Youth Conference 2016

Youth Conference 2016 up at the Price's place by Cherry Creek.. To be honest I didn't want to go to Youth Conference. I had my mind made up a week before that I really didn't want to go. I was going to be returning from Florida the day before Youth Conference which I was gone a whole week. A whole week not in my bed, at a hotel, had been eating out, and I just wanted to be home. But I put on my big girl leader pants and got up the next morning with a good attitude. I am so glad that I did because it really was a good experience. So to start we did a service project to pay for our stay! The people that owned the place were so nice to let us stay there. 

 So they cut up a bunch of wood for fire wood!

Then our theme for the couple days was to "Press Forward" and so we all received a burden. They were all real life burdens that people go through everyday such as depression, thoughts of suicide, diabetes, loss of a parent, loss of a foot or hand, deaf, learning disability, loss of an eye, and things like that... Well each of the youth got a brick that represented their burden and they were required to carry it with them the next little bit. So they found a way to make a handle or some way to tie it to them. 

Jaycee with her cute eye patch :)

After they had a little free time to set up their tents, go fishing, or just hang out! Some of the girls were "tired" and got in the car and turned the AC on little stinkers.

From there we played a couple team bonding activities to teach them a couple life lessons!  The first one was called "water drip" they split into two teams and had a bucket in the front and a bucket in the back. They then each had cups and had to dump water behind their head into the cup behind them. First to empty the bucket ended the game, and whoever had the most water won. We played a couple different ways, they could talk, they couldn't talk and they had to stand. Each way was different and they learned something each time. Whether it was easier because they could say when they were ready for the one in front to dump, or move to the right, or to the left, " or just simply say "WAIT." 

Shawna was "Missing a Foot" She was such a good sport and really tried to go without it. 

This one just makes me laugh because you can see all the water getting ALL over Jaycee.  

I also really love this one because everyone on the left is screaming 

After that the next game was the plate game.. Everyone had to stand on a plate and mark and X, from there you could only go left, right, front or back(and mark an X) until there was no where else for you to go. Last person standing won! We had life lessons on this as well.. They could work alone, work together or even allow everyone to win! They didn't think of the last one until they had a little help, but it was set up if they all went straight down they would all win. 

After we played some volleyball for fun! 

That night Carol (our 2nd counselor) cooked some delicious dutch over chicken, pork, rolls, salad, and cornbread for dinner! It was wayyy better than all those meals eating out in Flordia :) and anything I would have made if I skipped ;) Then we had a speaker come and speak to us. He was so inspiring and is such an example.. One day after coming home from the gym he went completely paralyzed from the neck down. He spent months doing labs and different tests to figure out what had happened with no answer. He was told he'd never walk again and that night he came walking. He is a tough guy and withstood many trials but came to testify to us about Faith. The spirit was there and we learned a lot from his example. 

I don't remember what they are doing here but I think this is when they had to sing a "Solo" because they forgot their burdens. 

After the speaker we played glow in the dark capture the flag! I love games like that and I may or may not of been a little competitive.. Sorry kids :/ 

After everyone went to bed, some slept in trailers, some slept out under the stars, some slept on the tramp... (I might of went home and slept in my own bed, but only because Adi was sick)

The next morning we got up had breakfast and played a couple more games.. The first game was a spiderweb. Each person had to go through a hole and they couldn't use the same one until all of them had been used. They really had to work together to make it through, some were upset and didn't want to at first, some wanted to go through the big easy holes, and some were just being great supporters. At first they almost split up into boys and girls and then after they finally all started helping each other. Once they did that it all went a lot faster and smoother.

 Our last game was "Mouse Trap" which everyone seemed to really enjoy! We set up a square with all their burdens in it and mouse traps. Each person was blind folded and they had a partner to lead them through, pick up there burden and get out of the square. The whole time people were screaming don't step there, ahh there is a trap, and so forth. It made it really hard for them to know which was right and which was wrong, but they learned there partner wouldn't lead them astray. They had many life lessons from that activity and it was quite amusing. :)

After that our last activity was to hike to the Temple! We had a temple up on a rock the whole time (at night it even glowed, at least partially) and the whole purpose was to leave our burdens at the temple and with Christ. The hike there was really hard for some people, harder than the preparation, and some it was the opposite. But it was represented real life and how Satan tries so hard to burden these youth, and to make it difficult for them to get to the temple. It was a great activity and I hope that the youth learned something from it. By the time it was time to be done they were so over their burdens and glad to get rid of them, while some wanted to keep them. Overall it was a great experience. Kade and Robyn really worked hard and did so much in order to have this youth conference go this way. Thank you!