Over 100 youth from the stake attended the June 21-22 Stake Youth Conference held at the stake center in Tallmadge. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s October 2018 General Conference talk entitled, Believe, Love, Do, inspired this year’s Youth Conference theme. The activities and workshops focused on the love of the Savior, believing in His reality and the importance of following Him.
As the youth arrived Friday morning, they were assigned to groups led by other young men and young women in the stake. The morning was spent getting to know each member of the group and preparing to perform an impromptu skit for the rest of the youth. Following lunch, the youth participated in a rotation of three different workshops and an “Escape Room” activity. Each workshop focused on a part of the theme – Believe, Love and Do – and included fun 
activities as well as spiritual instruction to build their testimonies. The escape room was themed, and the clues needed to escape followed the 2018 youth devotional talk from President Russell M. Nelson. Following dinner on Friday night, the youth had some additional group time that focused on promoting discussion on specific topics that allowed them to get to know each other better and foster new friendships. The evening concluded with a fun and engaging dance with music that even the chaperones recognized.
Saturday morning, the youth returned to the stake center for a rotation of four different activities with lunch in between. The rotation included two service projects, team building games tied to the theme and a workshop that allowed each youth to write a letter to their future selves. In order to ensure hands-on participation for each youth, four different projects were offered. Several volunteers in the stake helped facilitate these projects which included: sewing pillowcases for Akron Children’s Hospital; decorating bags and cards for Compassion Delivered (an organization in Stark County that delivers meals to terminally ill patients); indexing; and making cards, bookmarks and treat bags for O.U.R. (Operation Underground Railroad, a rescue organization for human trafficking). A spiritual testimony meeting concluded the two-day event.
The Stake Young Men and Young Women presidencies are grateful for all the youth who attended and the spirit they brought to the conference. The Akron Ohio Stake is blessed to have such special young men and young women who have strong testimonies of the Gospel and who love the Savior. A special thank you to all who participated and made the conference possible.
Akron Ohio Stake News 