Girls Camp 2010

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For the past four years, I've spent the first week of August at Girls Camp. The last three years as a "Teepee Mom" (leader over a specific group of girls), and this year, I was a part of the Stake Staff specifically over Golden Hour, the evening activity/lesson.

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There is so much more to do for Golden Hour than I had ever imagined; preparing every detail for each night, ensuring activities are approved, getting music in line, learning how to set up and use all of the microphones and A/V system, holding song practices, meeting with my two helpers, and then trying to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

It's always a lot of fun, but was a lot of work. Add preparing for that to preparing for my vocal recital and helping Missi plan her wedding - I just don't know where the summer has gone. Feels like I haven't had a moment to myself and my house/yard are evidence of the neglect!

Just having fun...

At any rate, it was fun. Tuesday night, everyone participated in the "Value Olympics." There are eight values by which we try to help the Young Women of the Church to come closer to Christ: faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. For each value, we had an "event" associated with it and a goal of helping these girls understand how they can live these values daily and draw closer to Christ. From what I saw, everyone enjoyed the activities Tuesday night!

Value Olympics - Virtue

Wednesday evening, we started off with skits - not my favorite thing in the world, but required for camp certification, so we added them in the schedule. Following the skits, we changed the modd a bit through music. A friend of mine along with one of my helpers met together and planned the flow of the evening. They decided to combine the overall Mutual theme for the year of, "be strong and of a good courage," with the camp theme of, "Come Unto Me." We started off with songs about being strong and establishing a strong foundation in Christ ending the evening learning through song of the many things our Savior has done for us, and what we will do in return. We had stories, testimonies, and dialogue between the numbers.

Thursday night, we had some very special guests: Mary, mother of Jesus, Joseph and Emma Smith, Captain Moroni, a Sister Missionary, Sariah, and the three virgins sacrificed in Abraham 1:11. We asked people/leadership in our Stake to come be a part of our activity Thursday evening by playing one of these roles and explaining how they stood as witnesses for Christ, why it was so important, what role the gospel has in their lives, and how we can do the same in our life. We ended the evening all together in the amphitheater and watched a powerful video with examples of being strong, being an example to others, and being a witness of Christ. Thursday was by far the most impactful evening in my opinion.

Sariah

Mary

Emma and Joseph Smith

Three Virgins from Abraham 1:11

Captain Moroni

Sister Missionary

It was great, although I don't think I slept the entire week, or the 6-8 weeks leading up to it! After camp, I talked with the person who was in charge of Golden Hour last year and I fully agree with her - we need to form a support group for former Golden Hour leaders!