Sunday, July 6, 2008

Girls Camp

I think I am almost recovered from girls camp. We spent four days at Camp Hunt which is a boy scout camp at Bear Lake. The lake is gorgeous, the camp not so much. After a three hour drive we set up our tents in a swamp like area with mosquitoes the size of humming birds (I have 60 bites to prove it). Going to the bathroom was quite an adventure, they were one step above an outhouse. You had to drop your drawers before backing into the stall. Then you had to hold the plywood door closed and pray for the best. Later I was told about the Adults only toilet. There was certainly more room and the door locked, but it was still a little awkward staring at the birds nest in the ceiling. The food was pretty horrible as well. I took my own bread and peanut butter thank goodness. Those are my two main complaints with lovely Camp Hunt. Now for the positive. I had wonderful girls and leaders to work with. I had ten first year girls who were very sweet and two leaders that I worked with that were lots of fun. The girls were able to swim, canoe, shoot rifles and try archery. We also made some crafty stuff. The highlight of the whole camp experience came on the last full day of camp. We participated in a trust walk. Each girl/leader was blindfolded and led to a ropes course. After receiving instructions we were given an egg to represent the most precious thing we have (mine was my family). As we felt our way along the rope blindly, holding this egg, people would try to take our egg. Others would whisper and try to get us to let go of the rope. When running into obstacles we could raise our hand and someone would come and whisper to us to help us know where to go. I raised my hand a lot. As I felt the end of the rope I stopped and held up my hand. I was given a hug and told "welcome home". What an awesome experience. Raising our hand was to symbolize prayer and the help was the still small voice. I don't think that I or any of the girls in the stake will ever forget this awesome lesson. If that is the only memory I have, then that will be enough for me.