Duty to God Booklet/Journal

I few months back I promised to show you how to make your Duty to God booklet into a journal.  It took me some time mostly because I've been away a lot and I needed to take some photographs.  I’ve finally put this together, and I hope it’s helpful...

Items you will need.

Here are some of the items you'll need to modify your booklet.  I didn't put the pencil or the straightedge in this photo.

-    Duty to God booklet
-    Spiral bound notebook
-    Utility knife or another way to cut the notebook down to size (a straight edge is helpful as well if you are going to do this yourself)
-    Needle nosed pliers
-    Wire cutters
-    Pen or pencil

Step 1:
    Remove the binding on your Duty to God booklet.  The easiest way to do this is to use your wire cutters to snip the folded ends off the black spiral and then simply twist it out with your fingers.

I had been painting the day that I took these photographs, so my fingers look really dirty...

Discard the black spiral, when you are done, it will be too small for your new booklet.

Step 2:
    Remove the wire binding on your notebook.  This is accomplished the same way as with your D2G booklet.  Snip the bent ends from the spiral wire, and then twist it out of the holes.

 
Set this wire aside, you will use it later to put your new Duty to God Journal back together.

Step 3:
    Cut the notebook down to size.  You can take the cover of your Duty to God booklet and place it over the upper left corner of your spiral notebook.

Be sure to line it up right, if it aligned  you’ll notice that the small holes down the left side of the cover line up with the holes in the notebook.

Once it is lined up, use your pencil to mark the edges that you are going to cut off your notebook.

 
    To cut the book, I’ve simply used a metal straight edge and a utility knife.

I carefully cut along the line several times until I’ve cut through the whole book.  An alternative to this is to take your spiral notebook to a copy store…they usually have large paper cutters and they can (for a small fee) make the cuts that you need to get your paper down to the right size.  The finished size should be roughly 4.75” X 7”.

Step 4:
    Now, go through your Duty to God booklet and insert a page from your notebook into each requirement.

You might even want to insert two pages into some of them that have a lot of reading/writing to do.  This is a personal preference.  I write pretty small so I have plenty of room with one for the most part.  This adds about 22 pages to your book.  When they are all in, put the book back together in order and shuffle the pages until they all line back up again.

Step 5: (Optional)
    With my  Duty to God booklet, I wanted to make it a bit sturdier as well as to ‘Personalize’ it a bit, so I took the hard covers from my notebook and added them to the front and back of my Duty to God booklet.

One rule, if you are going to make your own cover, you must include the image of the temple to maintain the original concept.

 I even made my own cover for the booklet with the temple on the front, my name and the date I started the program, and then I added some inspirational quotes to the back.

 I take my booklet on campouts with the Scouts and I wanted one that would be more durable…as well as very cool looking.

Step 6:
    So with your booklet in order, with new pages added, you are ready to put it back together.  Take the wire spiral from the notebook and carefully thread it back into the holes by twisting it with your fingers.

Once it is in all the way, you can use the wire cutters to trim off the excess wire.

Then you will use the Needle Nosed pliers to carefully bend the wire ends down to form an L shape…this prevents the wire from coming back out again.

Now your book is ready to use.

What I like about this approach is that it makes your Duty to God booklet your “Learning Journal” so that you can keep all information in one place.  You don’t have to carry around two books and it also makes that booklet more personal and adds value.  You are less likely to misplace your personal journal.

It’s also great when it comes time for you to take the opportunity to SHARE your experiences.  Since you’ve written it in your booklet, you have all the information that you need right there to help you remember what you are doing.

Additional Tips on how to use this D2G booklet/journal:
1)    Copy passages from scriptures and paste them onto the notebook pages, then write your thoughts next to the scripture.
2)    I like to encourage writing and drawing a lot in this booklet/journal…each item written inside of the booklet increases it’s personal value.
3)    In addition to making sketches in the booklet, I like to find inspirational images and paste them in the booklet at relevant places as well.

That is it! You are ready to go to town on your Duty to God award.  One last suggestion.  If you are like most people that I work with on Duty to God and you are stuck on the ideas of setting goals, I’d suggest that you try to get your hands on the booklets for the old program.  There are lots of great ideas in those books of goals that you can set.  I try to encourage my sons to reach high with their goals and if they can…set more than one for each requirement.  It’s too tempting to set easy/lazy goals.  Challenge  yourself and really learn what your Duty is.

NO FEAR - NO WHINING - NO REGRETS