Girls Camp

Girls Camp, Girls Camp.....what an incredible experience.  The older I get the more I realize that serving in an organized church capacity blesses my life incredibly more than the blessings that come from just floating!  When I am striving and feel like I am sacrificing something for service.....I am the most happy and uplifted. 

I love the organization of the gospel.  I had a chance to be a part this year aiding and assisting the execution of girls with truly incredible woman!  I was amazed at the amount of effort and willingness of SO SO many people to put on an event for the young woman in our Stake.  EVERYONE that was asked to participate gave 110 percent and truly went above and beyond.

The entire experience was truly inspiring!  Not only were the woman involved with planning and executing but all of our husbands were heavily involved with the grit and manual strength needed to accomplish the weeks activities.  Mike came to camp on his one day off of the week and was perched high on a ladder ( on tiptoes) drilling the head of the statue below to a wooden telephone pole of sorts.   All of our husbands were there to aid and encourage the festivities.  

  The theme was

NEW YORK  OFF BROADWAY.....TO THE STRAIGHT AN NARROW!  

The girls came up with theme and it turned out to be a riot.  New York in the mountains. Our Stake Young Woman's President, Kim's sister let her borrow what we thought was going to be a 30 foot statue of liberty she had in her spare storage.  30 foot seemed to turn out to be more like a 70 foot statue of liberty. 

I was reminded of something about our stake young woman's president, Kim.  When she does something......she DOES SOMETHING!  BIG TIME!

In her spare time she and her husband have organized the Phoenix marathon which has been the fasting growing marathon in the country over the past 5 years.  She is an amazing "go getter" and a philanthropist with her foundation and scholarship fund from her marathon.  

These woman are inspiring and beautiful inside and out.  We were quite a combo.  I will follow them anyday.  We laughed and laughed A LOT!!  And A LOT! 

Kim, Jenny, and Suzie are worker bees. They are beauties, but also full of grit.  I was ready for bed by 11:00 pm and Jenny Komenda,the first counselor, and interior designer extraordinaire was just getting started with a grandiose plan she always executed beautifully. She doesn't sleep much.  It was a good thing Kim brought up her mini fridge filled with diet cokes.  

Skits, music, and a lip syncs were nightly occurrences.  

The girls danced away at a "coney island" carnival set up for them.  

A giant size Temple was borrowed from a Stake in Gilbert which made for a touching last night at camp.  The girls were gathered in the woods when President Monson's voice came on a loud speaker talking about the importance of temples, and a temple appeared.  It took a trailer and about 6 strong men to transport this to our mountainside location.

Despite the grandeur......the fluff wasn't what made an impact!  The simple and small truths of messages taught are exactly all that was needed for girls camp to be a success.  It was the little things and not the big that impacted me the most.  

It was watching 12 girls run down a long hill and hug and adore one of down syndrome members of our ward who came up for the last night.  

The sweet 12 year that bore one of the strongest testimonies of Christ I have ever heard at our testimony meeting. 

The example of our stake presidency and their wives who stopped everything in their life to come up and teach the youth. 

It was seeing 130 girls all using computers and technology - learning about family history and finding names to take to the Temple. 

It was girls getting outside of themselves and out of their comfort zones.  It was a social media free zone.  

I felt pushed and pulled in a way I had never experienced just being up there at age 40.  I am grateful for growing experiences, both big and small and for the young....and well not so young like myself:).