This year we had our annual girls camp. Girls camp is for young women ages 12-18 years old. We leave on a Tuesday and return on Saturday. There is a lot that goes into planning this adventure. For those who don’t know, in The Church of Latter Day Saints, we are broken up into wards based on geographic location. A ward is where we attend church every Sunday, it is our local meeting house. Then, our ward is in a stake. A stake is comprised of a number of wards. So in our stake, there are 10 wards (again based on geographic location).
Every year, our stake and wards plan an organize our girls camp. Girls camp for our area is held at Camp MIA Shalom in Sanpete County, UTAH. There are specific rules and guidelines at the camp for example:
* The
re are NO electronic devices allowed at camp. Please make sure that your leaders, girls and parents are aware of this policy and that no electronic devices are brought to camp.
re are NO electronic devices allowed at camp. Please make sure that your leaders, girls and parents are aware of this policy and that no electronic devices are brought to camp.* In the event of an emergency, there is a land line available at the care takers cabin.
* This includes any electronic devices used for scripture study and cell phones that are used as a camera. Please bring a paper version of the scriptures and another camera that isn’t a cell phone.
Dress Code:* Full length pants are required at camp. No Capris or shorts are allowed (even for sleep wear).
* No Flip Flops, Croc’s, or open-toed/heal shoes are allowed at camp.
* No tank tops, cap sleeves, belly shirts or excessively tight clothing allowed at camp. Please make sure that when the girls raise their hands high above their head that they still have their mid-driff covered and that they are modest.
Of course, there can be additional safety measures in place by the direction of ward or stake leaders.
SO enough about that.
Girls camp is run by women and attended by girls. It is a wonderful way to be in nature, feel the spirit, and learn about each other. We are not run by a clock, or interrupted by electronics.
Girls camp takes some sacrifice. Many moms go without their children. Girls have to go without boys, the above mentioned electronics, the family and sporting events (that they participate in).
It is a very spiritual and amazing experience.
I wanted to share something that happened to me.
There is an event called “singing in the trees”. It is an event that is held in the dark in the woods. We all walk together in our wards with flashlights and silence. We stay together in wards and we sing a song our ward has pre-selected. We all take turns singing. The woods are dark except where the individual ward is singing. We listened to all of the wards sing then, we turned to sing our stake song. Flashlights were lit by the stake leaders and a beautiful picture of the Savior was illuminated.
I was struck by a few things…many are too personal for me to write on here but, I was wondering if when the Savior comes can I look him in the eye and feel comforted in knowing I did all that I could to live a righteous life. I believe I have many things I need to work on to feel that I have done my best.
So, I guess my thought is to take a moment and be very honest about where you are in your life. We all have improvements to make and we all should consistently take time to evaluate if we are on the right path. Are we doing what we can to be closer to our Heavenly Father? If we aren’t then we need to redirect ourselves to bring us back into alignment with what is best for our family and where we are with our Heavenly Father. So, we all have room to grow. We all need to Strive to be and do better. We all have it in us to give a little more of ourselves. Rely on your Heavenly Father and you will never go wrong.
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