I went to a combined with activity this evening. The youth were doing a service scavenger hunt so the adults, especially the young women leaders, stayed at the church while the young people ran around. Janie Rasmussen and I wore essentially the same outfit. Carol Skeeles took our picture.
I love Janie, her example of faithful service even when the job requires much sacrifice, and her joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a pleasure to serve with her.
Our activity for young women this evening was a trip to the Springville Art Museum. I made a scavenger hunt for the girls based on my previous trip with Brenda. We turned the girls loose and let them wander the museum on their own, but at the end gathered together and had each of the girls show us their favorite work of art and tell us why they liked it. It was fun to see what they were drawn to. I like serving with the young women in our ward, and I like serving with my advisors too.
Stake Conference today. A mother of five children, ages fourteen to two, spoke about how her family is doing Come, Follow Me. She began by saying that after President Middleton asked her, she panicked that she only had ten days to figure out how to do it all right. Then he said, "Keep it real." She did. She shared that their Come, Follow Me scripture study isn't spiritually deep. But some good things are happening. She described them as "drops of awesome."
I love that description. A drop is a small amount, an insignificant measure of anything. But as drops accumulate, they grow and can become something of great significance. She said she is trying to find those drops of awesome each day as they do their little bit. I need to be better at recognizing the drops of awesome that happen in my life. Here are a couple just from today.
I have been serving again in Young Women, this time as the Second Counselor in the ward YW presidency. Not to boast or anything, but I serve with Angela Bradford and Janie Rasmussen and we are something of a power trio. It's fun to serve with friends.
We have wanted to try and recreate some of the feelings that come with girls camp--the comradery, the fun, the spiritual boost. It's hard to do all that in a weekly, one-hour activity, so we decided to do an overnighter. This would allow all the girls to be together for a longer period of time, we could somewhat dictate the schedule and activities, and we could bond. The Coveys graciously agreed to let us all crash in their basement, and so we got together last night.
The whole activity came together beautifully. We had pizza and salad for dinner, and a drinks bar the girls came back to repeatedly through the night. Me too, if I'm honest. I think I made myself four different drinks. Everyone also brought a treat and so we snacked and munched throughout the night.
We watched a Church broadcast that was meant to be stopped for discussion and I was impressed by what the girls shared. Some of their stories did not relate at all to the question, but they were thoughtful and sincere and I was impressed how many were willing to talk. We discussed standing in holy places, standing with holy people, and testifying of holy truths.
We did skits in a bag, the "bag" part of which I put together. I wandered around the house over the past week pulling odd things off shelves and out of drawers--hats, scarves, toys, tools, random objects that could be used as props. Each class of girls had to come up with a short skit using the objects. The oldest class did the best job, performing the highest body count ski I've ever witnessed. Ten girls were lying dead on the floor at the end. My class had a difficult time focusing on the task at hand, so when it came time to perform, no one really had much clue what to do and all but one girl seemed fairly uncomfortable.
The Coveys made the hot tub available and many of the girls went out to soak in the hot. There were crafts and games, several of which I played with Rebekah Stovall, Lizzie Jensen, Hazel Tayler, Lilly and Angela Bradford, and Becca Weidner. We all got to sleep super late, and several girls were up super early for such a late night. We had a lovely morning devotional by Emma Bradford about growing your testimony, and muffins and juice for breakfast.
As I drove girls home, everyone said how much they had had, how they wanted to do it again, and how grateful they were that we could all be together. I deemed it a complete success.
Here are a few pictures I took at the end. I should have been taking pictures all along the way, but I didn't. All eight of the girls new to Young Women and in my class were there. It was a great way to welcome them into the group at large.
This evening, Blythe's young women class hiked in Rock Canyon. That "in" is rather deliberately placed. Turns out that the "hike" was fairly insignificant. She came home ranting about how wussy the girls were, unable to make it to even the first bridge. I will now have Blythe relate the evening's activities.
The girls are pathetic and stupid. We walked for ten minutes and then the girls were like, "Can we get ice cream now?" Emma was dragging her feet and complaining about how hard it was. It was awkward because we were hiking behind some dude that we wanted to pass, but we were all spread out, so we passed him five different times. We made it three minutes passed the big rock where we took our picture, and then Emma stopped and refused to go on. They are weaklings.
I would probably have been a bit more charitable in my assessment of the activity, perhaps saying that the girls lacked stamina and needed to do a bit more regular hiking, but Blythe is thirteen, so what do you expect? She did like being in Rock Canyon, and she liked the ice cream they went to get after the loooooooong hike. She initially said she didn't want to go, but apparently changed her mind and happily went on her way.
We are having a busy couple of weeks out in nature with lots of youth. Last week, Brandt went with the Teachers and Priests to the Unitahs for High Adventure. (more from Brandt) This week, Blythe and I were at girl’s camp, and Kent went to Moab for Deacon Adventure with Aaron Oyler, Jake Thornock, Dane Runia, and a bunch of boys.
As with Youth Conference, I did much planning for girl's camp. We were supposed to be able to go to Heber Valley Camp this year, but due to Covid, it still isn’t open, so we had to fend for ourselves. Fortunately, Jeri Covey is the second counselor in the young women’s presidency, and she volunteered the use of the Covey cabin for camp. It is enormous, with ten bedrooms, lots of beds and couches to sleep on, and plenty of room for meals and activities. I made sure we ate well, with an afternoon snack each day and a tasty dessert each evening. Our theme was Righteous League, and how we can be superheroes. The plan was for activities, crafts, and games on Wednesday, a day at the lake on Thursday, and a trip to the temple on Friday.
For some weeks, Blythe has said she was not going to camp. In her words, “It sounds like DEATH!” She felt that much time having to associate with people, even girls she really likes, would just be too much for her. I assured her that she would be able to take time to be on her own if she felt a need to be alone. But it was still a no-go on Monday.
I went shopping with Mandy Ficker on Monday evening and returned home with tales of how cool the cabin was. I mentioned that there was a swing set, I was going to have my own room, and that the whole setting was beautiful. Blythe began to waffle. Then, on Tuesday, I casually brought up that there was archery equipment and a target. That was enough to tip the scales, and Blythe agreed that she could go and might actually survive. We spent Tuesday evening (after canoeing) packing and getting all her stuff together.
Here is a report from Blythe about Wednesday.
We got settled in and explored. I slept in a room with Elizabeth, Ellie and Lizzie. Then we played a bunch of dorky superhero games. We mostly just hung around and talked. I took a nap and did some reading, so missed some of the other activities.
I stayed at the cabin on Wednesday and Thursday night, helping with dinner and desserts. I gave a slightly too-long fireside about the temple and the power that comes from being in God’s house and being endowed. It went okay. I hit it out of the park, however, with Wednesday’s dessert—caramel apples with a variety of toppings.
Thursday, after a delicious French toast breakfast, everyone went to Deer Creek for boating. It was a fun though exhausting day and everyone came home hungry because practically no one ate lunch. Here is more from Blythe.
Some girls did surfing on the boats, but not me. I was in the Crisler's boat. I sat in the front of the boat with my friends and sang along to the songs they were blasting. There were some people whose boat engine had stopped working, and we towed them back to shore, getting extra bonus points in Heaven.
Ryan and Elizabeth Elder came up to do Thursday’s fireside. The bishop spoke about the hero’s journey and making sure we stay on the path back to Heavenly Father. We had dutch oven peach cobbler and apple and berry crisps for our dessert. The girls interacted downstairs while the adults talked and laughed upstairs.
We were able to attend the temple on Friday morning. It has been so long since Blythe was there, like clear back in February 2020, and I was so happy to be there with her. We both cried happy tears as we felt the Spirit. It was a wonderful conclusion to a fun and uplifting few days.
While we were up at Sundance in the cooler mountain temperatures, Kent was down in Moab, roasting in the 100+ degree heat. Here is Kent's report.
We were there with six deacons and five leaders. It was 106. Aaron Oyler, Brian Bushman, Kent, Dane Runia, and Jack Thornock. First day we set up camp along the Colorado River which was quite low. There was no one in camp until the next day. We went on a hike up a canyon about 2 1/2 miles each way, but it seemed like 15 miles because it was so hot. It was a nice hike up to a little tiny waterfall and a bit cooler because we were out of the sun, but still hot. There were some scantily clad young women on the trail at the waterfall we came to, but the boys were much more interested in the crawdads they saw. Dane treated us all to dinner at Milt's. We picked up mountain bikes for the next day. (Hike was up Powerhouse)
That night, the kids were riding all around the campground which was rather flat. About 11pm, Grant Seamons, one of the more responsible boys, yelled out to Everett Bushman, "I'm going to bed." His response, "Why would you ever want to do that?" They did, eventually, go to bed, with the sound of frogs croaking in the background.
The next day, we went to Slick Rock, with lots of trails all over the rugged terrain. The boys did great, even though it was hotter than blazes. We had one accident. Just about as we finished the circuit, Luke Thornock was forced off the trail by an incoming biker and hit his knee hard. They thought it might be broken, so Jake took him home, with Chris Jensen arriving to fill in the gap and be with Gary.
The last morning, before we left, we hiked to Corona Arch, the trailhead of which was right across the road from our campsite. It was a pretty hike. It was hot, hot the whole time, but the boys didn't seem to mind. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and in the end, Luke's knee was not broken.
This is a great report. What fun summer camping adventures!
