Our young women have been wanting to go on a high adventure camp like the boys and some other young women in our area have been on, so this year we decided to go for it. We had 16 girls, 7 leaders and 2 priesthood leaders going so all together we had 25 people at camp. I have to be honest I was a little worried about how well this camp would go, especially considering the fact that I was expecting, and not even a little in shape. But I was also so very excited because I love Moab and I have always wanted to go on a river trip and have never been able to. Jared gave me a wonderful blessing the night before I left, and my parents were great to take my boys for the week so everything was set. We left early Monday morning arrived a little after noon and began setting up camp. our camp site was beautiful, right next to the river and a sheer cliff of red rock, but in the middle of the day it was just hot!!!!!!! There was no water, you had to drive a 1/4 mile to fill your containers and it was all sand, so setting up camp was extremely difficult. But the girls pushed on and got the work done. I was even able to keep going the entire time, and while I was hot and tired I had plenty of energy. Yeah!! After set up and dinner we set out for our first hike and FHE. We hiked to Corona Arch, I have never been there before but I loved it. The temperature was wonderful, even if the hike itself was challenging. But I loved being right under the arch. Our YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) were in charge of FHE (Family Home Evening) and they did a great job, but the highlight for me was when they had all the girls stand and repeat the Young Women Theme; it was incredibly uplifting and spiritual. I was so grateful that we were able to have the whole place to ourselves, until about 2 minutes before we were ready to leave.
On Tuesday we went to Arches National Park. Our first hike was the hardest hike of the day. We hiked to Delicate Arch; I have never actually hiked to the arch before, just the look out point, but I was so very happy to be at the arch. It was a very hard hike so I was very grateful that we did it first when the temperatures were still low, but it was very worth it. There is such a thrill when you come around the corner and you are right there.
As I am getting older I find that I get a little nervous of heights, but I was not going to miss getting right under the arch like everyone else was, so with one of my other young women we finished hiking to the center of the arch, such a cool experience!! Each of the Young Women leaders planned little devotionals for various parts of our camp. At Delicate Arch Janet spoke to us about a delicate subject - our virtue and morality. She did a wonderful job.
Following Delicate Arch we hiked Landscape Arch, Sandstone Arch (where Heather talked to us about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man), Balance Rock (where Kenna spoke to us about keeping our lives in proper balance) and Double Arch (where Cheri spoke to us about eternal perspective and marriage goals). I loved visiting Double Arch, I cant believe I have never done that arch before, it is beautiful, so unique and such an incredibly easy walk, not even a hike. The whole day was wonderful, however the heat was torture. We came well prepared with lots of water, and spray bottles to cool us off, but it was still very challenging. The girls struggled a lot more than I thought they would and there was quite a bit more complaining then I would have expected, especially from our girls, who never complain. But one of the great parts of the day was that we were all wearing our matching camp shirts that were bright pink and had Delicate arch on the back with the words, "I will Stand Firm on the Rock and Be not Moved" in the center. I designed it and I ma quite proud of it if I do say so myself, but wearing our shirts allowed for a lot of missionary experiences, lots of people wanted to know what the shirts meant and why we had such a large group of girls together. I got to have a fun chat with a couple from Germany on the hike to Landscape arch, and many of the other girls had great chats as well. :) That night we got to cool off by going to a local water hole and mini water fall. The hike was a mile in and the girls had had it with hiking but it was worth it to play in the water and cool off. We also celebrated the day with ice cream at a local diner, because one of our laurels turned 16 on Tuesday.
On Wednesday in an efforts to beat the heat we woke up at 6:00 and drove to the Fischer's Tower Hike. This morning was magical. There truly is something spiritual about the early morning hours . I recently heard a beautiful quote from a women who lived in our ward who recently passed away, she said "The morning breeze has secrets to tell, don't go back to sleep." Isn't that beautiful and so true, if only I had the will power to get up early more often. Anyways the hike was definitely a favorite for everyone, most of the hike was in the shade and the temperatures were perfect, best of all the hike was stunning, I hope some day to take my family on this hike, I know my dad, and brother especially would love it.
While we were there Patty spoke to us on her thoughts about standing firm on the Rock of Jesus Christ and shared some cool personal experiences.
The girls had fun spraying water on the rocks over their hands to make these cool hand prints. :)
The rest of the day we were going to have down time at our camp, but while we were fixing lunch a terrible wind storm came up, we were eating more sand than lunch, it was awful, so we quickly covered everything we could up, opened all the tents windows so the wind wouldn't blow the tents away (much to the dismay of the girls who were not please about having their stuff covered in sand). And drove back to Arches so that we could sit in the visitors center. We watched the video twice and most of us fell asleep (the air conditioning and protecting from the wind was wonderful) then when we felt like we had stayed as long as we were welcome we drove to a city park where the girls had a great time resting on the cool grass. That night we packed a sack dinner for the car so that we could drive into Canyonlands National Park, we had a lot more planned for while we were there, but the girls were just too tired, so we kept it to tow locations. The first place we visted was Whale Rock (which looks nothing like a while much to my dismay). While we were there we had solo time a read a great article from Shari Dew. It was wonderful!
Then we drove to Grandview Point, which was pretty impressive and while we were there Kelli gave her devotional on eternal perspective, and looking at our lives through heavens eyes. It was a great evening.
Thursday was our last full day of the camp and the one we had all been looking forward to the most; the river ride. :) Before the bus camp to pick us up from our camp I gave my devotional from Ether. I liked our journey through life and our journey on the river to the journey the Jaredites took to cross the ocean and come to the Americas. It tied in well with our theme scripture, which was Helamen 5:12 "And now my [daughters] remember , remember that it is upon the Rock of our Redeemer who is Christ the Son of God that ye must build your foundation. That when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwinds, yea when all his might hail shall beat upon you it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the Rock upon which ye are built which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they can not fall."
The river trip was wonderful. It was so nice to sit and rest our legs and work our upper body instead. This was hands down the girls favorite part of camp. The water was too calm for my liking, I was really hoping for some crazy rapids, but it was nice because we were able to get in a float down stream for a while.
That afternoon we went back to the park we had previously visited, let the girls have some quiet time to read letters from their parents and then lots of down time for Crazy Uno and a few other great games. :) That night we had our testimony meeting, which was wonderful just like it always is. And then on Friday we packed up and drove home. I was so grateful to be home with everyone gone; I was able to shower, unpack, and take a long nap before Jared got home, then we went on a date to dinner and a movie (The Lone Ranger' which we both really enjoyed a lot)
Camp was hard, hot, and at times disappointing and frustrating, but I would do it all again in a heart beat, because the good times were excellent. I am so very grateful for the great health and energy I was blessed with. Two days after camp when I was around 9 weeks along in my pregnancy I got terribly sick and I have felt icky off and on ever since, so I am very, very grateful that I was great for all of camp. I love serving in Young Women's.
