Camp, part 6 -- day 3

Before I got to camp*, and when I first arrived at camp, I must admit I was very concerned with impressing the other leaders. I felt like the underdog. Being older than the girls I was leading by just a few years, and literally decades younger than my fellow leaders, I felt certain the other leaders would view me as a snot-faced-teenager. And not that some of the girls viewed me like that, but I got confused as being a camper more than once -- I felt like that definitely stacked the odds against me for my "peers" as viewing me as such.

As the week went on and I started bonding with my girls, I realized I wasn't there for myself, but I was there to serve my girls. That meant building friendships with them, spending time with them, laughing and joking and being silly with them, not with the older ladies. And by the end of the week, I was seriously impressed by the girls I was leading as well as some of the other girls I had the privilege of meeting.



The most impressive part, was learning from their examples. There were a few instances where leaders behaved less than exceptionally, and my girls were in fact, more mature than their leaders. I was blown away by their talents, their patience in trials, their ability to endure, their love for their peers even when it wasn't easy, their sense of right and wrong, their consideration, compassion, faith and excitement for life and learning. They reminded me of each of our divine natures, individual worths and eternal values as daughters of God.

With Angela, BriAnna and Abby. These girls have each other's backs and I love it.

The girls sat around (during the day) telling scary stories because they spooked themselves the night before telling stories in the dark. They had moved our pool inside, so I sat cooling off while I listened to them.

The girls presented a presentation on someone from the scriptures who demonstrated the ability to always choose the right. We had John the Baptist as our scripture person. We snuck off to a cabin that was under construction to read scriptures and prepare for our presentation. We had to move the "smokers chimney" to the side, but thankfully the construction workers had left us a few chairs. We ignored the wasps' nest in the corner, too...best leader ever, right?

 Angela and BriAnna as Jesus and John the Baptist for their presentation. They decided to act it out. As silly as they looked right now, it was actually semi-spiritual during the presentation. The best part was their beards...created with glittery black eyeliner.

And here you can actually see the glitter...

This girl is crazy.

We packed up the next morning to hit the road. I was both sad and relieved -- I was happy to get to see Nathaniel  (and my own bed) again, but sad to leave my girls.

Always,

*If you're not familiar with the LDS religion, all of our clergy are not paid, and all leadership positions, be it a teacher or camp director, is voluntary based and we believe we are called by God. And "girls camp," is just that...a summer camp for girls ages 12 to 18. The purpose of camp is to draw closer to God, appreciate and feel reverence for nature, become more self-reliant, develop leadership skills, respect and protect the environment, serve others, build friendships, enjoy camping and having fun.