Ada and I got to go to girls camp with our Stake this year. I was so excited that I got to be there for Ada's first year. She's a stellar camper and hiker. Some of our girls have never camped before, so it was a novel experience. Especially since Mia Shalom is still covered in 5 feet of snow, we switched to Granite Flats in American Fork canyon. It got in the 40s at night, but it wasn't too bad and the days were 70s-80s, so it was super nice.
We started Monday morning at the Stake Center. Our theme was J.O.Y. (Jesus, Others, Yourself). The girls did three activities at the church, one was a sensory activity where they blindfolded everyone and had them touch or smell things while telling the story of Christ. They did a service project for the Magic Yarn Project.... for others.... while having a conversation about Priesthood holders and service in the Priesthood. Then they made beaded bracelets for themselves with the Morse Code JOY in beads.
Monday evening we set up 8 tents, bedding for 36 people, canopies for the kitchen and the crafting area, etc... Ada was a trooper and didn't complain at all. It was a lot of carrying heavy stuff back and forth. Our amazing Young Women's leader has RA and did a lot of the trailer packing and unpacking before we could get there. She is amazing. She was telling me that before her calling to YWs, her pain was pretty severe. Since then she's only had very occasional outbreaks. One was this week, but she said that she's still very grateful for the blessing that Heavenly Father has given her during her service.
Thors hammer face
Ada saw all the dandelions and had to roll in them. It was so funny.
Ada either cracked or bruised her tailbone a couple of weeks ago, but she was happy and fun the entire time. Tuesday morning they said that we were going on a hike. They split up into beginner (mile nature walk), Intermediate (3 mile hike) and Advanced (5 mile hike/scramble). Ada immediately said that she wanted the Advanced hike. She packed her own hiking bag and loved every minute of it. She almost didn't go because there were only 2 other girls from our ward that wanted to.... then she talked another 3 into it and the other 2 girls talked another couple more into it, as well as 3 of the leaders. At the end of the week she was awarded the Miss Prepared award. During their hike she was able to help people with her toilet paper and trowel, hand wipes, salt sticks, pocket knife, etc... That made scouting Dad very proud.
Our Ward was the largest of the 7 up there. We had some challenges, but no huge fights, no huge emergencies... There were a couple of little arguments from the younger campers as they got tired, but nothing that they didn't resolve themselves. We had 14 beehives (our YW's leader kept calling them the little Bees). I'm in the Laurels and we had 7 of our 9 Laurels there. That was so fun. One of them couldn't come because she tore some tendons in her foot, the other has major anxiety and the thought of a whole week out of her comfort zone was too much. One of the challenges was one of my girls. She's autistic and last year they were worried about her wandering off, but she didn't. This year she stayed close to us but she was very antagonistic if anyone told her to help with chores or to stop doing what she wanted to do instead. For the most part, I stayed with her and with the two girls that are on medication so that they had adult help if needed. Luckily our autistic girl likes me and will listen to me when she won't listen to the YW's president.
Wednesday was our waterfront time. At Mia Shalom there are leeches in the water (I fell in as a YW). This time we were able to go to Tibble Fork. The girls could swim or boat. We had 5 of them, including Ada, jump off the dock into the very extremely cold water. (It's mountain snow runoff). Ada and her friend Laurel had an argument in the canoe about where to go and spent the next two days trying to play with everyone else except each other. I had something similar happen to me and my friend Cyndi at Mia Shalom so I didn't worry about it much and left them to work it out on their own.
I spent most of my time putting hair raps in the girls hair. I did at least 11 of them and one of the other leaders did 2 more. The girls thought that was fun.
Wed night was mostly Ward time. We had an awesome devotional about how we need to evaluate ourselves and determine what kind of follower of Christ we are and what kind we want to be. Then we went as a Stake to the Singing in the Trees. We all go to a meadow with our flashlights and sing hymns/primary songs.
Thursday morning our Ward performed our skit. They incorporated both the JOY theme and our Ward theme, which was "Choosing faith over fear brings Joy". They were super cute and did all the planning, writing and prep by themselves. They were all on a bus and when they 'got off' there was a lightning storm and they lost a girl named Joy. The first group that went to find her got scared away by some animals in the forest, the second because they couldn't cross a river, and the third choose to continue on with faith to find Joy.
Then we went on our Ward's faith walk. All the leaders lined up in different parts of the trail with mirrors that had statements on them like "I am a cherished daughter of my Heavenly Father and He loves me". Then the girls were sent in one at a time to each of us. I felt like I needed to bare my testimony or hug some of the girls. Some of them, I felt like the Spirit was a better teacher than I was so I stayed quiet. That was the most spiritual experience for me the entire time. I got a chance to look all of these young ladies in the eye and tell them that their Heavenly Father cherishes them. All of them come from different circumstances and with different challenges and I could feel how much He loves each of them and wants them all to succeed. I love the chance to teach each of these girls gospel principles. In some cases, these girls don't get any home teaching. Two are daughters of inactive families that come on their own. Three are converts that don't get home instruction. Three come from a difficult yours and my family that doesn't teach in the home. My heart hurts in each of these missed opportunities. I know that some of these girls have strong testimonies despite their situation. Some are still unsure, but it's nice to be able to love them anyways.
Thursday evening we had the Miss Granite Flats pageant. We split the girls into 10 teams and they did a "talent", made an evening gown out of pink toilet paper and answered pageant questions. It was so funny.
Me and the other leaders did a synchronized swimming bit.
The one the only Allyson dress! (Allyson yelled, "I can't walk!")
Friday morning we packed up, got everyone carpooled back to our YW Presidents house, unloaded the trailer, washed all the tarps, set up tents to dry, separated stuff to take back to ward members, then Ada and I walked our stuff home because we didn't have our van. (It was still at the church from the first day at camp.)
Saturday morning... we're trying to clean and put away stuff. Jeremy ran his first half marathon since he hurt his knee last year. He said it was hard, but he's happy with his time. Then we went over to Jim and Judy's house to let the kids play with Tarkington cousins. I helped in the garden and made Jer go away... he'd been digging out our sprinkler system today and I wanted him to be done with physical labor after his race. They were amazing to keep an eye on our 3 others for two of the days that I was gone. Sam watched them for the two half days that I was gone and Jer was able to take one of the days off.
One of our neighbors who had two daughters at camp called and asked to borrow our washer. They've been trying to fix theirs for a week with no success. I don't mind, but it does mean a couple extra loads when I'm trying to make up for being gone for the week. Then another neighbor that suffers from chronic migraines called and asked if I could help her finish a quilt for her sons' Eagle court of honor on Tuesday. Then Cristina called and asked if I could help her get the invitations ready for their temple sealing in a month. She also asked if I could drive her family to West Jordan to run some errands for the sealing.... they still don't drive on the freeway when they can. They both think it's too scary. All these people have been so helpful to me when needed, it's my pleasure to help them back. Just wish that it was spread out over the week instead of the next two days.
And an update on my foot. I still haven't been able to get the swelling down after another round of steroids, so he did an ultrasound and found that my tendon hadn't healed evenly.... two of the sections had healed about 2mm smaller than the rest of the tendon. Those sections are what's causing all the swelling and tenderness. He gave me two steroid shots directly into the section of tendon that were too small. He told me to continue regular activity, but nothing that would pound on my foot for a week. I am feeling slightly better, but he wants to see me in another month to see if it's built up some more or not. Those were the 3rd and 4th shots like that I've had. They hurt so bad! They first day I had them wasn't so bad, but the day after them I felt like I was a lame horse.
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