This year marks the 100th anniversary of the institution of Family Home Evening in the Church. Originally designed as a way for families to spend meaningful time together, the program has carried over into young single adult life on campus.
Marcus Martins, a professor of Religion from Brazil, said the YSA units still need FHE to prepare them for the future.
“We create a habit of having FHE, a habit that hopefully we will continue to have once we graduate from college,” Martins said. “And whether we get married as soon as we graduate or we take a little while to get married, we still have that habit of having Monday evenings set apart. If Mondays are available for people, we have FHE.”
Martins said once people form habits, they become “infinitely difficult” to break, and forming the habit of having FHE before students have families will allow them to be more successful once they start one.
Students who regularly attend FHE said going helps them to get to know their wards better. Bethany Hatch, a sophomore psychology major from Canada, said, “Every time you go, you get a little closer with your ward. That’s handy because then you have more friends, more people to reach out to. It’s a good support system.”
Eugene Aloc, a junior studying business management from the Philippines, said, “FHE is like finding a family away from your home. It helps you not to feel homesick, not to feel alone.”
Elder Randy Keyes, a new campus psychologist from Canada, said young single adults are able to find companionship and unity within their ward through FHE because, “It gives them a social opportunity that they might not go out and seek themselves. It gives them an opportunity to contribute their knowledge, their personality and their spirituality.”
Keyes said it helps singles to bond with each other and participate in campus life in a spiritually uplifting manner. Fun times can be found at FHE. Some students mentioned some of their favorite activities are bonfires and anything involving food, because everyone knows college students live for free food.
Jenna Van Vliet, a senior studying international cultural studies from California, recalled one of her favorite memories being pineapple carving at Halloween.
Family Home Evening was first instituted in the latter days in 1915 through a letter from the First Presidency. They wrote, “We advise and urge the inauguration of a ‘Home Evening' throughout the Church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home and teach them the word of the Lord.
“This ‘Home Evening‘ should be devoted to prayer, singing hymns, songs, instrumental music, scripture-reading, family topics and specific instruction on the principles of the Gospel, and on the ethical problems of life, as well as the duties and obligation of children to parents, the home, the Church, society, and the nation.”