"Beecome" - Girls Camp 2010

Two days after getting home from Logan I packed up my bags again and headed to the St. George East Stake Girl's Camp!  I am the Beehive Advisor in our ward which means I team teach the 12 and 13 year old girls in the Young Women program.  Our YW group is pretty small with only 15 girls in the ward.  12 girls had planned to come to camp, but in the last week we ended up with only 7.  That was a-o-k with me because I was nervous to be up there the entire week playing mama to a bunch of hormonal teenagers!  It turned out to be an awesome experience!  I was so impressed by them as we had ZERO drama and the girls were so kind and loving to each other.

The theme of camp was "Beecome the Woman You Were Meant to Be."  I can't think of a more appropriate theme for these beautiful girls who are blossoming into women and learning who they are.  Each ward got to choose a name and make a flag sticking with the "bee" theme.  Our girls chose to be the "Bee Keepers" reasoning that they wanted to be like their "Keeper" (Jesus Christ) and keep the commandments.  Other wards chose great names like the "BElivers, Wanna-Bees, and BeeAttitudes."  Much of the camp focused on Gordon B. Hinckley's list of "B"s....Be Grateful, Be Humble, Be Prayerful, Be Smart, Be Clean, Be Still, and Be True.  

The camp was held up Cedar Canyon at Little Thunder Girls Camp on a beautiful part of the mountain.  There is something so special about being out in nature, away from the distractions of the world, to be able to focus on your relationship with God.  Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were at camp, causing a series of flooding in our crummy tents.  We were all able to remain optimistic and we were grateful that at the important times, the clouds cleared up for brief periods of time so that we could have devotional and other neat experiences as a stake.  One particularly neat tradition in the East Stake is that of "Tree Singing."  Initially, I thought it sounded kind of cheesy, but one night at a late devotional they had each ward choose a tree and stand close around it.  Then one by one each ward took turns lighting their tree up with flashlights and singing a song of their choice.  The spirit seems to be able to attend us so swiftly when we sing praises to our God and I loved the feeling of peace that I had as well as hope in these youth of the church as each tree glowed in light and song. 

There were several great aspects of being at camp.  The first was that I was able to get to know the girls and the other leaders better.  It was fun for me to be there as a leader and to think back on my own experiences at girls camp as a teenager.  I couldn't help but cringe in my tent one night as we listened to our girls chattering on and on, knowing full well how my loud voice must have carried and kept my leaders awake all night long!  It's funny how I thought my leaders were so perfect and faithful and now I realize that they, like me, must have had their own concerns and trials, but they were willing to forget them and teach me and the other young women in my ward about faith, virtue, integrity and all the other values we strive to instill in these bright, beautiful girls.

  

I also felt like many of the activities and speakers said things that I needed to hear to strengthen my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A talk by President Ence inspired me with his analogy of a coal in a fire.  He compared Girls Camp/church/mutual to being in the fire and our spirits or testimonies as the coal in the fire.  He reminded us that when we are removed from the fire, it is easy for our coals to lose their heat, but encouraged us that by choosing to place ourselves in the fire (fulfilling our callings, going to church, serving one another, having scripture study and family prayers, etc) we will feel an increase of the spirit or an increase of the fire in our lives.  I felt stirred to not be complacent, but to actively keep myself in the fire.

  

The things I did NOT like about camp (besides the rain and missing Burke like crazy) was regularly being mistaken for a young woman rather than a leader.  I had intentionally worn my ring to try and avoid that situation, but alas I had to tell people more than once that I wasn't in middle school.  My favorite was when one of the stake directors came up during craft time and instructed me that once I got home I could have my dad put holes in the right place.  I nodded and said, "Yes, or my husband."  She took a step back and looked me up and down with surprise.  *Sigh*  I'm sure I will be grateful for my youthful face some day.