I'm a SURVIVOR!

This year's Young Women's Camp's theme is Survivor. I was asked by the Bishopric to attend the YW camp as the Camp Leader/Director for the ward. I thought it was kinda weird that they asked me to attend the camp since I don't actually have a calling within YW, but hey it was an experience none the less.

Camp was actually a lot of fun despite the cold, wet and miserable weather we had for the first couple of days. It rained so hard on the first night that we were there, that a lot of the tents were seeping water. Some of the poor girls had their sleeping bags and clothing soaked from the rain. So that was the main highlight for the first night.

The second day started off with the ANZAC Dawn Service. It was a lovely service, and a great way to remember the old diggers and servicemen who fought for their country and their freedom. It was also nice to be able to share that experience with the YW as well. After the Dawn service we got ready for the day's activities. I was involved with the canoing and hiking with the YWs. It rained really hard when we were paddling down the river with our canoes. Also trying to canoe a 3 person canoe with only 2 people, one and no steerer was very very HARD! We kept on going around in circles for a good 30mins. A good 2 hrs later we arrived at destination, and the only way back to the camp ground was to take a 5km hike back. The rain drenched us once more and made the muddy track even more of a challenge. All these activities were before lunch as well... Ohhh the fun of camping :) I was physically exhausted, especially coming off a really long and tiring week at work. So in the afternoon I enjoyed a nice nap while the YW participated in their Camp Challenges. The night time festivities was fun though. We performed skits, and enjoyed the fact that our overacting meant that we had an excuse to act SILLY :p

The final day of camp was great, there was no rain and plenty of sun... in fact it was the perfect weather to dry out our camping equipment. It was really fun to perform in challenges this time round as a Ward. Despite our small numbers, the YW in my ward were great and really had fun. It was a great bonding experience for us, and really taught us to not take it so seriously! We were all there to have fun, and strengthen each other in the Gospel, and I think that was the most important thing.

I just came home from the Sacrament meeting for the YW Camp. It was really nice to hear all the girls share their testimony and see how they have strengthen their faith through this experience. I'm really proud of those girls and am truly glad and grateful for the experience to have been with these faithful and valiant YW. (BTW I do have a question... if you attend sacrament twice in a day, do you take the sacrament twice???)

I'm grateful for the programs that we have available to us in the church, and the chance for each and one of us to learn from our callings and to grow through our service. I guess I'm also saying this as a reminder to myself especially today... Today at church I was released from my current calling of Ward Music Leader, and was called to be the YSA Female Rep and Ward Missionary. I seriously was not looking forward to being YSA rep again. This is the 3rd time round. Either the Lord is telling me that I haven't been doing a good job in the past and need to do it again... or that I should really try and enjoy myself in YSA. The Ward Missionary calling I was quite surprised at... considering I have never served a mission and I'm usually home very late.... However now that I've had time to ponder on this particular calling I look forward to the chance to serve as a Ward Missionary. I had once thought about serving a mission, but I chose to continue on with my university degree. Part of me have always wondered what it would be like to serve a mission, and I guess I always wanted to serve a couple mission when I get older. This calling has given me a chance to continue with my university degree and be a missionary at the same time. Although with this two new callings, I really do have to manage my time better, as I'm still helping out with the ward music until they call someone else, and I still have my Stake Institute Chair calling as well as the Regional Public Affairs Assistant calling. I actually thought that when I left Bankstown I no longer needed to juggle 3 callings at once, boy was I wrong about that. But it is a growing experience and I do have to embrace it.