In Depth Day #1

So I don't forget girls camp here is a basic run-down of my week starting with day 1. This is for my memory purposes and probably won't be interesting for anyone else ;). I feel really sick and yucky and I just want to lay here and type so that's what I'm going to do.

Day #1 Wednesday:

We all woke up at the crack of dawn. We met at the church at 5:45am, we were going to leave by 6am but had a few late girls and missing items so we ended up leaving around 6:20 wah wah. We were one of the last wards to get to the campsite but it wasn't a huge deal. We loaded the trailer the night before and managed to fit everything in the truck and trailer very nicely. We got to camp around 7:30am after just one wrong turn. We started to set up camp then the girls were all called away so Nicole and I tried to finish setting up camp. It was a big job but we were ready with all our labeled totes and bins so it wasn't too bad getting set up.

Nicole and I set up most of the camp then we decided to set up an extra canopy which ended up being a very good idea due to the rain that would start later in the week. This extra canopy didn't have directions or all the parts so we were just about to duct tape it together when Nicole found the missing pieces in the truck (thank goodness). We were sweaty by the end of this adventure, it was probably in the 70's all day. So so nice I got so so burned ;). We had made matching screen printed tshirts before camp so day one said, Is is Nap time yet? Very fitting, we were exhausted but in a good way. We even tried to take a nap but couldn't.

This first day we had girl talk which is where a lady from the stake comes to camp and gives a 30 minute devotional type thing. Sister Dickey from the Institute came and talked to us. She was really great. I wish I had taken notes like many of our girls did.

During free time, our girls wanted to stay at our campsite which was so fun. I taught them how to make paracord bracelets which ended up being the hit of camp!! Once I showed them all once how to do it, they were off and running. I'm pretty sure they all made like 5+ of them, we had many other girls from our stake request a bracelet. We also had poptop bracelets which are so dang cute. I never got the hang of making them though :( maybe i'll have Nicole show me again. I have lots of poptops.

 Once again our camp was the fun hangout place for many girls in the stake. I loved getting to know all these wonderful girls that are so good and kind. There is something about being at camp that is so calming amidst chaos.

For our ward time I passed out the journal's I made that had the Plan of Happiness (Salvation) printed in it. Each day we focused on one question. The first day was, Who am I? We talked about the Premortal life and what that means. It was so rewarding to see all our girls scribbling down their notes/answers. The best was on Friday one of the girls asked if they got to keep their journals (of course!!) and I told two of our non-members who don't have scriptures that they could keep the paperback scriptures I had ordered for them and they were both so excited and happy about that.

The first day we also had our faith walk. The faith walk is always such a great part of camp. This year I was surprised to find out that one of our very own YW was pretty much in charge of the whole Faith Walk and put it together with a little help from a lady in our ward. I was so impressed with her leadership skills and ability to put on an amazing faith walk. At one point in the week her and the other youth camp leaders were discussing who the 3 main youth leaders would be next year and one of them said Kaylee (the girl who planned the walk) and she said no, because nobody in the stake knew her. I was in my tent and heard this conversation and yelled out that they knew her after that faith walk!! All of our YCL's were so awesome even though 2 of them aren't even members, nobody would never have known that.

When we got back from the faith walk, we had ward time again and we had another YCL Pearl give the devotional so we could answer the question: Who am I? I was seriously amazed and so impressed with her words and all the thought and effort she put into that devotional. She did such a great job, much better than I could have ever done at her age or even now. The world is a very lucky place to have these girls in it. They make it a better place and they are such good examples of what a good person should be. I want to be more like them, I want to surround myself with them and people like them. We had a great discussion and I loved that while the wards around us were acting goofy and being a little loud, our ward stayed reverent and focused and wanted to continue our discussions and not goof off. They really are good girls. How many times can I say that in one post? It wouldn't be enough times.

Eventually around 10 it was time to start getting ready for bed after the girls had had their fill of smores and roasted starburst. After I got ready for bed as well, I poked my head into their tent to say goodnight and to my surprise they were all already in bed and mostly asleep!! The other wards were up late and talked loud but ours once again were perfect angels and quietly asleep. That night I froze. I stayed curled up in the fetal position most of the night, when I moved I would start shaking with cold. I learned to stuff blankets in the bottom of my sleeping bag :). I ended up sleeping for a little over an hour that night. Oh well that doesn't even matter anymore.

I did have the cutest experience the first evening. One of our YW who was a 1st year came up to me and said she was a little homesick and would probably cry in her bed that night. I was so sad for her and comforted her and told her it would be alright, that we were there for her. Then I managed to distract her a bit. I've been very close to her and her family so I think it helped ease her mind a little. The next morning she was so happy and cheerful and she came to me and told me that she didn't cry at all and that she wanted camp to last longer. She also said that one time she went on a trip with everyone but her mom and she cried every night with them but she was so proud that she didn't cry at camp. I was so proud too!! There is nothing wrong with crying and being homesick but I'm glad she had a good experience and felt so comfortable.

We also set up a fun little 'shoe organizer' mail box where the girls could write notes back and forth to each other. It was fun to see them get so excited to write notes back and forth :). 

Day #2 will come shortly. I took some sick meds to help me try to feel not like dying and they're making me sleepy. Writing about girls camp makes me want to go back.

Maybe at some point I'll find the strength to get my camera out of my car to post a few pictures. I accidentally forgot to take a lot :(