Lights...Camera...Actions!

Oh Girls Camp...what an adventure! I'm the Girls Camp director for my ward, so me and my 3 young women (Yes, just 3. And one of them wasn't even in our ward, she was a cousin to one of our girls) went to camp and just returned yesterday.

I had a fabulous time getting to know these girls! I was surprised with how much they actually opened up to me. We talked a lot at meal times because we weren't in the same cabins with each other, and they were constantly cracking me up! Not to mention the 2 hour drive to camp. One of my favorite conversations was when one of my girls, in all seriousness, shook her head and said "Moms these days..." They proceeded to tell me about their mothers, whom I know and love, and their "bad habits" or things that drive their 12 and 13 year old daughters crazy. I took it all with a grain of salt, of course, but still had a good chuckle. We did have some good spiritual discussions though, and I was happy to see that they were loving camp.

The theme this year was "Lights...Camera...Actions!" and was all Hollywood themed but based on the 13th Article of Faith and how our actions should be "Honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous" etc. I loved it, and thought they were really clever! All the cabins were different movies. The cabin I was over was "Eternal Story", yes, we were in cabins. Not fancy ones, but cabins nonetheless. Here are some of the other movie posters that they had for other cabins and just around camp.
Aren't those posters awesome!? I wish I would have taken a picture of all of the others, there were some really funny ones. We even had a movie premier night while we were up there. All the wards made movies before coming to camp and then we all watched them while we were there. The girls loved it!

Another fun thing we did at camp was a "Race for Life". After the girls learned and passed off all their certification requirements they had a big race to apply the things they had learned. They were put into teams with a girl from every "year" so that everyone would have a specialty, I guess you could say. The YCL's (Youth Council Leaders - the 5th and 6th year girls) each had different problems like cuts, hypothermia, shock, blisters etc. and were scattered along a trail. The teams would have to find and treat the girls injuries and then have the YCL's score them before the time was up. I don't mean to brag, but our team rocked it! I was so proud of the girls for actually remembering things they learned!

There were, of course, games and crafts for the girls to do too. These are pictures from a big relay race they did.


On one of the days we all went on a hike as a camp. It was beautiful, but a little hard to really enjoy because the flies and bugs were soooo bad. Now, I enjoy camping and don't mind the bugs too much (but don't get me started on cockroaches because that's a different story) but it really was bad. There was one point in the hike that we came to an opening in the trail, but we had to continue on the trail in smaller groups because it got considerably more narrow. Well, in that opening in the trail the flies attacked. Really. I took this video of all the girls just standing around and swatting flies away while we waited for our turn to continue on the trail. Please notice the girl who finally gives up and just puts her sweater over her head and stands there. My other favorite is the girl who puts a dryer sheet on her head under her headband in an attempt to keep the bugs away. My friend Kristen, another leader my age, explains the situation in the video, but the poor thing really was having a mini meltdown. I came home with at least 7 bug bites, and I came away with way less than some of the other girls. I felt so bad for them!

The view, if you could stop to enjoy it.


Oh, and can I just tell you about the food? Every year Girls Camp is catered by a sweet man in our Stake who owns a catering business. One night for dinner we had pasta with our choice of Alfredo, Marinara and meatballs the size of baseballs, or Vegetable Lasagna or all three. Plus, salad and garlic bread. Cooked veggies. Slices fruit. Italian Sodas to drink. And for dessert chocolate cake with pudding and whipped cream on top. That's ONE night, but that's how it was for every single meal. Breakfast would be your choice of pancakes (with literally every topping you can imagine), scrambled or hard boiled eggs, hash browns, bagels, muffins, cold cereal, bacon and ham. And fruit. And juice. I'm not even kidding. Are you disgusted?? I was at first, until I started eating, then I thoroughly enjoyed it. Plus, we always had snack right before bed. Which, I thought was hilarious, because the snacks were like corn dogs or grilled cheese sandwiches with hot chocolate. When I was in YW we had to make omelets in a plastic bag then boil it in hot water; which, by the way, ruined omelets for me for years!

The most important part about camp is not the games and hikes and food, but helping the girls to really grow spiritually. Spiritual night was kind of based on the song "Virtue" by Jenny Phillips, which by the way, if you haven't heard you really should look it up on itunes, especially if you work with YW, but even if you don't. They also talked a lot about how it might be hard or unpopular to live the high standards of the Gospel. I was amazed during testimony meeting that so many young women said, "I thought I was the only one who thought it was hard" or "I thought I was the only one dealing with this.." It was really sweet to watch them then totally embrace and accept each other, more than they had throughout Girls Camp thus far. I only managed to get two pictures of the evening, but here they are.



Things were done really differently in this Stake than the one that I grew up in, but I learned to appreciate the way they do things. I made some good friends with leaders from other wards that I might not have met otherwise, and I really enjoyed getting to know the girls in my own ward better, and now that I'm in the YW Presidency I'll be seeing a lot more of them. I'm thankful to have been a part of Girls Camp this year, and even more thankful to my leader when I was a young woman. They taught me so much, and I hope I can have the same impact on my girls' lives as they did on mine.