Before Christmas I had a call to come in for a meeting with a high councilor. I couldn’t imagine what he would want to talk to me about, and it turns out I never would have guessed. He told me that they wanted to call me to be over the service projects at girls camp.
I accepted the calling, but with tremendous reservations. For one thing, the last time I went to girls camp it ended in a hurricane. (True story.) For another thing, I’m not as young as I used to be and I wasn’t sure camping for a week was going to work for my body. And for one last thing, I really had no idea what he was talking about.
The short version of this story is that at our stake’s girls camp every day the girls rotate through 3 activities—certification, service, and a devotional aptly called “destiny.” I was to, with a committee of youth leaders, come up with and execute 4 days of service projects for 3 groups of 50 girls each day.
The actual doing of camp was both better and worse than I had thought/expected/dreaded. The service was great. Each day (x3) I taught for 5-15 minutes to set the stage for the specific project. Sometimes I forget how much I love teaching. The projects went off well—some of them much better than I had even imagined. I felt like I successfully completed year 1 of what is typically a 3 year calling.
The camp setting was lovely. For the first few days I didn’t go much past the cabin in which I was sleeping, but on Thursday our service activity involved a lot of walking around specific areas and I appreciated that my girls could come to a facility like this.
My concerns about camp proved to be well founded. I didn’t get enough protein some of the time (good thing I had my own stash of greek yogurt) and one day there was a shortage of food in general. I definitely didn’t get enough veggies and next year I think I will take salad jars and just keep them in a cooler in the walk in refrigerator in the lodge. At the last minute I told the camp director I couldn’t be a cabin mom because I was concerned about not being able to get enough sleep and I think this was a good call. As it was I had break-through pain one night and was awake from about 3am on rubbing my painful SIjoint/muscles. I switched that night from a bunk with a foam pad to an air mattress and did a lot better, so I think that will be my plan for next year.
On the last morning after I’d gotten my stuff all taken care of I walked around and took some pictures. And then I happily went home—back to civilization and my comfy bed and best of all…my own clean bathroom!
What a gorgeous site!!!
ReplyDeleteBoy, when WE went to camp, we didn't stay in cabins!
ReplyDeleteJust thinking about Girls Camp makes me tired to the bones. I directed our stake camp for two years and at the end of each camp, I walked into my house, straight to my bed and collapsed. It's the most exhausting thing I've ever done. But, I have great memories of the experience. How nice that you could be at camp with your girls.
ReplyDeleteLove that Angie L. is in that picture!
ReplyDeleteBecky, Angie is the queen of girls camp. She runs it and does a really amazing job.
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