Girls Camp 2012-"Shine On"

I was asked by the bishop of our church to be the leader of our Youth Girls' Camp that was to take place July 30-August 3, 2012.  It was kind of funny that Xoe & Xanthe would be gone for the summer and wouldn't be able to go, but it was still fun nonetheless. We sure did miss them.

Leading up to camp itself was a bit BUSY because of all my other commitments, but once the day arrived, we were all ready and excited to go.  A few changes happened within the four or five days beforehand.  We had one girl rushed to the hospital, and one girl who was visiting her grandmother of our ward, decide at the last minute to attend with the rest of us.  It was quite interesting, but we were so happy to have all those with us that we could, and those who couldn't, they were there in spirit.

I also don't have pictures from a few of the other people who had their camera where I didn't.  Then you're stoked because you don't have to sort through a ton of pictures.  Many of these people you also may not know but it's for my own book anyway.  Suffice it to say, they're all girls between 12-16 from my church, or a leader. :)

Gettin Ready!

Mary Poppleton (Lisa's mom), Katrina Pitkin, Lisa Gentry, Monica Miller, Emeree Woolston, Haley Lym, Kristi Johnson, Aubrey Shields, Christy Pethel)

Settin up camp!

Sporting our new t-shirts!  Our theme was "Shine On-- (part of the main church theme--- Arise and Shine Forth...) You have a light inside you.  Share It!"
And what's up with my pose?  I think it was the 6th camera and we all had jumped back into place. :)

Singing camping songs from our songbooks we made.  This one is Down by the Banks.

Singing silly songs at the Stake Campfire time.

This was Monday Night's Family Home Evening. The girls were not allowed to talk and had to hold onto the person in front of them. As leaders we were told to lead them astray, something very hard for us. We put chairs in front of them and some even got the girls to crawl. There was someone speaking at the front doing Red Light Green Light, mimicking the Holy Spirit and we should always listen to the Spirit above everyone else. Some of the girls who were led astray were very disheartened but we all learned a good lesson.

Lost souls.  One leader got all the girls to crawl. Some were led into bushes and some were led back towards camp.

Roasting Marshmallows to make S'mores on Day 1. I think the count was about 4 each, and some even made it up to 8. Oy vey!

Haley liked her marshmallows burnt, then she peeled off the outside. 

Morning devotional on Day 2 

Pretty girls! Monica Miller

Aubrey Shields

Working on certifications

Making fires with food.

Jill and I. We were partners in crime... aka leaders over a certain group of girls. Sorry for the bad picture, Jill.  I'm not in very many pictures. :)

Because it was the 100-Year of girls camp, we were asked to do "100" of something while we were at camp. we challenged the girls each day to do something and they each took 20. So between 5 girls we did 100. This one was the first day and they had to get to know 20 girls... their names, where they were from, and ask a question if they felt comfortable.

Workin on foil dinners (that we ate for lunch)

Aubrey showing off our foil dinners.  They turned out really great!

Emeree and Haley

My partner-in-crime, Kristi Johnson. Yup, both the leaders were named Christy/Kristi.

Making lanterns for our Singing to the Stars event.

 My buddy came to visit me on Wednesday. So happy to see each other!

Making caramel apples in the campfire.

Earlier in the day, we made color Mod Podge and painted the outside of jars. Since it was a "Shine On" theme, we tried incorporating light wherever we could. We loved the light around our fire each night.

Emeree gettin crazy!

These were our bathrooms. A step up from last year.  These ones were flushable porta-potties, or we could walk up to the Rec Center where there were bathrooms for the pool.

Sorry Haley for the bad picture. heehee. I just wanted to get a picture of our bagged egg breakfast (put them in boiling water)

Gettin ready for the hike-- it was the hottest day of the week.

Aubrey showing off some of the crafts they made. Bottle cap necklaces and rings... and duct tape bracelets/wallets/etc. 

There are a couple of girls moving from Heidelberg to Wiesbaden in a few months. They asked if we wanted to roast S'mores together one night and have a little devotional. It was fun meeting all the other girls from their ward and adding Rolo's, PB Cups and Starburst to roast with the marshmallows. :) Sorry Aubrey on the closed-eye picture. I think we realized you're like my Xoe. Her eyes close the minute the flash goes off. You're still super darn cute though! 

I promised Kristi I would blackmail her with this picture. ;) Gotta love it.  The girl in the yellow is Lizzie, the Stake President's daughter from Heidelberg, and one of the girls' friends from last year.  She's super cute and the girls really love hanging out with her when we can make it to Heidelberg.

Yay! On Thursday when the bishop came up, our friend Lindsey Jones, who unexpectedly had to go into the hospital the Friday before camp came to visit us!!! We're all together again!!! We miss you Xanthe Villa and Xoe Christian Villa

Xanthe Villa and Xoe Christian Villa, look who I ran into! We miss you!

Sitting around waiting for the dutch oven chicken enchiladas giving gifts to Lindsey.

Mary and Emeree.  Mary is Lisa's mom (the YW leader who came with us).  She did most of our cooking and hung out.  It was really fun.

Packing up and saying goodbye

For my own remembrance, I wanted to post some of the handouts we made. I'm not going to go into a huge description so you can relax. But if you don't want to be bored at this point, you can stop reading.

So because the camp's theme was Shine On, we wanted to do all of our handouts with a light theme.  We had star decorations, candles, flashlights, bonfires, glowsticks, etc.

I have to say too that it was almost embarrassing how many handouts we gave.  Some didn't have anything attached, we just gave them on their pillow when they were gone, or put them in their little "Secret Sister mailboxes" they made.  There were just too many "sayings" out there about shining, and sharing your light.

We had lots of opportunities to give out gifts too.  In the morning we had a morning scripture, then we had campfire time at night with our ward where we had a little devotional.  So, a lot of these had lessons that went with it.  I know I should give credit to some of them for where I found them but I just don't have the energy. If you see something that is yours and want me to put your reference on it, I gladly will but I just want to get this post done.

 The Starfish Story: You Can Make a Difference

By andrewong2024

While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.

He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

We read this story...