I started planning girls’ camp back in June. The dates were set for Sept 14-15th. While visiting the Detroit temple with John over the summer, I told him I was looking for a girls’ camp theme and the only thing
that kept coming to me was “strengthen their testimonies.” Last year our theme was B.O.O.T Camp
(Building our own testimony) so I knew it had to be different. The next Saturday I walked by Emma sitting on
her bed reading my mom’s book “The Ten Virgins.” She said it was amazing. I had a strong impression that
should be the theme. Emma said the theme should be “Got Oil?”
Which I thought was a great idea.
The next day one of the sacrament talks referred to the Ten Virgins and
I felt ready to move ahead with this theme.
I ordered “ten virgin” bookmarks and decorations for a wedding
feast. In CA Brittany said they had done
a Ten Virgin skit for YW so Becky called the lady in charge and they emailed me
the skit.
I could not do girls’ camp without John. He spent hours on the phone (in Chinese) securing
the camp ground and the activities at Baiguoyuan. The
1st counselor in our district presidency (from Singapore) came last
year and he teased us a few weeks before camp that he was excited to come to
the “John and Laurel camp for girls” again this year. I had a great group of ladies in our branch, including Becky Olsen,
in charge of all the food. They did a fabulous job!
The Friday of camp John left work after lunch. We picked up Emma from school and drove to
the campsite about 1.25 hours away. We
set up 14 tents and prepared the camp just in time for all the girls and
leaders to show up at 6:30pm. Our
Ayi stayed home with James, Eliza and Tessa.
I was especially proud of Eliza who spent the week before learning how
to give Tessa all of her medicines.
We had 40 girls and ten leaders attend camp. We were blessed with the most beautiful weather! We packed a lot of activities in for those 27 hours.
Highlights for me were the Ten Virgin Skit by the fire
Friday night and the wedding feast Saturday evening. I also liked the s'mores and hearing the girls
sing camp and church songs around the fire, the peaceful 3 mile hike, having all
the girls certified, watching the girls
bond while playing volleyball, laser tag, riding horses and boats. But my very favorite part of camp
was the Testimony meeting. My heart was
full as we drove home Saturday night knowing that these girls had strengthened their
testimonies during camp!
Ten Virgins Skit
The Leaders
Anne Parkinson, Vanessa Sloan, Julie Wardle, Josette Clark, Cheryl Johnson, Steve Hayden, John, Laurel, Anne Hayden, Trent Lamb
Our Hike
Hannah Hayden, Pres Trent Lamb, Emma, John, Gwen Gustafson, Maddie, MaeLee DeVries, Johanna
Laser Tag, during some free time
Morgan Okeson, Lindsey DeVries, Maddie Seely, and Emma
The wedding feast
Our district conference was the weekend before camp. Our family did our share for the
conference. I participated in the lunch
on Saturday afternoon hosting Elder and Sister Gong (serving in Hong Kong). That afternoon John sang a solo, "I Feel My Savior's Love," during the
Priesthood leadership training. Sunday
morning James spoke during the Priesthood session on how he can serve in the
Priesthood. John, James, Jeff Olsen and
Tate Seely (and three others) sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" for the Priesthood session.
During the general session Maddie Seely spoke on Virtue. And I spoke on "What
is a testimony and how do I obtain one?"
As part of my talk I shared my grandfather, Walter Mains’, conversion
story.
