An Olympic torch was passed through all the seminary classrooms in the Hurst Texas Stake, eventually reaching its final destination at the Seminary Olympic Games on Jan. 30.
Each seminary teacher was to lead their class through an "Olympic" experience before passing the torch to another class in the stake, said Deanna Palmer, Hurst Stake seminary supervisor. The "Olympic" experiences included memorizing scripture mastery verses, reading the Book of Mormon five minutes every night for five days, having better class discussions while staying awake, and singing hymns.
At the Seminary Olympic games the students signed in and received a lanyard "participant" badge. And as they entered the cultural hall, they were seated at tables with flags from different countries on them.
The students were divided into three groups to begin their competitions. The students participated in snowboarding, ice hockey and biathlon. Snowboarding consisted of two teams competing against each other in recognizing scripture mastery clues their teammates were drawing on a whiteboard. Ice hockey involved four teams racing to find scripture mastery verses from a clue given from their teachers. Once an entire team found the verse in their scriptures, one team member would take a street hockey stick in hand and swat four tennis balls across the gym at target cups. The first team to knock over a cup was awarded bonus points that were written on the inside portion of the cup.
The final activity, biathlon, pitted two team against one another to recognize a clue and find the scripture. The first person to find the clue was then asked for a random number, to which the teacher, looking on her list, would call out an object that each team would then try to find and throw into the center of floor before the other team. Much like a scavenger hunt, the objects included lip stick, a pen, a wallet, a cell phone and other random items. During one round, the object called for was Velcro. As the teams scurried to find Velcro, one girl, who recently sprained her knee and had it wrapped in a brace, hopped to the center of the floor and sat down triumphantly.
One of the main objectives for this activity was to have the students recognize that through their daily study of the scriptures and mastery of key scripture passages, they will fuel the flame, the light of Christ, in their lives.
"Even though I'm not good at finding the scriptures, I was still able to participate and have fun," said Cory Edfrennes, of the Hurst 1st Ward.
Karlee Bourne, of the Fossil Ridge Ward, said "I really enjoyed the games and got to know people in other wards."
Following the Olympic games, seminary and institute coordinator Jared Jepson gave a presentation that focused on the standards in the "For The Strength of Youth" pamphlet and how they relate to keeping the flame burning bright in their lives. Jepson related good choices and their positive consequences to stoking the flames brighter and brighter, while poor choices and sins were likened to extinguishing the fire of our testimonies. Each student was reminded to make those choices that would enable them to let their lights shine for others to be inspired by, just as the torch of the Olympic Games inspires Olympic athletes and spectators alike.