What a Week!! (Part 1)

I must say I am a little tired, but this week has been an exciting one!!

It started last Thursday with girls camp. I can sometimes have a bad attitude about girls camp--not because I don't believe it is wonderful but because planning it is way over my head and stresses me out a bit. This year, however, I had the most fantastic leaders, and camp was so so amazing! Other than the self-inflicted kind,  I felt almost no stress.

It was "ward camp" this year, so we were able to take a few more liberties than when we go with the stake. First of all, we kept it short, beginning at 1 pm on Thursday and arriving at home by noon on Saturday. (My kind of camp! 😉 We accidentally discovered 2 years ago with our last ward camp that short but action-packed can be very powerful, at least with our girls' personalities.) We began at Sister Heidi Palmer's home to divide into "families" and to introduce our theme (which I LOVED)--Girls on Fire: Believe. Obey. Endure--with a devotional that featured a talk by President Thomas S. Monson. 

http://youtu.be/DKiIlwn8z3I

After the devotional, we loaded into cars and drove an hour and a half to Logandale campground in Kolob Canyon on the backside of Zion National Park. I never been to Kolob before, and I was completely enchanted by it!! It seemed like something you'd see  in an enchanted forest type movie. (For lack of a better way to explain it) Absolutely gorgeous!!! 

As soon as we arrived at camp, the girls put up their tents. The camp leaders made sure that none of the adult leaders did it (or anything) for the girls. The laurels were basically in charge and the girls did everything--set up, take down, meal prep and clean up, everything!! Once camp was set up, we circled around for a fun skit by the Laurels and then instruction from Sister Palmer and Sister Wells before they all left for their hike. All throughout July we has talked about survival and emphasized the importance of listening to parents and leaders and of being obedient. So the files were reminded of some of the things they had learned about prepared for a hike and then given 5 minutes to evaluate their day packs before they left. The plan was that there would be 3 different challenges throughout the hike--building a fire without matches or a lighter, finding edible plants, and building a shelter--and once those were completed the girls were told that they wouldn't be going back to camp that night but rather they would be spending the night where they were. I was told that all of the girls had great attitudes and did very well. :)

Next day was packed full of adventures like ropes courses

 rock climbing, rifle shooting, slip and sliding ( more photos to come as soon as I can collect them) and ended with an amazing testimony meeting. I was especially proud of my daughter, Madyson who went without her two best friends but who stepped up as one of the youth leaders (as a miamaid) and was kind and supportive and very engaged in every activity and who note the final testimony of the night, even though it a fear of hers. Her words were powerful and heartfelt and made me cry tears of joy and inspiration.  The youth of today are SO INCREDIBLE!!! I love to watch them when they finally step boldly into their power. I'm honored to be a leader of such a great group of girls. 

I didn't stay the night (Dave and I needed to leave early the next morning for the Isagenix annual convention), but the bishopric came Saturday morning to make a delicious breakfast for the girls and then they cleaned up and headed home, tired but happy and (I believe) changed.