On Thursday, we met our new "family" at the church and got to know each other. We made up dances, names, cheers, banners, etc. We had an amazing fireside with Sister Barbara Jones who taught us about resisting temptation. We then went to the Schow farm where we did skits and had dessert around a bonfire. We had our first devotional with our group where Kevin and I talked to the kids about being an example. It was fun to do it outside with flashlights. We went home for the night and I got a few hours sleep before I had to be back at the church at 7:00 am.
Friday morning we gathered our "family" for scripture study then ate a delicious breakfast together. We then had a fireside with John Bytheway who is one of the most amazing speakers I have ever heard. You can't help but feel the spirit when he speaks. We went to a senior care center and did some service then loaded up the cars and headed to a park in Nephi where we ate lunch and played some games. Then we headed to IPP (International Power Plant) which is in the middle of nowhere past Delta. It was a really cool facility with large rooms where we set up "camp," kitchens, classrooms, pool tables, a huge gym, etc. We had a huge volleyball tournament between all of the groups. We DOMINATED! I couldn't play of course because I am broken, but I am so proud of my group! (BTW: We were the purple group and named ourselves the Happy Royals!) We ate a very yummy dinner then made up skits and had a Variety Show. It was a lot of fun. Then we had a dance in the gym. It was fun to watch all of the kids and I even got my groove on a little! I danced with each of the councilors (Kevin, Vince, Jon, and Hyrum. Jon taught me how to Cha-Cha which was awesome!) We had our nightly devotional on having courage and had journal writing time. It was about midnight by now, so we had a midnight snack of pizza. We went to bed about 1:00, but of course the girls didn't settle down for a long time, so I didn't get any sleep. Oh well!
On Saturday, we got up at 7:00, had our "family" scripture study and then breakfast. The Bishop and his wife then put on a morningside. We played some games and had lunch then did some workshops. I taught one on "The Power of Peers" and talked to all of the youth about resisting peer pressure and choosing good friends. Then Sara talked to us about how God loves all of us. She asked us to share how we have felt God's love. I shared about how hard this year has been but how I have felt the love of God so strongly through the support and love of other people (friends, family, my Kindergartners, and their moms) and my scriptures. As I was sharing, the spirit bore witness of God's love so strongly that I started crying. It was wonderful! Then we all changed into our church clothes, met with our "families," watched a short video, took "family pictures," and went to the closing banquet where we ate a delicious meal. Then we had our closing fireside where we watched a video on the Savior. As it was playing, I was again overcome by the spirit and such a feeling of love so I wept again! Then we had a testimony meeting. I was so proud of all of "my kids" who bore their testimonies. At times during the weekend, I had wondered if they were listening, but when they bore their testimonies about the gospel and thanked Kevin and I for what we had done, I knew I had had a positive influence on them and I will never forget them or this experience! We cleaned up IPP, hugged each other, said goodbye, and headed for home.
I cannot begin to describe how I came to love these amazing teenagers and how they changed my life. I have no doubt that the Gospel is true, that Heavenly Father and my Savior love me, and that everything will be ok because I know this. Thank you for an amazing and life changing experience!!!!
Riley, Adam, Ave, Samuel, Chandler
Kim, Karen, Shelby, Ryn
Me, Kevin
Kim, Karen, Shelby, Ryn
Me, Kevin
That sounds like an amazing experience! (And You are not broken, just out of service for a little while:)
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