(From the testimony I shared at church the Sunday after girls camp)
I’ve experienced church camp from so many different angles this year. As the parent sending her son to Bountiful and praying that someone notices him, that he is touched by the spirit and feels loved. As the wife sending her husband hoping that he has a wonderful time and that logistically I can figure everything out at home. As the leader, planning activities and messages with each of our eight girls in mind hoping and praying that they feel the love I have for them which is literally overflowing from my heart. And I also experienced camp this year as a participant, who like others was nervous to do some things and excited to do others but held tight to my fellow campers, and the Lord, and had amazing experiences.
When planning our first ever ward girls camp, I was immediately worried that it somehow wouldn’t measure up to stake girls camp where there are dozens of leaders and staff, where everything has worked like clockwork for decades, where there are at least 100 girls to meet and befriend instead of our ward’s eight. Looking back on it now, I see that I was learning my first lesson from this year’s theme. Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, In every way acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.
You’ve heard quite a few experiences from the girls about what our girls camp was all about, and I think my favorite thing about it was that we effortlessly learned lessons and felt the spirit while also laughing, being silly and adventuring. We broke up our theme scripture into four parts and each day we had a leader lesson and a YCL lesson on the theme and then a big activity that complimented the theme. We hiked to a lighthouse, went ziplining, went horseback riding with ocean views, had the best clam chowder California has to offer and ended the week with a trip to do baptisms at the temple.
- I will never forget Meagen laughing herself and our whole group to tears while applying make-up on one of our girls.
- · Or when I asked Kenzie why she didn’t ride horses at her grandparents house and she accidentally said, “I don’t like you.” I’m hoping she meant to say, I don’t like to.
- · I’m still giggling about Ruby, who was the most nervous of the bunch to get on a horse and got placed on the most unruly of the bunch who didn’t listen and was eating everything and kept going off trail and she’d yell at him, “Bruh, bruh, stop being a monster!”
- · I’ll also never forget when I asked the older girls to pose for a picture on the top of the ropes course and told them, “You’re being so obedient” and somehow they thought I said, “You’re so obese!” Had to really explain myself over that one!
- · I was also so impressed by Ella Ramey and her parents sacrificing so much time and energy to drive her to and from Dillon Beach THREE TIMES because she had dance recitals in Sacramento but still wanted to experience the magic of camp. The first time she left I kept searching the beach house, feeling like something was wrong before realizing that Ella was gone, and camp wasn’t complete without her.
- · Or there was Elsie MacDonald, who saw the most magnificent sunset on our last evening of camp and while we were all taking pictures and marveling, she said, “Heather, I see that sunset and I feel like I need to acknowledge God like the scripture this morning says.”
- · And Ella Salazar, who pulled up to the Oakland temple on our last day and gasped, “What is this?” She had never seen a temple as magnificent as that one, and it was so special to experience that place through her eyes, and all the other young women. The scripture ends with, “And He shall direct Thy paths” and I’m so grateful that He directed us to that place on the last day.
