Girls Camp 2010

It's hard to believe it has been a year since Girls Camp. I certainly didn't do as much to prepare this year and could really feel the lack of crunch time right before. Can't decide if that is a good thing or not...I LOVE Girls Camp. And so....Girls Camp this year was different but very much the same. Thankfully many of the YW and Leaders I view as my ICONS at Camp were still there. This little tidbit made it fun as usual.In fact, Erin Emmet mentioned to me MONTHS ago that we should be twins each day since we'd been there EVERY year together. So we did....and we got a pic for each day and each year! It was fun. Erin is a fabulous YW that I admire and value the relationship I have with her. I enjoy seeing YW with a good head on their shoulders heading in the right direction. She is one of many, but the one that I got to see most often.The Spirit is ALWAYS strong at Camp and this year was NO different. I did find one part that WAS more difficult for me. I was a slug and slept in way more than usual. It used to be that I would be up before everyone, have my shower taken and have some quiet alone time to read from the scriptures before my day began. That alone brought an added measure of the Spirit for me, I think. Not that I DIDN'T read my scriptures this time, because I did - and found some faaaabulous things! But that quiet alone time in the mornings really helps me out.

I learned a lot from the activities as well. Our Service Project was especially meaningful to me. My 1st year we (as youth leaders and a couple leaders - me included) cut a trail down a ravine. I started and it was hard, but fun, work. It wasn't 15 minutes later that the cooks radioed down and said that Cody was awake and hungry. My 1st year I brought him to camp since he was just 4 months old. So...needless to say....I didn't get to finish that cool service project in 2005. But this year we got to WIDEN that same trail. It was unbearably hot and humid but the Effingham YW and me and Brittany Richards dug in and did a fabulous job. On the switch back I even cut a couple stairs and we put slate on them. It meant a lot to me to go back and be able to do the same service project that I wasn't able to do so many years ago. The Lord is good to me.
The Fire Building with Bro Springer will ALWAYS be a highlight. I passed out matches this year....we went through almost 2 full boxes of matches!Monday night we also brought back OUT of SYNC from last year. Aubrey Dokos wasn't there but Becca, Brittany, and I danced to "I Gotta Feelin'" from the Black Eyed Peas. It is fun and we had a good time.

Tuesday was worse for heat and humidity. It think they said with the heat index it got to 117 degrees. I think it was only about 95 but 97% humidity. It was horrible!!!!! Thankfully, we had our hike early in the morning. It was fun and the 2nd years went the furthest and didn't complain at all. In fact, they sang instead. I was impressed. At one point we stopped at the river and skipped rocks. What fun! During free time we tried to be active. I had brought some cheap badminton rackets and birdies to play around with and boy, oh, boy....we were slugs. We couldn't move too fast but had fun. I can't believe how hot it was.
That night Becky Payne put together a blind walk where the YW would get blind folded and have a rock taped to their hands (to represent the burdens we carry in life). They would be led to a rope and have to hold on until the end (symbolizing our journey through life). What they didn't know is that along the way there would be voices....from the Devils and the Angels. They had to choose which to listen to. I was lucky enough to be a Devil....hahahaha. It was fun, but I felt completely horrible leading those precious YW astray. Anyhow....a couple of the leaders tried to convince Becky that I would be a better Angel, but she was set on me being a Devil. And really, I learned a TON from this experience. One of my best friends, Jana Allan, was the leader bringing the YW to the rope. To me she was like a mother figure. She would speak softly to them and lead them to the rope with gentle and kind instructions to hold to the rope and not let go. Then I came into the picture and would tell them all sorts of things like "there's poison ivy ... just let go and I'll lead you around it" etc. Many wouldn't let go, but some trusted me because they knew me. They let go and I reaked havoc on their journey until an angel would come and lead them back. Some YW I led in circles, some just off the path and then let them go. I remember one YW I led off and immediately put her back on going the opposite direction. She trusted me. When she got to the beginning I led her off and then back on going in the right direction, then off and back to the beginning heading in the right direction again. I did this about 4 times...the 2nd I gained an additional YW so I was leading BOTH of them astray at the same time. When they completely trusted me I led them FAR away and told them the rope was just ahead of them and I had to go help another. Some I would lead off and have THEM lead others off. But the most poignant lesson was the interaction I was having with Jana Allan....or that our "characters" were having. When she saw how "good" I was she started changing her instructions...."Trust nothing and no one but the ROPE!" No prob.....I had a lanyard on that was just a bit smaller than the real rope. I would slip that into their hands and lead them WHEREVER I wanted quite nicely. Jana's instructions changed again, "Beware of FALSE ROPES!" Our interactions were so profound that we counteracted each other at every juncture! It got so that whenever she saw me coming, which was OFTEN, her eyes showed contempt and hatred, and maybe a little fear! I would just smile and say nothing....after all, the YW had NO CLUE that I was there, or really that someone so nice and trustworthy was planning on their destruction. At one point I stood right in between the YW and the rope. Jana was angry. She did something that will forever be branded into my brain and my soul. Usually she had her around lightly around the YW in a motherly way, holding her hand so she could attach her to the rope. When I did this she brought the YW in closer and tighter. She took a deep breath, gained composure, and told the YW she wasn't able to put her on the rope "where you're supposed to be" right now but to just TRUST HER! Boy, even in my devilish character I gained an insight about parenthood...how the Adversary is RIGHT there, most times unbeknown to our children, and they need to trust us. We see Him more than our children a lot of the time. And sadly, the Adversary really is playing a game...he doesn't care about us like I did for the YW. At another time I would go TO them BEFORE they got to the rope....I was met with the same looks of contempt, anger, hatred, and fear from Jana; the same oblivion from the YW. Jana would hold tighter and actually called me a cheater! I don't think the YW even noticed but it was again profound to me....Satan IS a cheater and so many times I want to yell at him to STAY AWAY.Anyhow...I marvel that I was able to work side by side at such a crucial juncture with one of my best friends...that took the experience seriously. I truly believed I learned more than ANY of the YW....though I heard that they learned a ton. When they got to the end they got to be with all their friends and talk about their experience. It was profound...probably my most profound of the entire week.

(two I led COMPLETELY away from the rope)

I receive the Daily Gems in my email each day...a quote from the Prophet or a General Authority on certain topics. This one came a day or so after I got home....or maybe it was waiting for me when I got home. I can't remember now that it is a week later.

“Prophecies regarding the last days often refer to large-scale calamities such as earthquakes or famines or floods [and] . . . economic or political upheavals of one kind or another. But there is one kind of latter-day destruction that has always sounded to me more personal than public, more individual than collective—a warning, perhaps more applicable inside the Church than outside it. The Savior warned that in the last days even those of the covenant, the very elect, could be deceived by the enemy of truth.”

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Safety for the Soul,” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 88

Wednesday was fun too...every day was fun! I think it was Wed that we went canoeing. After all the YW went Brittany, Becca, and I decided to try our hand. Erin, Sam Bales, Miranda Randall, and Savannah Stowell were going out at the SAME time....so I challenged Erin and her motley crew to a race. It stemmed from my challenge back at the beginning of summer at Youth Conference. There was Bounce House obstacle course that I raced her through. Jumping through the first ring brought my pants down and I was toast from there on out...not that if my pants DIDN'T fall down I would have won, because that was really out of the question....she is 17 and I am not. She was a good sport all through my talking smack and it was fun. But canoeing was a different story. Sam couldn't steer correctly and they just ran into one thing after the other. It was a lot of fun...at least for me. We would stop, let them catch up and maybe even pass us, then head out again. This picture may LOOK like they are in the lead but really they are using the "go from side to side and run into the trees" method.
Throughout Camp on one table was a treasure chest with little paper jewels where we could write something nice about someone else. It was a lot of fun. We got the jewels about us at the end. I got two...one from Erin about our canoe race (pic below) that said, "Demers can rock and canoe! but not a bounce house :)" I laughed....but it meant A LOT to me. I got another from Jana (pic also below) that said, "Denise rocks my boat!" I know these little words meant a lot to me and I hope they meant a lot to a lot of the YW.Wed night the complete OUT of SYNC team returned with our two dances ... "Dancin' Queen" and "Larger than Life." It had rained so we didn't go down to the arena. That was harder....in the Dining Hall just wasn't like at the arena. But it was fun. We waited til Dark to do our 2nd dance (Larger than Life). Instead of attaching glow sticks around our bodies we just held a bunch...danced in the dark for awhile then threw them to the YW to dance the rest of the song WITH us. It was a blast! I love being with these YW!

Each night we get Secret Sister gifts. Wed night MY secret sister gave me a game...FARKLE! It became the leader-stay-up-late-at-night game. And boy was it fun and we were loud and had a GREAT time. Each night we attracted more players. I heard that all the campsites could hear us. Patty Roy played it great...she was my secret sister and totally acted like she didn't know how to play the game, asked us what it was, etc. It was perfect! And we still play today with my family.Thurs was fun. I got to help Kari Waiseth (the new Camp Director) with the slide show. I kept telling her, though it was hard to get to work it ALWAYS works out! And it did. It was fabulous and the testimony meeting this year was great too.

Here is a picture of our Campsite on the last day...with Olivia and Samantha already having gone home. We camped with the Urbana Ward...and LOVED every moment of it!Camp is just great!

And Friday was just as teary as usual. After a week of fabulous experiences and great friends we have to go home. The song on everyone's lips and etched in their hearts was....

mmm I want to linger
mmm a little longer
mmm a little longer here with you

And we all understood.

TREASURE SEEKERS

D&C 88:63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

And so....our hearts will linger a little longer and in a year we will all be back. But as for now, the chairs at the Friendship circle will remain vacant until we meet there again.