"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Article of Faith #13"Speaking of girls camp!"
For months and months we prepare. We pray. We ponder. We hope.
We look forward to filling the campsites...filling these empty seats!
We believe! We seek! We hope! We endure!
I don't know how I have been so blessed to spend so many summers of my life at this place called Girls Camp. We don't shower, we don't sleep well (well, some of us don't), we get rained on (or snowed on) etc. etc. BUT we wouldn't miss it for anything! We feel the spirit! Our testimonies are strengthened and our love for each other and especially for our Savior grows immensely!! We come away with a renewed purpose to live better lives and to be better women...better daughters of God! These girls, young and not as young, teach me so much! We have a blast together!! We play! We feel the spirit! We love! We laugh! We grow!
I had to look up last year's post because I remember writing the perfect description of what girls' camp is for me."aka my mini vacation, my version of EFY or women's conference...meaning that it's my week away to strengthen my testimony, my girls' night out (4 nights in a row!), one of my very favorite weeks of the year! I LOVE IT!!"
First of all though...2 weeks before girls camp we took the 4th years (15 year olds) and some of the YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders/16 and 17 year olds) on an overnight hike. I took SOOO many pictures! Each of us with our little boats...with little lizards....playing games. I'm scared to post too much on my blog though because it is a public blog but there were just too many good pictures to choose from. I hope I don't offend anyone by putting their picture on. I'm leaving all names off of course, but if I need to remove anything from here please let me know. Also, this IS my family blog, and I feel a little guilty that it has been all about my experiences lately. Stay tuned because although June was all about me....the rest of the summer is all about my kids and their adventures! I promise! ;)
Ok...sit back and relax! And try not to be too joyfully overwhelmed by the Light of Christ that is in these girls' eyes!
These girls glow!
They are amazing!
4th Year Hike
And now for girls camp! I was so excited to work more with our YCLs this year! I love that first day of camp that we get to spend with just them and really listening to their stories and their testimonies. The theme of camp was "We Seek After These Things" and the stake leaders and YCL's chose our theme to be "Guardians of Virtue". Neither of our camp songs came up on the playlist I use. :( I probably would only want a version of us singing them anyway. ;) I love
THIS talk by President James E. Faust. Imagine what our world would be like if all women would strive to be more virtuous; to live "all [these virtuous] traits of righteousness that help us form our character.": Faith, Honesty, Chastity, Humility, Self-Discipline, Fairness, Moderation, Cleanliness, Courage, Grace. Those were his 10 traits...and might I add BENEVOLENCE!! ;)
YCL DAY
(sharks)
25TH WARD!!
Seeking for Happiness! You girls are the happiest girls I know and you make me and my family SOOOO happy!! Thank you for being such great examples to me and especially to my girls! (well, Thomas too!) I LOVE YOU ALL!! ;)
CERTIFICATION RELAY
SPIRITUALLY FED
(can you see the mirrors?)
TEMPORALLY FED (in a HAIL storm!) :)
SKIT NIGHT (which turned into skit day because the night got rained out!) :)
FUN WITH FRIENDS...SISTERS! (sorry girls...some things need to be posted for our posterity!)
And this is where I might cry! I shouldn't admit it, because how would any of you even know ...really?! :) I LOVE Girls Camp! I LOVE the girls and the leaders that I have met! I especially LOVE the 5 ladies below that have taught me so much about how to love unconditionally! They serve because they LOVE these girls and they LOVE their Heavenly Father! They have so much faith and trust in each other...it has been incredible to work with them and to also watch from a distance. Again, "We have a blast together!! We play! We feel the spirit! We love! We laugh! We grow!" M, M, S, S and L...Thank you!! LOVE YA!!
