Girls Camp

 Girls camp was wonderful this year. I was not in charge this year, which was also great, though I didn't mind planning it last year. We had girls camp July 31 - August 2. So only 2 nights and 3 days. 

We drove up after meeting at the church and having devotional and breakfast. We went to Wallsburg Camp again this year. I loved it last year, so it was awesome to be going back. And our reserved site was smaller, and therefore, we didn't have to share it with anyone. It was a little farther from bathrooms, and from the activities of central camp. But the little walks down were not a big deal. 

We had our orientation and set up camp. Then after lunch, we did a craft, the craft that I prepared for camp: creating a flower pressed frame. We had pressed and dried flowers and some frames, and the girls glued flowers between two pieces of glass inside their frames. They were so fun and turned out so cute. 

In the afternoon, we did games and archery. We split into 3 groups, and one group would go do archery while the other 2 played human Foosball. Then when everyone had done archery, we played 9 square and gaga ball altogether. Our girls were obsessed with gaga ball this year! Not all of them loved it. But enough of them loved it so much that we played multiple times each day, whenever we had some time. 

After dinner, the girls prepared for skits, and then we had Hailey Caswell come give us a family home evening lesson. And after her lesson, the girls performed their skits. They were given a theme (Broadway play, Shakespeare, soap opera, etc) and a few props. They were so funny! It was a fun night. 

We tried to get to bed relatively early that night. I shared a tent with Hailey Shoemaker (our young women president) and Jessica Tanner. We asked each other for life stories, and we ended up talking for hours. I don't think we went to sleep until well after midnight. 

I got to sleep on a cot and the pad and sleeping bag I brought with me, which was all so much more comfortable than I thought it'd be. But I still struggled for sleep. It started raining early in the morning, and it's so loud when it falls on the top of the tent. It also ruined our plans for a sunrise hike. But at least we got to sleep in a couple more hours. 

Tatum Norris did food again for girls camp, and so we ate so well! After breakfast and devotional, we split the girls into 2 teams and they ran the obstacle course games. We waked through several different scenarios where they had to communicate and work together to accomplish something and get through the task. It was way fun. We had a few minor injuries, but I think overall it went well. And I hope they learned something through it. 

We mostly had lunch and scripture study and free time in the afternoon. Some girls went to play gaga ball again. And we had a little rain and the threat of storms. We did a service project that afternoon as well, helping the camp by cutting tree branches and cleaning up the road leading to camp. 

That night, the Bishopric and their wives came up for dinner and Bishop's devotional. Hailey and the girls really wanted to play gaga ball with the bishopric, so after dinner we played for a nice long time. I won one of the rounds, demolishing Schyler Shoemaker. It felt nice. 🤣

The faith walk that night was so amazing. Jovani Van Orden, our camp director, gave this amazing lesson centered on our theme: root, grow, bloom. About how we're all unique, but lovely in our own ways, and how when we are centered in Christ, we can start rooted, grow, and bloom in our spirituality and character. Then we walked through a path in our campsite, one by one, and stopped to read little pieces of Jesus' life and how we can apply them to ours. We carried a rock with us on our faith walk, as a symbol of sin and other burdens that we carry through life. At the end of the faith walk, we laid the rocks at a picture of Jesus. It was so beautifully done. 

Bishop spoke to us and then we had testimony meeting. A bunch of the girls bore their testimonies, which I thought was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. I hope that all the girls felt it and that their faith grew that night. 

We went to bed later that night. After eating dessert, we played games for a little while, and then the bishopric and wives left. 

It rained for hours again that night, making it hard to sleep again, and also a pain to pack up camp the next morning. It was very muddy and wet. But we broke down camp and cleaned up pretty quickly, all things considered. 

Our last day of camp, after leaving camp, was spent at Deer Creek Lake. A brother from the stake agreed to bring his boat so that we could play on the lake. It was so much fun! Hailey and Julie Lefevre brought their blow up kayaks and paddle boards, and the girls took turns going out on the boat and hanging out on the beach and using the other water things. We were there for a few hours and started packing up to leave, just before a storm kicked up. It hit so quickly, and the wind was so insane. We were lucky to leave when we did. 

Girls camp was so great. Jovani created these special journals for all the girls and leaders, with the schedule, menu, young women's theme, words and music to our girls camp song, devotional and scripture study notes pages, and coloring pages. It was so awesome. We spent so much free time coloring in our books, along with the crafts we did and bracelet making. 

There was very little drama (a little bit with girls wanting to switch tents, which drives me a bit crazy. Very annoying), the girls were mostly helpful and kind (aside from one girl, an inactive girl, who I struggled very much with), and we had a great time.