GIRLS CAMP 2011! :D

On Thursday, all YCLs went up to camp and stayed in a cabin to plan and get last minute things ready. There were about 60 of us in this cabin, it was crowded!! Around time for bed, some of the girls went to one of the leader's cabin to sleep there so it wasn't so many of us squished. Around 10:30 we started to get ready for bed. At 11, the girls in the Spanish ward of my stake decided to get up and eat tamales. Yes, TAMALES. At 11:00 in the P.M.! And they weren't very quiet at it either! They were laughing and talking and keeping everyone else up! FINALLY, at who knows when, they decided to go to sleep. But apparently something was super funny because they were giggling trying to get into bed. They'd stop, and someone would roll over, and giggle again! Oh, that's super hilarious. :P

Friday, we went to the actual camp, along with the rest of the stake. Which was a LOT smaller than I thought! We have about a million wards in my stake, but they're all itsy bitsy. Except mine, it's pretty huge. I also found out, my ward is the one no one really likes.... :P It's the "prank" ward, and the "competitive" ward, and the "loud" ward. And I must say, I agree. But I love *most* of those girls ;) hehe. The camp was really cool. Except for I was cabin 22 and my ward was 2 & 3. Total opposite ends. :) oh well, EXERCISE!

Saturday the bishops all came, and we did this Bishops Challenge. It was way intense!! There were like 10 stations of different activities that the bishop (or bishopric member) and the girls all competed it. The ward with the most total points at the end won! And got to keep the "spirit stick" (and decorate a bit of it) in the bishops office until the next year. My bishop got 105 points in archery all by himself!! So we were recognized for that, but didn't win.. oh well ;)

Sunday was AMAZING!! It was Fast Sunday. We got to sleep in too...hallelujah! We went to Sacrament meeting, which was dead silent and the spirit was so strong. And since it was Fast Sunday, we had Fast and Testimony meeting as a stake. After, we split up Beehives/MiaMaids/Laurels and had a lesson. Laurels was about how important the "lines" in our life are and keep us safe. Once we cross the line, we are vulnerable to Satan. Then, we went to our wards. We had our own testimony meeting--which was AMAZING! It was a couple hours long, but didn't feel long at all because it was so great! Bishop does this thing every year called the Bishop's Walk. He takes each girl aside individually and just talks. This year, he gave us a priesthood blessing..about nothing in particular. Just unique to each girl. It was WONDERFUL. The power of the priesthood is amazing, it's so great to see how the blessings are just what I need. He also gave us a little post card of teeth, reminding us to smile and always be happy! That night, we had Bro. Wilcox (a QC seminary teacher) come talk about being not deceived. He did magic tricks and related them to Satan because he distracts our focus, talks, and gives illusions--and it's not real. The funny thing was, he gave the same talk last year at my EFY ;)

Monday, we did certification in the morning, then at night did a FHE activity. We watched the slide show, and then Sis. Edwards (the stake YW president) got up and said "ok, so I'm basically the mom tonight..obey me this one thing: Be extremely silent and follow me." We walked over to the chapel, and it was very dark. No lights. They talked to us a bit about temples, then the prophet's voice came on, and right off to the side, a miniature temple was lit up in the forest. It. Was. BEAUTIFUL. The spirit was so strong, testifying of the importance of the temple in our life. It was all stuff I'd heard before, but it just hit me so hard! I don't think I've ever cried so much from the spirit. ;) A lot of people left right away, but I just sat there, along with a handful of people, for a long time. Just watching it and feeling the spirit that was so strong! I did not want to leave. It was amazing and wonderful and just perfect. Sis. Wright came up to me and told me she could tell my mom was there with me, which I definitely agreed. And Sis. Brooks talked to me and Bentley a minute. It's cool because they were both in my old ward, and both were up at camp with me ;) So, I basically had to force myself to leave, because I knew I had to do the devotional for my ward and such, but I didn't want to. It was just too good of a feeling. I was a bit disappointed though, because I loved the feeling I had and didn't want it to leave, but about half the YCLs felt differently...they went out Snipe Hunting and telling the "Mona" story. :( It bummed me because it totally distracted the strong spirit we all felt...

The bus ride home I slept mostly the whole way..along with most of the girls on the bus! :)

Here's a few random things I'm not sure where they fit in :)

Tara, I mean.. Sis. Larue... ;) was our camp director. She is SOOO fun, and she is Bryndee's aunt, so she kept calling me her "substitute niece" ;)

Bishop gave us all a little box of See's Candy...YUM!!

One night, our cabin moms took us star gazing-- on the "haunted" bridge. It was kinda freaky, because bridges are kinda scary to begin with. It was really neat though. We saw the swirly Milky Way.

I made SO many wonderful friends in the stake, I'm so glad I went and it worked out for me to go! It was a bit difficult to work out at first, and then a few days before and the first day or so there, I was questioning whether or not I should have gone. But now I realize that was the adversary, and that I NEEDED to go, because my testimony was strengthened so much!

That was my *official* last year of girls camp as a youth. Last year was supposed to be, but somehow it worked out for me to come again ;) And I'm so glad it did. And I would LOVE to go as a leader some day ;)