Special Edition: Girls' Camp Day One

I got home from Girls' Camp on Saturday, but we've been having Internet problems lately, so this is the soonest I've been able to post.

Girls' Camp is awesome!!! If you've been, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you are truly missing out!!!

At 6:00 am, my alarm clock shrieked its horrible shriek, and I said my prayers and hurried to the bathroom and got ready. After eating a cup of yogurt in literally twenty seconds, I had a prayer with my parents and my mom drove me to the church. 

Three hours, lots of snacks, and one movie later, we arrived at camp, whose theme this year was 'There's No Place Like Home' (think Dorothy, the Wizard of Oz, Yellow Brick Road). After checking in with the stake leaders and receiving our camp shirts, schedule, and program, we located our cabin and were greeted by a large banner. The YCLs and fourth years, who had gone up the day before for High Adventure, had left a beautiful banner welcoming us to our first year of girls camp! It was so cool and sweet of them!!!!

We claimed our beds and put on our stake shirts over swimsuits, and went to flag ceremony. There, the second years raised the flag on the pole, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the stake YW presidency welcomed us to camp. Next, we adjourned to the 'Emerald City', a pavilion of sorts that had green walls on 2 1/2 sides. We took ward pictures with our 'flag', a cardboard cutout of a high-heeled shoe (like Dorothy's slippers) that we'd covered in red-tinted pictures of us on one side and on the other a yellow brick road with the sky above it and fancy white letters that read, "It may take more than a few heel clicks...But there's no place like home." Attached to strings extending from the top of the shoe was a rectangular white piece of cardboard that said in red glitter letters, "One Size Fits All". It was adorable! After the picture, it was hung with the other ward flags in the rafters of the Mess Hall. 

Lunch was next, and we all ate a meal that we had packed at home and brought ourselves. Then we had 'Level Time', where we played several different get-to-know-you games with the other first levels. By the time we were done, we knew every one of the 27 first level girls in our stake! 

By now, everyone was sweating in the 90+ degree humid heat, and we were all grateful to jump into the cool blue water of the pool! We had pool time for an hour and a half, then hiked to the lake. We had an hour and a half there as well. That hour and a half included a canoe ride, being pushed off the dock, a seaweed fight, and more! When it was time to go, I found that my ward had accidentally left me! Oops! So I hitchhiked back with three different groups till I finally found my cabin. We spent our free time at the camp store stocking up on cheap junk food or just lounging in the cabin. 

After the lowering of the flag, we went inside to the mess hall and enjoyed the best baked potatoes I had ever tasted, as well as a generous slice of red velvet cake slathered in cream cheese frosting. (The food the entire time was amazing!!!)

Fireside songs and a little introduction to the theme at the Emerald City were followed by the 'Destiny' Program. We watched a half-hour film created entirely by members of the stake, including five from our own ward. It was a remake of the Wizard of Oz, but with spiritual symbolism instead. The stake president has his own movie studio and does videos and things for fun, but this was his first film. Also, two of my little sisters were in it as munchkins! Here is the YouTube link: "There's No Place Like Home".

Ward time may have been my favorite part of the entire day! All 20 of our young women, plus leaders, sat in a circle in the larger of our two cabins and played classic camp games. Then the stake YW leaders stopped by and gave us a short devotional and some candy before we all split up and went to our cabins to read scriptures, say prayers, sing, and eventually fall asleep! 

Stay tuned for the rest of my camp adventures!