Girl's Camp

 I am finally getting around to my girls camp post and I just have to say how much I love these girls. I admit I didn't have the best attitude going into girls camp. It was 5 days long, it was stake girls camp, and it was over the 24th. My attitude quickly changed once I was with the girls and it truly was one of the funnest and inspiring camps I have been to. I just love to be around our young women. They love each other and are kind, funny, talented, energetic, and they know who they are as Daughters of God. It was neat to see one of our new young women that just moved into our ward just fit right in with everyone. I loved the sense of unity I felt among the girls. It didn't matter who was a beehive, miamaid, or laurel , but everyone was just friends. The older girls would watch out for the new beehives and make sure they had someone to sit by when they were in the big groups with the stake and there were some incredible workshops for the girls. One of my favorite workshops was one taught by Roberta Brassell and Bryce Castleton. They talked about trials and how we have the choice to face our trials with our Savior or to try to be miserable and do it alone. Bryce asked the youth what some of the pressures they face right now. Some of their responses were: pressure to fit in, pressure of looking a certain way, friends, school, etc...... He then shared an experience about his niece and how she started cutting herself to try to relieve the pain and pressure she was feeling. He told us that he then realized  how real the pressures of the world are in junior high and  high school and how important it is to CHOOSE Christ now! As I sat there listening to Bryce, the main thing that I kept thinking of was our young women and my daughters. Being a leader in the young women program, I feel it is such a blessing and opportunity to hopefully help the young women to know who they are as Daughter of God and to strengthen their testimonies of their Savior so that when they go to college, get married, or just move away, they will have the testimony to face their trials with their Savior. As the youth talked about the pressures they are facing at such a young age, I realized just how important it is to teach my girls who they are NOW! The way the world is going, they need to have a strong testimony of who they are and what they believe in before they reach young women  age. I again had the spirit witness to me of how impressionable my children are right now and what am I teaching them? What example am I? Do they know that I have a testimony of my Savior? Anyway, I was inspired to be a better example to our young women. Try to lead them to their Savior every time I see them. I was inspired to use my time better each day to teach my girls to pray, to help them to learn to love the scriptures, to tell them more how much I love them and how much our Heavenly Father loves them. My hope for our young women and my girls is that they will have the strength to be the leader in their group. They will be the one to walk out of a movie, or out of a party, or stand up for someone when someone starts to gossip. During testimony meeting, one of the girls said, " There is power in the girl. I hope you can feel that!" I loved that! Heavenly Father definitely looks over His daughters and we have so much power and influence over the people around us. I pray that my influence is a good one.

Another one of my favorite things was when the girls were just standing in a circle and playing games like, "Boom Chicka Boom Boom", "Little Sally Walker", and another game that I didn't know, but was hilarious to watch. The last thing I wanted to mention was testimony meeting. It was AMAZING! I love just being completely encompassed in the spirit. All I have to say is that the testimonies were absolutely powerful! There truly was power in our little circle around the campfire. I learned that some of these girls have been through some difficult  trials, but have risen triumphant with the help of their Savior and they have come to know that He is their Savior. I was strengthened and edified beyond belief. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be at girl's camp with our amazing girls. I have so much love for our girls and have deeper friendships with all of them. I have to admit that when I woke up on Saturday, I truly missed girls camp. Thank you to all our leaders and girls for making girls camp the best camp I have ever been to.