A few months ago I was called as Camp Director for our ward and man what a wild ride it has been! Ever since I got the call it has constantly been on my mind and for those of you who know me, it's all I've been talking about ;) so sorry about that! It has been so busy.........meetings, brainstorming, shopping, ordering, planning, praying, meetings, certification, scheduling, crying, meetings, calling, emailing, visiting, buying, meetings, equipment hunting, crafting, learning guitar, tent finding, practicing, preparing, crying, meetings, meetings, and more meetings! Haha! Needless to say it has been very emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausting...BUT the benefits and blessings that came along with this calling completely surpassed any stress or headaches involved and I would absolutely do it again in a heartbeat :)
I was SO happy to finally get up there and for camp to begin. Saying goodnight to Sam and Jane the night before I left was soooo sad because I knew it was the last time I would see them for four days! I was a wreck! Try and picture me, if you will, singing my lullaby to Jane hysterically sobbing.....not a pretty sight! If only I had known then what an amazing week I was about to experience.....it might of helped a bit ;)
Our stake theme was True Treasure Island and each ward was assigned a ship. We were Battleship. By far the coolest ship in the entire stake!!! (I mean others were sportsmanship and friendship........ya..........LOL!) Our colors were black and gold so try to picture us strutting around wherever we went decked out from head to toe.....we were so cool!!! Dang!!!! But seriously.......we really were ;) hehe! Each day we had a theme and it all tied into the stages of battle. So day one was: Create your battle plan--be prepared. Day two: You are in the midst of battle--arm yourself. Day three: Reflect, revise, and remember. And day four: You've won the battle--now go and win the war. It all ended up coming together so perfectly! It really was amazing. We had the perfect mix of spiritual vs fun and silly activities. Three girls were our YCL's (youth camp leaders) and they completely blew me away. They ran the whole thing and their thoughts and testimonies left me speechless.......and you'd think tearless, but they just kept coming!!! So powerful. I really was either giggling and laughing my face off or bawling my eyes out. Too funny! I grew and learned so much from them and all the other girls. Absolutely ah-mazing.
Just so I will never forget, here are some of the fun things we did and highlights of the trip!
Crafts: decorated sunglasses, bags with our logo, made lipgloss, decorated and personalized our own pocket sized book of Mormons, bandanas, friendship bracelets, fabric bracelets, magnets, painted nails, and tablecloth doodles.
Activities: dance party, roll calls (that we did horribly at!!!), faith walk, swimming in the lake, canoeing, shooting the potatoe gun, balance beam competition, solo time, the cup game song, welcoming our fourth year hikers, doing our nice pranks on all the other wards, snipe hunting, singing camp songs, our lip sync dance, testimony meeting, devotional by sister Cook, and bedtime stories.
Moments I'll never forget: putting on those gold pants--Ok so we did a lip sync and had a huge dance prepared and in the middle of the dance I ripped off my black pants and revealed these hot gold pants.....best. Moment. Ever. Haha!!!! Oh I'm dying! Ok continuing on--ziplining into the lake, getting attacked by a porcupine, having a girl walk in on me in the bathroom, everyone thinking I was a girl and not a leader, having all my girls cheer my name when I was down in front being recognized as camp director, trying to survive and kill the bat that got into our tent, going around and sharing our favorite scriptures/thoughts, getting dragged like a doll during our snipe hunt....the girls were so scared!!!!, playing the guitar during our camp songs (I've always wanted to learn how to play so I took this opportunity to learn how and I accomplished that goal. Woot woot!), trying to sleep thru all the snoring! Haha! Sneaking into my car at two thirty in the morning to try and escape said snoring.....HA!!!, reading the book of Moroni during solo time, hearing each of the girls testimonies, pulling a prank on the girls that we left a cooler at home that had our dinner in it and the bishop showing up at that intense moment with cafe rio, getting to know our funny priesthood brethren better.... Indiana Jones!, calling home to check on Kevin and the kids and hanging up and the girls asking "Are you ok?" and then shamelessly bursting out into tears, having all the girls in our tent the last night till three in the morning, hearing weird things with my earplugs in.....haha!, making moose noises, waking up the girls in the morning with our awful and ugly instruments, walking up and down to the bathroom, being totally schooled by everyone else's cheers and skits, being late to EVERYTHING, and feeling the spirit so strongly and feeling sooooo close to my Heavenly Father and loving Savior :)
Pretty awesome huh?!? Best. Week. Ever.
Here are some fun pics that were taken during camp!!!
Oh yeeeeaaaahhhh ;)
As you can see (and read) you can probably tell that this really was such a special and memorable experience. I'm SO grateful that I got to spend time with these incredible girls and get twenty new best friends :)
B. A. T. T. L. E. S. H. I. P. We will fight for truth and light with all our might ya we're so tight! We're battle....what? Battle....what? Battle....what? BATTLESHIP!!!!!!!!!
