Girls Camp!

I was asked earlier in the year to attend girls camp as an assistant level leader over the second year girls. I was so excited! Logistically, it was a little crazy. We had already booked our family vacation for the week right after camp, so David couldn't take the entire week off. I am ever so grateful for the great friends that we have that were willing to take our kids in during the day. As it approached I was going crazy prepping for camp and our BIG family trip that we were leaving for ONCE I got home from camp. 

I have wonderful memories of girls camp as a youth. I went for 6 years, and began counting down once the dates were published. I have served in the Young Womens organization for 4 summers in the past few years, and have always been pregnant or nursing a new baby when girls camp came around. I couldn't have been more thrilled to be asked back after a 13 year absence.

As it approached, I became more apprehensive about leaving my kids and helping to lead 38 13-year-old girls at a camp I was unfamiliar with. Standard anxiety, I guess you could say.

4 am on Tuesday June 11th came bright and early. I jumped up to finish getting packed and get all my things to the curb for my ride. We were at the Stake Center by 5 am. The Youth Leaders trickled in, along with the other stake leaders. I was officially excited! I was asked to say the prayer and was overcome with emotion as I prayed for the families left behind. I was also comforted by the spirit that I was EXACTLY where I was suppose to be.

I could go on and on, but I won't. Camp was wonderful! 

 When I was a girl, we camped by wards. A few years back, our stake decided that camping by levels would be better. Some of the wards are really small, and so now the campers are only divided into 4 groups, plus YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) and then the adult leaders (2-3 leaders per level and about a dozen stake leaders). Most levels had 15-20 girls. Our level had 38 girls. We are the blue shirts in the picture above.

 The first night was skit night. This is all the stake leaders ready for the 'synchronized swimming' skit that we never rehearsed. It was simply for laughs. We looked ridiculous. 

 This was one of the other skits.

 Day two was HIKE day. We had many girls that whined at the thought of a 5 mile hike. I then took off my shoe and gave the "If-I-can-hike-without-bones-in-my-foot" pep-talk... it seemed to work. I did wonderful by the way. I was worried, but I think I was blessed. I was a great tail and enjoyed encouraging those girls that were struggling.

 It was beautiful at the top of the mountain. 

 We were able to do our scripture study at the top. It was great to read while surrounded by proof of our Heavenly Fathers love for us (well, and I was grateful for the chance to catch my breath).

 We had to cook one meal as a level. We heated chili up over the camp fire and then made s'mores; Easy and tasty!

 We had a few great lessons about how we can 'Stand in Holy Places'. This sister shared her life story and it helped all of us see how blessed we've been.

 Certification is not always the highlight for the girls, but I thought knife sharpening was cool. We were lucky to have our priesthood leaders helping us with that.

 Of course there was down time for the girls to just hang out.

 These are a few of the YCL's that were assigned to our level. Such great girls that I really enjoyed getting to know.

 The girls did a great job using their time wisely and they all seemed excited to work on their personal progress.

 Here is our camp theme, which is the same as the church mutual theme for 2013. I had the chance on the second night to give a devotional about the importance of Temples.

 That's me on the zipline! It was fun! The girls loved it also.

 Some of our amazing 2nd year girls!

 We were all excited to welcome back the 4th years, who did a 2-night backpacking adventure. That's Hannah and Meghan from our ward (they were two of my very first Beehives a few years back).

Bishops Feud was a fun event as well, and it was great to see all the bishops from the stake there. This was the last night, and after this event, we split into wards for testimony meetings and treats. Our meeting was INCREDIBLE and it was wonderful to see that all the work that those of us put into camp to make it meaningful for the girls worked. 

Was it difficult, at times, wrangling 38 13-year-old girls? Heck yes. 
Someone made the comment that this was a vacation from my three small children, and I quickly corrected them. This was WAY more work! My face hurt from smiling so much to help the girls have good attitudes. We had TONS of problems that first day over tent assignments and we just had to stay strong and promise them that it would all be okay- 38 different times. 

Check-out time was 10 am Saturday, and nothing was on the schedule besides cleaning up. I asked if I could leave with some people from the ward on Friday night, and it worked out perfectly. I got home just after midnight. I walked in to Adam's room and he shot up and said, "You came back!" I kissed him and told him we would talk in the morning. We all got up early and got my camp laundry done and were on the road for vacation by noon. We passed the van load of girls coming home from camp as we got on the freeway. I was very grateful for that extra 12 hours.

Many times while on vacation, Adam would look at me and say, "Mommy, you came back!" and then Jenna would ask if I HAD to go back to camp another year. I LOVED being a camp leader! I really felt in my element with those girls. The spirit manifest itself to me more than once while I was struggling that I was exactly where I needed to be.