://www.ridingunlimited.org/
