Highlights from Camp

This isn't all of us!!  We are missing our YCL (youth camp leader) and our other cabin leader (adult) from the photo.  We took it as a surprise for our other cabin leader and our YCL just happen to be off taking care of some other certifications.

But you can see how beautiful our camp site is!  Behind the trees is the lake.  It is gorgeous!  Love it there!!  Girls' Camp for me has always been in the Redwood trees.  As a girl, it was in Oregon on the coast.  Here in California, we travel to Oregon :-)

The first major success of camp was throwing our skit together.  We arrived on Tuesday by 1p.m.  Our cabin had a skit that night.  We came to camp with nothing and had to perform that evening.  With a bunch of people who don't really know each other, that was a major feat!  The girls rallied together, threw their ideas out there, and between our cabin value color and our princess (we were Pocahontas) we managed to make something happen.  And the girls chose who played which parts and made adjustments when those things weren't working out.  Whew!

Also, Sun sang a solo at camp on Tuesday night.  She did an amazing job!  It is so fun to watch her perform!  She is developing a major stage presence and she knows how to communicate with her audience.  I had more than one person (adults and youth) compliment Sun to me on how amazing her voice is and how well she manages the stage.  It is so fun to watch her grow!!  One of the men at camp commented during campfire one night, how he sat and just sobbed listening to her sing because he knows and has worked with her brothers and how neat it is to see her find something that none of them have.  It was super sweet as he admitted that to the entire camp!

On Wednesday night, as it was getting time for personal scripture study, one of our two other denomination girls asked her friend, "What is scripture study and how do I do it?"  I took that as my cue to go over the Introduction to the Book of Mormon with her and our other non-denominational girl who was sitting with them.  We just went through the photos in the blue Book of Mormon and outlined the story.  Here are the photos:

You can totally explain the entire book using these photos.  It is a book about Jesus Christ (photo #1).  In 1823, a young boy, Joseph Smith (photo #2), was lead to find a record of an ancient people.  The book tells the history of a family whose father preached in Jerusalem (photo #3).  Because of the message he gave, his life was in danger and the Lord told him to flee Jerusalem.  He packed up his family and traveled south.  They eventually arrived on the sea shore, where they built a boat and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in South America (photo #4).  The older brothers made bad choices (Lamanites).  The younger brothers made righteous choices (Nephites).  Because of the disagreements in the family, when the father died, the families split apart beginning the rise of two separate nations, who continually warred with one another.  This book, is a record of those people.  As the civilization progressed, sometimes they followed their prophets and softened their hearts and fulfilled their responsibilities to God, like being baptized (photo #5).  Other times, they did not.  Prophets were sent to preach to them and instead of obeying the prophets, they tried to kill them.  Samuel the Lamanite (photo #6) was actually sent to the Nephites to convince them to repent before the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ.  Just after Samuel preached, and after His resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to the Nephite people (photo #7).  You can read about His visit in 3rd Nephi 12.  Four generations after Christ appeared to them, the civilization once again turned to the natural man.  They would not listen to the prophets.  Mormon was commanded of the Lord to go through the records of his people and compile the most important ones into the book which bears his name, the Book of Mormon.  Mormon then handed the record to his son, Moroni (photo #8).  Moroni witnessed the destruction of his entire civilization, but before he died, he buried the record and prayed that those records would be preserved and others would know and learn of his people.  In 1823, it was Moroni who appeared to Joseph Smith and told him about the record and where it was located.

This is the story we shared with our non member friends at camp.  Both of them were deeply moved.  We then talked about their feelings and helped them to recognize that the feelings they were experiencing were from the Spirit witnessing to them the truth of what we had told them.  It was a very beautiful moment!

If you are feeling that same warmth as you have read this explanation, I would invite you to read the Book of Mormon too.  I have read it and can testify to you of its truthfulness.  I love that record!  I love the men who wrote it and kept it and made it available to us today!  It is the word of God and it testifies of His son, even Jesus Christ!

And that my friends, is why we have camp.  That we can bring the souls of these girls to Jesus Christ and remind them of the many and great things He has done for them.  Some of them do not even know.  Camp is their first exposure!

Read it!  Read the Book.  It will change your life, if you let it :-)