6.1-3.2015
Kelvin Grove takes over Heber Valley!
"Embark in the Service of God"
Serve him with all your heart, might, mind
and strength.
The girls had to be at the church at 7. I wasn't leaving until 9:30, but I wanted to go and see them off.
Loaded up on the bus!
My home for the next few days!!
We stayed in these adorable yurts. They had bunk beds in them and slept 16 people. We put all the girls and 2 leaders in one (the loud one, where I slept) and the rest of the leaders in the other (that was the quiet yurt)!
Heber Valley is amazing! So nice. It's a huge campsite, divided into different campsites. Our stake was in camp Abish.
The girls decorating their name tags for their beds!
Ana doing the waterfall braid on Aubrey's hair. These girls could have braided and played with hair all day!
Playing a little volleyball.
Our first fireside... I loved hearing all the camp songs, flag ceremony, and spiritual msg. President Park talked about "selfies". He talked about how we need to quit focusing on ourselves and focus on others.
We also got the "awesome" award that night. Our chant was super cool.
That evening Carlene and I went to get service to talk to our families. We had to drive about 5 miles, to the entrance of the camp. (I loved how the girls couldn't bring their phones and how we didn't have service. It was actually nice)!
At the entrance of camp, they have all the value flags flying. It's pretty cool!
It is gorgeous up there! The sunset was so pretty and everything was so green!!
A cute little trail crossing a stream to get to our fire pit! There are so many trees.
Fires and smores before "cabin chats".
Tuesday.
The girls wanted the "early bird" award. Which meant we had to get up way to early and be the first one at the morningside, which started at 7am.
I got the girls up at 6:15. Every girl was there at 6:40. We were tired, but we were there! And we definitely earned that award!!
There were so many deer that just walked across the roads and through camps. They were so close to us.
We had downtime and the girls worked on personal progress. I got this picture of Kennedy. I thought it was cool how she was by herself in this pretty forest, studying her scriptures. Girls camp is so awesome for these girls!
We saw a mama moose and her little baby later that day, close to our camp. Pretty cool!
So the stake leaders came around to talk with just the girls. They kicked us leaders out to go get "pampered"!
They had a fruit plate for us, massages and nail painting. Ya, girls camp is pretty rough. Haha.
Us leaders: Carlene, Jen, Me, Litz, and Corrine.
Craft time. Litz had such cute crafts. They were making light houses that lit up with little tea lights.
The girls taught me the actions to the cup song. They were so patient with me. Ha. I was so slow learning. Now I can smoke them all! We did this all week long.
After the fireside that night, we did a "Grove Song". So they took each Ward one by one to a spot in the grove. We were told to be very quiet. We could hear each other (the wards), but not see each other. This was our walk out by the lake!
It had turned dark. This is our Ward with their lanterns on.
So one by one each Ward sang a hymn. You couldn't see them, but could hear them. It was so cool. Then, someone played a recorder to the first verse of "Jesus Savior Pilot Me". We all joined in and sang together. It was so pretty and just really cool!
We took a group shot after with our matching hoodies on.
The leaders again! Our camp leaders were the very best! Jen made the best popcorn.
Wednesday.
Service project day.
We went into the forest and cleaned out dead wood and brought out fire wood that had been chopped for them. They did awesome. We hauled two big trucks full of wood!
Jen and Kennedy made boats out of cards and raced them down the stream. Jen definitely lost. Haha.
That night the Relief Society came up for dinner and skits. We took a group picture with them :)
Skit night! And we one the "cleanest cabin" award! I loved all these girls and their enthusiasm. They killed it with the awards.
So that night I had to get home, because we were leaving for Moab the next morning. I stayed through the fireside, skits, a fire with more smores, and cabin chats. I finally had to say good bye. I'll be honest, it was much harder than I thought it would be... I got attached to those girls in just a few days. They taught me a lot.
Girls camp taught me a lot. I accepted this calling with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder... No more slacking off of church after sacrament, every Tuesday night activities, and extra meetings. And not to mention girls camp.. Leaving the girls, finding sitters, missing work and having to find someone to work for me... again, a chip on my shoulder or maybe it's called being selfish!! I'm definitely going with selfish.
Well, Young women's has been great, but going to girls camp gave me a greater understanding and a much deeper love for these girls and this program. Our focus was on service. Focusing more on others around us. We were challenged to pray every night to find those at camp to serve. I focused more on our girls. I needed to get to know them better. I loved spending the day with the girls.. We were challenged to memorize Helamen 5:12. The foundation of Christ scripture. When we passed it off we got a necklace. So, I promised the girls, I would get mine, if they would get theirs. We helped each other and repeated the scripture all day long. I passed mine off the day I left. The girls who hadn't yet, promised me they would!
I loved serving them. I had mixed emotions about leaving. I was so excited to go home to the girls and my own bed, but I would miss them. I laughed a lot!
I left them with my testimony...
I know the Savior lives. I was reminded of how much he loves us this past week. I know he loves me.
It's easy to remember to read/study your scriptures, pray, and serve others when that's all you have to do during the week.
It's coming home to real life that's the hard part.
I'm thankful for the girls camp to get to know the girls and be reminded of the important things!
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