Today I am going to talk a little bit about the Fulfilling Our Duty to God program for the young men of the church. This is a great program and in several ways it is similar to Personal Progress for the young women. In the United States, the young men are encouraged to complete the Scouting program and achieve Eagle Scout while still completing the Duty to God program. While it may seem overwhelming many of the Duty to God goals do correspond with merit badges. It is possible to achieve both, but you do need to plan and coordinate it.
In order to earn the Fulfilling Our Duty to God award, your young man will need to complete a guideline book for Deacon, Teacher and Priest. In each book there are several different sets of activities and goals that each young man needs to complete.
The first set of activities is family activities. These activities include things such as daily scripture study, teaching family home evening and learning about the Strength of Youth pamphlet. The next set of activities is Quorum activities. These activities include giving a talk or teaching a lesson, and discussing the purposes of the priesthood and the sacrament.
The boys then have four areas where they need to complete personal goals. In each two-year period they will need to complete eight goals in each category. The first category is Spiritual goals. The goals include memorizing the Articles of Faith, and journal writing. The second category is Physical goals, which includes goals from personal fitness to hiking to camping to swimming. The third category is Educational, Personal and Career goals. These goals include attending a culture event, visiting a government office, learning to play a musical instrument, and learning to budget. The fourth category is Citizenship and Social skills, which includes singing in a choir, learning manners and sustaining the law.
The final component for each book is a service project. The Eagle service project can also be used to fulfill this service project. For each service project the young man should plan and carry out the project. This helps to teach leadership skills.
The personal goals correspond the most with the different merit badges. As each boy completes these goals, it will help to prepare him for life. You can learn more about the activity books by clicking here.