Our stake knows how to do youth conferences. They are pretty amazing. Lee got to be involved with The Quest in 2010.
Lee and I had a big role in The Rescue in 2012, and it was so cool to be there with Emma.
Stake Youth Conference for 2014 was The Journey. Lee did a lot of the planning again for this one, but he couldn’t go because of his school schedule. I was lucky enough to go in his place. Lee did get to help with registration and the first day craziness and activities at the stake center, which made it almost harder that he couldn’t go for the whole week!
We were going to miss him so he left this parting shot on my phone.
He was really bummed he couldn’t go. I was totally excited that I got to go and that I had a much lesser role than last time. I pretty much got to hang out with the Parker’s and be their gopher. I didn’t mind that at all because they are pretty awesome and I got to see their creative minds at work and learn from their amazing talent with the youth (I even got to stay with them in their camper!). The best part of all was just being able to mingle with the kids and listen to what they were talking about and learning. Not to mention getting to talk to and rub shoulders with all the adult leaders that were there. It was great!
The Journey was a Bible and Book of Mormon experience and we dressed accordingly. We were led by Lehi and Sariah, and much like their family in the Book of Mormon, the youth had to sacrifice and move during the week. They were given challenges and many opportunities to strengthen their testimonies. There were almost 300 youth there, and they were divided into families. Emma was thrilled with her family. She loved Ma and Pa Lopez right from the start and she learned a lot from them.
Each of the families made it through difficult challenges together, learned, studied and discussed the gospel together, bore their testimonies to each other, and had fun together. It is so cool to see those families gel and come together, just as a real family does. I am glad that Emma had such a good experience in her family…again!
Way too much happened during the week of The Journey and I can’t write it all down. I do need to mention a few things I want to remember. First of all was the sacrifice. The youth were told that they could bring their electronics this year and other comfort items. On the first day, before we even left the Stake Center they were asked to sacrifice them. They had the choice to leave those items there. Most of the kids did and they got a little taste of what it was like for Lehi’s family to leave all their possessions behind, and they were reminded of what is most important. They were also given revelation cards that they wore around their necks all week. They wrote down a question or problem that they wanted answered that week on their card and were taught throughout the week about revelation and how we receive it. Those cards were referenced often and revelation was received.
The families slept in a huge city. It was amazing. Each family had their own “room” in the city. These pictures do not do the city justice. It was pretty cool to see all the family flags flying over it.
The city was made of burlap and lots of zip ties so it was affectionately named the City of Burrlap Zippti. I had to include this picture of the sign because President Leptich asked me and Shelley to make it at the last minute just before the kids moved in to the city. We didn’t have much time and we didn’t have any supplies to work with. This is what we quickly came up with and we were pretty proud of it!
The City of Burrlap Zippti was built on the “seashore” (a pond), and there was a huge unfinished boat that reminded us Nephi’s ship. That was the gathering place for the whole group.
One of the highlights of the week was the maze and temple activity. The youth went on a long walk with many stops where they heard different stories of faith. At the end of each story they were told the exact same thing, basically that we always have a choice in life, we can give up or we can press forward with faith. Then they came to a huge maze. There were several dead ends in the maze where the youth were given big rocks that they had to carry through the rest of the maze, much like making mistakes in life. Shelley and I got to be in one of the dead ends passing out rocks. We said the same thing to the youth that was told them at the end of the stories, they could give up or keep pressing forward with faith.
The maze was very dark and difficult, especially when carrying several big rocks. Once they made it to the end they were given a clean slate and reminded of the atonement of Jesus Christ and how it works in our lives. Then they followed a path to a huge replica of the Portland Temple that was lit up in the darkness. It was quite the sight and made an impression on everybody there. Again, this picture doesn’t do the temple justice, it was huge and absolutely beautiful.
There were so many activities and experiences planned, they were all good and there was so much application that could be made from all of them. Some of them were just plain fun, like the Roman Games (although there was application in that one too!). But one of my favorites was the family song activity. Each of the families was told at the beginning of the week that they had to choose a family song, but they didn’t know when they would need it. In this activity all the youth were blindfolded and spread out in a huge circle. The Ma’s and Pa’s stood outside the circle and started singing their family song. The blindfolded youth had to listen for their song (although they didn’t know what they were listening for, they had to figure it out) and make it to their Ma and Pa. As each family member made it back they started singing so their song got louder. That doesn’t sound too difficult but there were a lot of kids, the circle was huge and it was hard to hear the songs, especially as things got louder and louder. My favorite part of this activity was listening to the families debrief afterwards and talk about what they learned. The application they got out of this activity was amazing! What did I learn? That we are put here on this earth in families for a reason and we can all work together and cheer each other on to get to where we want to be. Also that our Heavenly Father is always cheering for us and through the atonement of our Savior we can return to Him. No matter where we are in the “circle”, far or close, we can always get back. But we also have to know Him and learn and know the gospel (just like the youth had to actually know their family song) and then act on it. Oh that was a good activity and the learning that happened afterwards was even better!
There were so many more activities and experiences that touched me, but it’s hard to fit an entire week in one blog post! I am just so glad that I got to go and that I got to be there with Emma. I can’t believe that this is the only picture I got of the two of us from the whole week.
She such a great week and it’s so fun to see the growth that comes after a week like that one.
Her testimony was strengthened and she made new friends.
Her friendship with Katie has been especially strong. I am so thankful for the influence of good friends!
We had a strong presence from our ward there.
Anyway, it was a week not to be forgotten and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to be there. Hopefully next time it will be with Lee!
Emma’s family’s last roll call before they loaded the buses to go home.
When the week was over we were ready to go home and let what we learned “stick” with us.
It was quite The Journey!
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