Summer Began

The first thing this summer was Stake Girl's Camp! Oh boy! There's one way to start off the Summer break.  It was a little stressful at times, but it turned out super good!  I was asked to speak in another ward about our (Stake YW Presidency) experience(s) in planning this huge event for 225 girls and leaders--the ups and downs, how our faith was implemented, and how we felt about it all. Here is my written talk:

The theme at Girl’s Camp this year was “SEEK, cause it’s a jungle out there!”  It was derived from the 13^th Article of Faith which is the mutual theme for this year.

The Stake Leadership began planning this event in January and the ward leaderships shortly after.

Each ward was assigned an animal of which they were to learn about—things like how they group, and some characteristics and roles of each member of the pack or herd.  Each ward was also assigned a color with its corresponding YW value.  (example: Divine Nature (blue)  and Rhinoceros = Divino Rhinos). Hopefully the girls were able to learn more about their given value.

I was asked to share some of my feelings about the events that lead up to this year’s Girl’s Camp. I’ll give a little sequence of events, but know that this is only my perspective (which isn’t completely processed yet) and that many others were involved.

About a month before camp, we were warned that the snowfall in the canyons was very high and not melting as usual.  A little concerned, the prayers began for less rain and sunny days. This is where my Faith roller coaster ride began…

After about a week of anticipating better weather and hot sunny days--the sun stayed behind rain clouds. We began inquiring about other facilities that could accommodate 225 girls and leaders.  We found a couple promising sites equipped with everything, like at koholowo.  As Sister Madson presented other options to our Stake Priesthood leaders they directed us back to koholowo.

I thought, Are they crazy? Don’t they know it would take a miracle for all of the snow in the mountains to melt? And if it did melt, homes would be flooded? I have to admit, after a few minutes of murmuring, the thought came to me—“oh ye of little faith.” I changed my tune and went with the thought that if our Priesthood leaders said we would make it up the mountain, then we would make it up the mountain!

Alma 32:21 says. “Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye have hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

2 weeks or so before camp snow plows were unable to push through the 5 feet of snow near Payson Lakes. An aerial photo showed 3 ft of standing snow in the parking lot at Payson Lakes which was not shaded by trees. Memorial weekend reservations had already been moved to other open campgrounds.

Discouragement and lack of faith began to creep into my heart with thoughts like: Lord, we did our part, we did our part of acting in faith to find a plan B for camp, our priesthood leaders said, “no”, and now there is not an open road that will lead us to koholowo.  “oh ye of little faith” struck me again and I started to feel good about the fact that we did do our part and it was truly in the Lord’s hand to provide a way (or a place) for us.

More prayers for peace of mind and direction continued. A few days later we got word that a volunteer crew would begin clearing the Santaquin canyon roads over the weekend. Oh the joy! See? Heavenly Father does loves me! I felt a glimmer of hope and restored faith.

Then, the Santaquin canyon avalanche happened and there went my glimmer of hope. The pleas for direction from above did not cease.  Early the next week, Sis Madson, contacted the brother in charge of koholowo. He noted that he had equipment loaded and ready to go back to Payson canyon to get through the snow pack for sure!  Phew! Because it was getting down to the wire, (one week before camp) and THIS WAS IT, I just knew it, this guy would come through for us! I gave thanks to the Lord, and asked for His guiding hand to remove the snow. 

Our fellow brother worked all day and in utter exhaustion notified us that it was impossible to go to koholowo by the next Tuesday. Just another downhill slope on my roller coaster of faith.  I had put every ounce of faith in those snow plows that day and kept a prayer in my heart 24/7. This time it wasn’t just discouraging it was heartbreaking.

But, tomorrow did come with hope smiling brightly before us as we ventured out to see what in the world we could do to have a successful Girl’s camp. We did not want to let the girls down, or their leaders, or us for that matter--everyone had worked so long and hard for months.  Halting Girl’s camp was never an option and I think that’s what kept us going. We scoped out a couple of campgrounds and found our place at the Spanish Fork River Campground. We were graciously granted to hold our Girl’s Camp there. That was such a good feeling after all of the worry and sleepless nights.

Now it was time to act in faith again! A few things needed to be revamped like creating an outdoor kitchen, gathering tents, and a little bit of certification modification. One of our big concerns was the river which we would be camping next to, but we put our faith in the girls that they would keep away from any danger—and they did!

As we gathered everyone to begin Girl’s Camp, an uphill climb started again on my roller coaster of faith. We all worked hard, we had fun times, we felt the spirit many times, and all of the plans fell into place. My hope and faith is still climbing up.

Our YW Presidency drove to KoHoLoWo yesterday to complete our cleaning assignment—the sun was shining, the weather was warm, new vegetation was sprouting, and it was absolutely beautiful! What fun it was spraying thousands of flies out of the windows and cleaning toilets that have sat all winter long housing mice and who knows what else.  I found a real treasure in one of the toilet tanks. Can you guess what it was?  A poor little drown mouse.  Aww, that’s too bad (y-u-c-k)!

The interesting thing about being at KoHoLoWo was that I never once felt remorse or that longing feeling of “I so wish we could have come here for camp”. It just didn’t cross my mind. We had a fabulous and successful Girl’s Camp this year that hopefully created lasting memories for us all!