Hey, Aubrey here! I'm going to talk about my experiences at Girls Camp. Our theme for this year was following TRUE NORTH. We used the North Star as an example of Jesus Christ, as in, how they are both always constant and sure to lead us north, or the right direction.
These are all the girls in my ward- my cousin, Kristine, got to come this year-boy, was it fun! There were about 6-7 other wards attending this year, which totaled close to 150 girls and their leaders.
West Piney Lodge/Camp is nestled in the beautiful mountains of Swan Valley.
The lodge is where the Stake Leaders (like my Grandma) got to stay in, while the rest of us girls were brave enough to rough it-in tents.
This is a picture of our camp. Kristine and me got to stay in the one farthest away, partly hidden by branches and another tent, along with some of the other girls.
This is a picture of some of our rotations for Girls Camp-activity, Destiny, certification for camp, and crafts.
Another picture of us Eighth Warders in our campsite, where we had a blast! The girls in our tent actually tried an all nighter the last night-it didn't work out very well.
Us in Crafts rotation- we did our shifts in years. For example, I was a level two because I'd gone to Girls Camp twice now.
Our beautiful camp spot.
This is a picture of Sister Burg. She was one of the highlights of girls camp, and she was also one of the Destiny speakers. She was really powerful.
I wasn't here to watch Kristine do archery, because she's a third year, but I take it she had a lot of fun.
This was part of our five mile hike. Only the Second Years had to do it, the rest of the girls only had to do three; but some of our more advanced friends decided to keep us company. It was very entertaining.
Time to eat!
It was my turn to prepare a meal. I got to shave potatoes. No experience there, huh mom? :)
We had this really scary slide at our campsite.
Eventually I got on. At first I was freaking out, but by the twenty-fifth time, I was having a blast!
The bishop came too.
Each ward had to take a turn cleaning the porta potties. Since Kristine and Taycee woke up earlier than the rest of us, they had to do it. I just had to deliver the toilet paper to the toilets.
Looks like fun!
Ice cream time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's a square ice cream place about five miles from our camp.
Us getting the square ice cream... yum!!!!!!!!!! Betcha can't find me!
Back at home.
Aubrey was asked to give a talk in Sacrament a week later about her experiences at Girls Camp:
Hi, for those that don't know me, my name is Aubrey, and I was asked to talk about what I learned at Girl's Camp this year, where our theme was True North, as in following Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. We used this as an example because the North Star and Jesus Christ are both always constant and sure to be there for us. I'd like to talk about what hit me the hardest while there. We were having a testimony meeting one night and the spirit was there really strong. The spirit lingered there with us for a while afterwards too. I could feel our Father in the trees and air, and I felt my testimony grow stronger. It was amazing.
After the wonderful testimony meeting, Brother Hawkins and Brother Dye were helping us find the North Star and other constellations in the beautiful night sky. Looking at all the stars in the clear night made me think about all of the things that our God has created for us-His children.
I realized that you can see signs of our Father everywhere if you look hard enough. You can see his power in all of the animals and storms. All of nature testifies of Him.
I also learned that not everything is as scary as it may seem in the beginning. We were at West Piney Girls Camp, and there was a long silver slide there. I sat at the top for about forty-five minutes all together, with Ashley Moulten threatening to push me down it if I didn't go, and Megan McLeish standing at the bottom, saying that she'd catch me. Some of the other girls were there, encouraging me, and it helped a ton, but I still could not get myself to go down the long slide.
I would sit down at the top of the slide for about ten minutes, then get up and go back down the tiring staircase that led to the cabin where the stake was staying, which the slide was hooked to. I am terrified of heights, and although I had Alexis and Taysa encouraging me that it was going to be fine, I was freaking out.
In the end, it was probably Marissa McLeish that helped me the most. She was there the whole entire time, encouraging me. She stayed with me, and finally, I did it. After liking it, I went down about twenty five more times. My tailbone still hurts because of a bump in the middle of the slide, but I had a blast!
The slide experience made me think about how it was like doing the right thing. Doing what you know is right can be hard sometimes, but you have Jesus encouraging and helping us the whole time, like Maryssa, and you have Heavenly Father standing at the end of your journey, ready to catch you, like Megan, and you have people here on earth to help, good friends, like Alexis, Taysa, Ashley, and all the other girls helping me.
Another thing that I learned at Girls Camp was that you are important. We had Kaylee Kinikini from the biggest loser come and talk to us about our value and how important it is to go to church. For those of you who don't know what The Biggest Loser is, it is a show on TV about people competing to see who loses the most weight. Anyway, Kaylee told us that we are valued in the Kingdom of God. We are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, princes and princesses. Church is important to our testimonies and it helps us to walk along the straight and narrow path to Heavenly Father. It gives us more chances to be like Jesus Christ.
Kaylee also talked about how much the scriptures can help you overcome trials in your life. The scriptures are guidelines to help you come back to our home in Heaven. They tell us the ways that the prophets overcame their trials and how we can stay in touch with our father. She was amazing to listen to.
Another person who came and talked to us was Sister Burg. She told us a really cool and realistic example of temptation and repentance. This is from memory, so I hope that I didn't get anything wrong. She said to imagine that you were in a beautiful clearing in a sunset and you were playing kickball with your friends. The only rule to being in the field was to not cross a fence along the middle. Someone kicks the ball over by the fence, and you go to grab it. As you do so, you see people jumping into this beautiful shining pool on the other side of the fence. They are laughing and having so much fun, and you decide that sitting on the fence can't hurt, so you sit on it and watch them. They seem like they are having so much fun, and you decide to go a little bit closer to watch. They laugh and have such big smiles and it's so hot that you decide that dipping your toe in won't hurt.
So you dip your toe in, but there is a scuba diver down there named Satan, and he pulls out a bit of fishing twine and ties it around your toe, but you can't feel it. You decide that going down to your ankles couldn't hurt, then your knees, then your waist, then your shoulders. Pretty soon, it feels so good that you decide to put your head under.
After a few seconds you run out of air and you swim up to the surface, but Satan has hold of the twine and doesn't let go. You begin to drown. But there is another scuba diver down there named Jesus, and He has scissors and will cut the twine if you ask Him to.
I thought that this Girls Camp was amazing, and I can't wait for next year.
