Friday, August 5, 2011

Girls Camp 07-12-11

I got to celebrate my 28th birthday at Girls Camp! The girls made it a pretty special day for me. I went to brush my teeth that morning and came back and didn't see anyone in the cabin. I was just thinking, "Where did they all go, all I did was go to the bathroom" when they jumped out and yelled "Happy Birthday".
The big activity for this day was the Challenge Course. There is the high level course and the low level courses. I was in charge of one of the low level courses, Mohawk Trail. The story was that the tribe's princess was sick and they had to get to the other side to get her the medicine. The ground was hot lava so they could only balance on the wire to get across. It was fun to watch the girls try to figure it all out. All the activities would finish up and we would take 5 minutes to look at the spiritual side of the activity. There were 6 low level courses that the girls rotated through.
The highlight was the high level course. We had to climb a rope ladder, walk across planks, and go down the zip line. We were 25 feet up in the air. The course is designed to help us over come our fears and build confidence. As the girls jumped from the platform and went down the zip line the Sister missionary told them either "Your Heavenly Father loves you" or "Take a leap of faith". I was able to watch a couple of our girls go and I was able to go also, but since I was in charge of a low level course I had to hand my camera over and let someone else take the pictures. Sorry if some of them are blurry.Getting harnessed up and waiting for their turn. SaraSavanahMe! I am afraid of heights, but I did it! It took me two counts of three to jump off the platform to do the zip line but I went. I was shaking pretty good once I got down. The Sister missionary told me to "Take a leap of faith".Mindy
LoriMarinn
SyreeMcKenleyAubreySamauree
They had an amazing speaker, Laurel Christenson, come and do an afternoon fireside. She did a really cool thing, standing ovations. She told us about how she was having a really bad day and told her friends about it. When they got together they gave her a standing ovation and it made her feel better. How can you not feel better with everyone cheering for you. Then she picked a few girls and had us give them a standing ovation. One of the girls felt so special she started to cry and that just got us leaders going. Sister Christenson brought such a wonderful spirit. She told us about how she ran her first half marathon. In the middle of her race she got a horrible cramp in her leg and didn't think she could go on, but she did. When she was almost to the finish line she wanted to give up. She could see the huge balloon arch and felt, I see the finish line, that is good enough. But then her friends and family were there cheering her on and she finished. How can we not continue and finish with everyone cheering us on. She spoke about "If you believe these three things you will seek after them: 1- You are a LITERAL Daughter of God. 2- Your Father in Heaven know YOU by name. 3-Heavenly Father has a plan for ME." Going back and reading the things I wrote about her talk still brings that wonderful spiritual feeling back to me.
This camp was so wonderful that it allowed me to feel the spirit so easily. I don't remember having these spiritual moments when I went to Girls Camp as a youth. Our girls are so lucky to go to this camp that has the luxuries it had to allow them to better feel the spirit.
Lori's daughter, Jacqi, came up to camp just to bring me cupcakes for my birthday! Sadly, the container fell open and all the cupcakes landed in the gravel. We just scrapped off the gravel and ate them anyways, they were too good to waste:) The gravel looked a lot like toffee and Syree thought it was and she tried to eat it! We had a good laugh.The fourths year, Savanah and Sara, leaving for their over night hike.Aubrey and Samauree were reminiscing about a previous year at camp and climbing from bunk to bunk, so they decided to reenact the memory.The jeans I was wearing and the folding chairs did not agree. Whenever I stood up the chair would get caught in my pants. That night I was so tired and so fed up with it happening I just walked around with the chair in my pants.

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