Youth Conference

Youth Conference was a blast!! This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 7, 8 and 9, Bryan and I had the opportunity to go with the youth of the Alameda and Lakewood on their youth conference as some of the Adult leaders. It was a blast! I met some of the young men that I have never met before and even got hit on by one of them...yes he knew I was married and it was a complete joke, but none-the-less funny!



Thursday we drove up to Vedauwoo, Wyoming and it happened to be BLIZZARDING on the way up. But the youth and leaders decided to rough it out. So we set up camp in the snow and got dinner made. Kambria stayed int he car and played mostly either with myself, Bryan, my mom or Tess. We even set our tent up in the hopes that it would quit snowing...well 8 o'clock pm, Bryan and I decided that Kambria, nor us, would be able to handle such cold weather so we headed to Fort Collins to his parents house, which was about an hour away. Well Bryan did not have his keys on him so we thought we might have to break into the house since his parents and sister Amanda were on their youth conference trip to Nauvoo. We pull up into their driveway about 9:30pm and Bryan looks at my keys and remembers that I have a key to their house too!!! It was a funny thing to both of us that we were going to try and break in and yet we had the key all along!!!



So the next morning, after a VERY LONG night with Kambria waking up every half hour or so, we head back up to camp for breakfast. Everyone was complaining about how cold they were and how they were ready for it to be a NICE day...



Due to the weather, the activity that Bryan and I were in charge of, Geocahing with a GPS, had to be switched to the morning so we could wait for the ground to dry out so we could go repelling and rock climbing. We drove only about 3 minutes away and found our places to bury and find coordinates that the kids made up. Geocaching turned out great and we had a lot of fun finding the "treasures" of life!



So we came back to camp for sub sandwiches and then headed up the mountain for repelling. This was my FAVORITE activity out of all of them. Not because it was fun, but because I made some really good friends with the youth because of it. I am scared of heights!!! And it turned out there were several youth who are also scared of heights. There was one boy named Mark who got the harness on and tried to do it, since I did it and was scared of heights too...but got to the edge and gave up. He then sat in a corner of the rock and started to cry. I felt impressed to go and talk to him. We had a nice long chat about how people are scared of things...ALL people are scared of things...and how his just happened to be apparent at that time. To make a long story short, we worked with the bishop, who is an excellent rock climber and repeller, and eventually got Mark to repel over the mountain! It was an amazing experience both for Mark and for the leaders who were helping him!



Then people went rock climbing and a young girl and I decided not to go and instead talk. That was another building relationship thing for me! it is amazing to me how some of these youth can hold to the rod when their home life is so terrible! they truly amaze me at times!



Then dinner in the gazebo with speakers. There happened to be one "young" leader, who was only 19 or 20 who some of the youth had previously known before. Her name is Lenora and she talked about her living in Kazakhstan and sharing the gospel there. It was a touching talk, even for the youth! There were some guys who were even crying! We also did a little testimony meeting type thing and that was very spiritual too! Yes, I cried then too! It wore me out!



Then off to bed...Kambria and I spent the night in a FREEZING cold car to try and muffle her crying...and I did not turn on the car since it has daytime running lights that you can not turn off..and I did not want to disturb the youth. Bryan spent the night alone in the tent and froze too!!!



Saturday morning Bryan and I were EXHAUSTED from the cold night so we had breakfast, broke down our tent and packed and went back to fort Collins to meet his parents from their long trip and rest! Kambria happened to spill hot chocolate all over me and her and that is when I decided I was a grouch and needed to go home and rest!



It was a fun trip and I am glad I went on it!

Pictures are on their way later...