I got home from Girl's Camp on Friday afternoon. Elsie was taking a nap already because Aaron was able to come home early that day. I was able to take a long, hot shower, eat 2 bowls of cereal (which I missed big time...I've realized I need cereal in my life!), and looked on the internet. It was wonderful!
We really did have a great time at Camp. It's always such a neat experience for the girls and a great time to bond as a ward. We really needed that for our YW. There were a couple of girls that I was nervous about spending 4 days with, but, all in all, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
One of my favorite experiences of the week was the "faith walk" we did with the girls. You do this by tying a long rope to several trees in the woods, creating a path that the girls must follow. They are blindfolded and told at the beginning to follow the rope. That is it. As the girls get going along the rope, you have people (in this case, us leaders and some of the stake YW leaders) whispering to them trying to get them to leave the rope or stay on the rope. I was a "good" voice trying to get them to stay on the rope or help them return to the rope if they left it. We weren't allowed to touch them, just guide them with our "still, small" voice. The leaders that were "bad" would say things like "Follow me, I know an easier way" and so on. Some of the girls held on the whole time, never leaving, even when they were stumbling over things and unsure. Others would be convinced to leave the rope once, find their way back, and hold tight the rest of the way. A couple girls left the rope a few times. One of the girls left the rope at the very beginning, got so flustered and confused about who to listen to or what to do, so she just sat down. We had three leaders, including myself, telling her to go back and trying to help her understand that she could do it. One other leader was still trying to get her to stay there. Anyway, it took quite a while to get her to move (admittedly, one of us had to grab her arm and pull her up to get her to move...she was so nervous about making any move). She made it back and held so tight to the rope the rest of the way. As the girls finished, they took of the blindfold and waited for the others to finish. When they were all done, the two leaders in charge talked to the girls about how the path represented their lives and the rope represented the gospel. They talked about the friends/people/things we have in our lives that can influence our decisions and lead us in good or bad directions. They talked about what happens when we leave the path and how we can always get back. They brought up so many good points and said some things that really touched me personally. The girls (and leaders) really felt the spirit and were able to relate so much to what they were teaching. It was one of the neatest experiences I had the whole week!
So, back to the camping. I'm still trying to decide if I like camping. I don't like being dirty. I don't like bugs. I don't like sleeping in a sleeping bag or living out of a tent. I don't like cooking outside. I don't really know how to build a fire (thank goodness we had a couple leaders up there that were "super campers"). I don't like that camping is so much work! I know I sound like I'm whining, and I kind of am. But, I've just realized that the things I like about camping our few. I like smores. I like sitting outside when it's not raining (we had only one day of drizzly rain). I like getting away from normal, every day life for a while. I think my idea of "camping" is in a cabin, with a firepit nearby!!
I had a great week. I'm so glad to be home with my hubby and Elsie. I missed them a ton! I got the best, longest hug from her when she woke up from her nap on Friday and I went up to get her. It made me so happy! I'm so glad I have such great friends that helped watch Elsie during the day while Aaron was at work. I know Elsie had a great time with her Daddy, too. He absolutely adores her and she adores him.
I have no pictures because I was too lazy during the week. Just about everyone else was taking a million pictures, so I'll have to get copies from all of them. So, no one gets to see how wonderful I looked all week.
2 comments:
I am with you on much of the camping, it is soooo much work. I liked having the good experiences with the girls, that was worth it. But the constant rain, sleeping on the ground, and all the stuff I had to bring, not my thing.
We did have a nice kitchen set up though, we had two propane stoves and we had the RS bring us dinner one night. I did have to start the fire once and I always had to light the propane stove because everyone else was afraid of blowing up. I think back to how fun it was camping when I was a kid and only now do I realize how much work it was for my mom.
Glad Girls Camp was great!
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