*Pictures will be coming soon!!!!!!*
I survived a wonderful week at Heber Valley Girls Camp! I have to admit up front that I wasn’t really thrilled about spending a week at Girls Camp with a bunch of teenagers with attitude! Well I was 100% wrong I had an amazing week and every hour that I spent in preparation for this camp totally paid off and then some.
First off we went to the Heber Valley Camp that is owned by the church and was dedicated by President Hinckley. The Camp is often referred to as ‘The Temple on the Mountain’ and it really does feel that way. The spirit is so strong up there; it was amazing to be there for an entire week. The first day we were up there Russell M. Nielsen, one of the Apostles, came up and dedicated our camp site. He put a special blessing over our Stake. WOW, it was amazing to witness! Our girls were amazing all week, no complaining and so much unity. Almost all of our girls bore their testimony, even those that NEVER have! It was amazing to be a part of such a special week.
As a youth I only attended one girl’s camp and I wasn’t even a member then so I can’t even tell you much about my experience. So when I go this calling to be the camp Director I can’t tell you how scared I was! But we pulled it off and it was a very successful camp for all of the girls and leaders!
We got to stay in cabins and we had showers and flushing toilets. It definitely wasn’t camping but President Hinckley said that girls don’t need to learn how to pitch tents and cook over fire; they need to learn the Gospel! So true, I love the idea of staying in cabins and focusing on other things than learning to rough it in the woods! Plus, I am not much of a camper myself! We got to do challenge courses, canoeing, hiking, and wonderful camp activities!
Some of the highlights were our ‘campfire’ events! One of the nights we had a Pajama Party Fashion show. This was a HUGE hit. The girls totally got into it and had so much fun getting dressed up in funny attire. We leaders even participated in our “nerd” pajama wear! It was funny! Then after the fashion show we had a pie eating contest, and played fun games! Of course we ended up around the campfire singing songs and eating banana boats! Another night we had a ‘Wacky Wednesday Night’ where the girls got to enter a crazy hair contest! The girls LOVED this night and it was so funny to watch what these girls could come up with! After that we put them into groups for a WACKY talent show where they did synchronized swimming, singing MOTAB style, dancing, and more! Our theme for this night was to let the girls know that even though we are all a little ‘wacky’ we are still daughters of the same Heavenly Father!
A funny thing happened to me and the other Camp Director! We were on our canoe just relaxing at this beautiful lake, enjoying the beauty! After awhile we started to get a little antsy so we paddled over to some of our older girls and gave them a little splash with our ores. Well it didn’t end there! We were in for a real treat, all the girls wanted to get us wet. Our water fight continued for a bit. All of a sudden another group of our girls started splashing us and Roz replied, “Oh girls you have messed with the wrong boat…” all of a sudden Roz and I were both in the water and our canoe had sunk! We were laughing our heads off. We had a great time and a great story to tell. The fun part was walking back to camp in our wet jeans and tennis shoes!!!
It was a fabulous week that I will never forget! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from our 25 young women, they are truly amazing girls! It is amazing to hear the sweet testimonies of these young girls. It's hard to imagine that at their age they have such strong spirits about them! I have to say that I am having withdrawals from all the leaders. Spending so much time planning and then a week with them 24-7 it’s hard to come back to normal life and not have them around to laugh with! I miss ya girls and can't wait for our CAMP REUNION!!!!!!
9 comments:
Great post, I feel the same way. The closer we got to camp, the less excited I got. I thought we'd have nothing but attitude too, but was SO wrong!!! I had such an amazing experience and I LOVE those girls!
P.S. pic's coming soon :)
I was called as camp director about 2 years ago and I was terrified too. I'm not much of a camper, so I didn't know how I was going to pull it off. Anyway, like your camp it turned out really well, except we didn't have the luxury of cabins, showers and all that good stuff you had. I bet the girls LOVED having you as a camp director b/c you're such a good time.
Glad to hear that your survived! That camp is beautiful and really makes you feel like your are not cmaping! I can't wait to see pictures!
You're the best and you're just perfect for those girls. Wish I could've been there--sort of. Anyway, glad it all went well.
I'll bet you were such a fun camp director! It sounds like you guys had a blast! Girls camp was always my favorite! I love that Pres. Hinkley said that we don't need to learn how to pitch a tent or cook on a campfire...just learn the gosple! That is what i'm talking about! I'm glad you got to have the girls camp experience since you didn't really have it in YW! I can't wait to see the pics!
Ok that is an awesome calling for you. I don't even know why you were nervous about it. You are amazing at putting things like that together not to mention every teenage girl who knows you probably thinks your the greatest and funnest person ever. I'm glad you had a good time. I Loved girls camp when I was a young woman.
Sounds like you need to come hang out with the Ekins clan more! Glad you had fun and felt the spirit of girls camp! My mom was the camp leader for many years and she always made it tons of fun for all the girls.
Whit that sounds like tons of fun. I bet you were the best Director. You have such a personality for it, that I am sure the girls couldn't help but love you and want to learn from you. Sounds like it was a huge success!
I agree with everyone else, you are perfect for this calling. After seeing all the party's you have planned, I bet camp was no different. Those girls probably had the most planned out, fun camping experience ever! I miss camp.
Post a Comment