Youth Conference

Just recently I was asked to be a part of the Youth Organization in our church by being the Secretary over the Young Women. I am very excited about this, since working with 12 to 18 year olds is something I enjoy doing very much. Last weekend we had what was called "Youth Conference." This consisted of an overnight stay at a cabin near Liberty, Utah where we did some very fun activities with the youth. The area we were in was BEAUTIFUL!!! Right outside the cabin we had a great view of the mountains. After setting up camp (boys were outside in tents and the girls got to sleep inside the cabin in beds) the kids and some of the leaders played volleyball. I actually brought Fanny along with me, so we just sat outside on our picnic blanket and enjoyed the sunshine.


Next was our hike! We got to go up a ski lift to get to the trail head. The view from the lift was GREAT and the hike was SOOO nice!! There was one spot where we all stopped at this really beautiful waterfall to take pictures. It was so refreshing! One funny thing about the hike were these caterpillars that were hanging down from the trees above us. There were TONS of them and you had to be careful not to run into some of the lower hanging ones. Several of the girls were not too excited about them, hence the occasional scream we would hear now and then during the hike. One of the boys thought it would be funny to see how many caterpillars he could put all over himself. Ahh, teenage boys... Needless to say, he was not a favorite with the girls.


Overall it was a great experience. After the hike we had a few other things planned which included an activity where the youth were blindfolded and had to follow a string that was twisted around some trees and bushes, etc. The string was the "Iron Rod" (for those of you who are not Mormon, feel free to ask me what that means later) and the youth had to get to "Heaven" by following it. The leaders either encouraged or discouraged them along the way. It turned out great! We then ended the evening with a fireside and testimony meeting. I didn't stay the night, though, since I had Fanny with me, but we definitely enjoyed spending the day with the youth and they sure enjoyed Fanny! The girls ADORE her. Joseph and I are totally set with babysitters for the rest of Fanny's childhood. We've had so many of the girls in our church ask if they can tend her that our response now is always, "Make sure you sign the list!" or "Get in line!"