We kicked things off up at the church and introduced the theme Your Four Minutes.Then we were off to Big Cottonwood Canyon for some repelling. Our original help for that activity bailed on us just a few days before our activity and we were kind of stressing out! Luckily we have the coolest ward and after a Facebook plea we had new help lined up in the Lifferths. They had a new, new baby, just a few weeks old, but it meant that Jake was on paternity leave and eager to get out and do things. It worked out perfectly and the youth were so willing and brave. Only one YW, Addie, had done it before and the others were really nervous but tried anyway.
As it neared dinner time we tied things up and headed up to my parents' cabin. They are incredibly generous to share with us again!! We had all the boys set-up tents in the backyard while the girls' shared a few rooms upstairs. As we prepped dinner our guest speaker arrived. His name is Andy Phillips and he's kind of a big deal—a U of U football star but before he got there, none of our youth really knew much about him. He ate dinner with us and then gave an awesome fireside telling his story: he grew up skiing and racing like crazy until he was part of the US ski team and slotted to go to the Vancouver Olympics. The timing seemed perfect but he got his patriarchal blessing just before turning 19 and it said he would serve a full-time mission. After a lot of praying he decided to go on a mission and put the Gospel ahead of skiing. He shared more about coming back and having his coaches doubt his ability after 2 years of absolutely no skiing, but he ended up racing faster than anyone else. Sadly, the coaches didn't approve of his ditching out for a mission so they kept him off of key teams and he decided to quit skiing and instead try...kicking a football! Apparently he was really good at it, but he put in a lot of work and practice and sent tapes to to every university he could think of in the hopes of getting on a team, and ended up at the U.
By the end of the night Andy was a huge hit (especially among the YW. It didn't hurt that he's a cute boy, kind of a local celebrity, really outgoing and very down-to-earth, and full of lots of light and goodness. Oh, those girls were majorly cracking me up over him and I saw a ton of myself in them from 20 years ago! )
Good thing little Andy is married and expecting a baby very soon with his darling wife!
It was also the twins' 16th birthday that night so we celebrated with candles, singing, cake and ice cream. Jasmine (on the left) and Tyler (on the right) are the twins and their sister Anna is between them in the pic. These kids are seriously awesome and some of favorites! They have so much to offer and make every youth activity more fun, but they are also among the kids I worry and pray about the most. They have come from such hard circumstances and have struggled with a lot but they keep trying and we all love them tons so we just have to be there for them when they need us.
The next morning we drove everyone deep into Jeremy Ranch to hike the Mormon Pioneer trail up to the top of Big Mountain—a beautiful, solid 5 mile hike up, up, up.
It was quite a huge endeavor in the end—much longer than we thought and long drive to and from the trail head (we dropped an extra car at the top so the kids only had to hike up and then we could get everyone home in cars). One of my YW has a bunch of health issues and was in tears like 1.5 miles into the hike. She said she could last a little more but I didn't want her stuck out in the middle of nowhere so she and I turned around and went back to my car and drove up to the top to meet the rest of the youth. We had to wait for over an hour but she and I had a good chat and enjoyed the view from Big Mountain. It was really great how that worked out because my phone hadn't had reception that morning until I was at the summit of Big Mountain. Then I saw texts from both my mom who was needing the address of my friend Lindsay's house (she had my kiddos that morning) and a parent needing to come get his daughter right away for a sudden family thing that had come up. I probably spent at least half the time time up there figuring these issues out so I was glad things worked out how they did.
For our last night we had a testimony meeting, and it was pretty epic. It lasted a couple of hours and nearly every single youth stood up and shared their hearts and souls. It was such a beautiful night and I could just feel so much faith and love in that cabin
The Mia Maids singing a song for us for their assigned devotional. It was the perfect start to our testimony meeting.
These guys really bonded over the weekend and after testimony all piled up in this group hug—
love it!
Saturday morning was busy with all the packing, cleaning, and more packing and cleaning! But once we were mostly ready to head out we gathered up one last time to encourage the youth to write about what they felt up there and what had been important in their spiritual growth. Then we sent them out all over the property to find a quiet spot alone to think and write and pray for 30 minutes. I was working for a good portion of that time but when I did step away and find my own spot on the stone steps surrounded by daisies and those amazing views, my heart was so full. I had been so stressed getting this whole event planned and organized and then figuring out babysitters for my kiddos yet again that I was very relieved it had turned out to be such an awesome thing and felt nothing but positivity and gratitude about all of it. It was very comforting and just what I needed to feel like all had been a success.
With Katy (my 1st counselor) and John (YM pres.) and Randy (YM 1st counselor). The four of us basically ran the show and I'm so grateful for their constant help and communication and hard work in making our youth conference happen! I have since learned that many other wards have their bishopric in charge of this event and that the youth leaders are there to help in various ways and participate with the kids but not run the thing entirely. How did our ward miss that memo?! That sounds glorious! Our bishopric did show up for a few hours on our last evening but I would have loved to have them running things and planning it all out and also spending that quality time with the youth. I will have to pass along that info for the next time I guess :)
Such cool C.O.W.s! Love these awesome kids.
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