Girls Camp

I LOVE girls camp! I especially love the girls and the leaders at girls camp. I got called as one of the young  woman leaders a couple of months ago. I can't tell you how excited I was to know I was going to camp. It didn't matter what I had to do to find help with my boys, I was going. For the first time since I was a young woman, I got the spend the whole week with the girls at camp Koholowo last week. I must have been on some adreneline high the whole time, because who can go 3 nights with little or no sleep and eat like we did and still get up early every morning, go on a 4 mile hike, make 4 crafts, participate in the confidence course, sit through a couple of firesides(I'll admit I did doze just a little during the cosmetic lesson on Thursay), be in a skit, sit through an awesome testimony meeting, etc. and still come home and have enough energy for a couple of hours of clean up after camp and to spend time with the kids? Yes, I finally crashed later Friday afternoon, and probably still haven't caught up on lost sleep. It was so worth it. So what if the girls didn't like being woke up to a wanna'be opera singer (not) singing at the top of her lungs, "OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING!" I was only passing my memories of girls camp along to them.
I came home with so much more than I left with. My canteen had been filled. I felt so much peace, and love while I was up there. The spirit was strong. We had one non-member girl in our group who doesn't know much about God, and two inactive girls. I could see it in their faces that they were being touched. It was evident in our campfire testimony meeting as they each talked about how much they enjoyed being at camp. During our fireside and faith walk, I couldn't help the emotions. I almost wept as the spirit bore witness to me of the love he has for each of those beautiful young women. I know many times these young women think we don't understand what they are going through, and it just hit me so strong that that is the whole reason we are up there at girls camp. To get them away from worldly influences for just a minute if we can, to feel the spirit and the love that our Father in Heaven has for them. To let them know, we do understand what they are going through. We've been in their shoes once upon a time. But the love of our Savior is real. I felt it for me and for each of those girls that night and it has stuck with me since.  I loved getting to know them a little bit more, and the leaders as well. We made it through with no one going home early, no drama, no homesickness. The girls were fantastic. They all got along really well, and for the most part, pitched right in and helped get things done. What an awesome bunch of girls! I am so blessed to be able to work with them on a weekly basis.
Big thank you to my dad and nieces and my husband for helping with the boys so that I could spend the whole week at camp. I knew my boys were in good hands and that made it easy to enjoy my time away.