Youth Conference

     Most of the time youth conference is only for 14 years old and up. For some reason our Bishop decided to let the deacons and beehives go this year. That meant that both Paul and I got to go with them. Paul decided that he would only come for a portion of the time. He is continually keeping up with all the work and homework that continues to pile up.

     The first day of our conference we took the kids down to St. George. We took them to visit the Jacob Hamblin home and took a tour of the house. After the tour of the house, we took our group to the visitors center at the St. George Temple. We had the kids watch a few videos, and explore the visitors center. After that we went and did baptisms. Being a leader, and sharing those experiences with the youth in the temple are beyond words. We finished at the temple and treated the kids to pizza then drove home.

     Friday is where the real adventures with our kids began. We loaded up the cars and drove to Marysvale, Utah. Here we had the kids do a series of zip lines as well as a ropes course. For me, I was in my element. It was AWESOME and I loved it!!! But for most of the girls, and some of the boys they were a little intimidated. A lot of them shared their fear of heights and had a hard time overcoming that fear, but once they did, they were thrilled and actually enjoyed themselves.
   
We spent the night camping at Big Rock Candy Mountain. The kids had a great time playing flag football right in the middle of our tents. No worries though, they only dove into one tent, and knocked into several cars. No damage was done though, and they
had a great time. We had a quick dinner and a testimony meeting afterwords. The testimonies of these kids were amazing. I know that I was truly strengthened by each of their words. I am so humbled that I was able to be a part of that wonderful experience.
     After a long cold night of freezing my pants of, the morning was quite
 welcoming. I did not sleep well at
all. I was freezing cold and just couldn't get my feet warm. The morning was quite welcoming after being so cold. Once we had camp all cleaned up we took off for a hike. This hike was supposed to be an easy, leisurely hike, but I am afraid it was a little harder on the kids than I thought. They loved though. It lead to a series of waterfalls, and it was gorgeous. But getting there, the trail was very steep and not quite as friendly as I imagined it would be. We all made it though. The kids had a great time playing in the water and goofing off. After the hike we ate a
sack lunch and headed home.

     The weekend was completely draining both physically and emotionally, but, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I had. The kids grew together. Their testimonies grew, and they had fun. I am so grateful for the experiences I get to have with them. They are a testimony to me of the amazing truthfulness of the gospel.