By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

With both James and I in the youth programme, we thought it was high time night hikes on Dartmoor should been re-introduced... because we're a little insane... and it's been ten years since we last did it! We took over 20 youth from our ward and hiked uphill for most of the night:

Then slept rather snugly under the stars in a gully:

We woke early to a beautiful sunrise:

And continued our hike, passing Vennford Reservoir:

And beautiful trails:

It was also great to have Ben with us, I still can't get used to the fact he is now one of the youth:

The sight of our car at the end of all that walking with rather large blisters on my heels was indeed bliss:

Camp

It's that time of year again... girls camp!  Many would run screaming, but personally I love it.  We stayed in a field in the beautiful Treskilling, Cornwall and to break tradition we had mostly sunshine!  Highlights of camp for me was a trip to the beach:

Water slides for leaders to show the girls how it's really done:

And a little archery (I struck a pose... got a bulls eye!):

My favourite part of camp was the overnight hike.  I was randomly assigned to help the level 4 campcrafter leader (who just so happened to be my sister Amy) which meant I had an unexpected night under the stars!  Where did we sleep?  After a couple of miles hiking we ended up in our stake YW president's garden in Trethurgy: 

Where we all slept on the trampoline:

Well.  I say sleep.  Have you ever slept on a trampoline with 8 other people?  It's like sleeping on a steep hill... that is slippery.... so you slide down in your sleeping bag... into lots of legs... I think you get the picture.  Sleep was not to be my friend that night, even though it was warm and dry.  There was a magical moment for me though around 4:00am, when with great frustration I pulled myself into a position that gave me the feeling back in my left leg and I looked over the girls in my care.  I felt so privileged to be their leader, to see them grow and flourish through the opportunity to be with other like-minded girls, to see their testimonies strengthened.  And then I looked up at the night sky and felt my own testimony grow.  For me there has always been something special about being in nature and feeling closer to God.  I finally slept.

My Favourite 12-17 Year Olds

I've just been on a two day trip to the London temple with these beautiful people.  I love my calling!

This Is Why We Do It:

So this is what made me cry at church yesterday:One of our girls gave each of us leaders flowers and chocolate and this heartfelt message. It gave me hope that we were doing something right! (And by the way, we didn't 'put up' with her, she was an angel and gave us the most laughs during camp, usually from falling off her chair!)

England's Green And Pleasant Land

On Wednesday morning I set off early for YW camp... in the rain, which now seems to be a tradition for us! We organised our own ward camp this year (the stake don't run one the years we have EFY) so we were able to camp a quick ten minute drive from my house. The fine drizzle turned into a downpour soon after we started putting up the marquee and as one of the two tents leaked before we finished putting it up, we had to squeeze 12 girls and 3 of us leaders into one tent! Let's just say we were very warm at night and leave it at that! After a day of rain we tucked into a wonderful spaghetti bolognaise cooked by Alan Somerville, our chef and token priesthood leader. What? Of course we had someone else do the cooking, we're not stupid! All of a sudden, the rain was gone, the clouds dispersed and we were left with this stunning view:

I love Devon! Our second day consisted of glorious sunshine and blue skies, so we did the only thing anyone should do after a morning of camp craft and a stroll around the lanes:

Skipping with a huge rope:

Bundles:
Volleyball with a difference:

Wheelbarrow racing:

After this race, the girls decided to lay on the floor and roll down the hill. I haven't laughed so hard that I cried in such an long time! They rolled for so long, that when they tried to stand up at the end they couldn't do anything more than stagger about as if they were drunk! This entertained the rest of the campers on the far side of the field, and had the toddlers on the site joining in!

Day three was hike day! Our guide for the day was Berian who promised us a 5 mile walk around Lustleigh, on Dartmoor. It started off on top of a rock in the orchard of the village which had the names of all the May Queens since the '60's carved into it. There is also a stone chair on the top for the Queen to perch, but it couldn't contain all of our girls! (They are not escaped convicts by the way, we all had matching camp hoodies!):

Along the way we crossed this bridge:

Checked out a cave:

And soon realised that most of this hike was uphill. (Trust me, it's steeper than it looks!):

Admired the natural beauty:

'Aah'd' at a young Dartmoor pony:

Coveted this thatched cottage while trying to figure out why we were always going uphill:

Missed a signpost and added another mile (uphill... are you understanding my pain?) to our journey, but rejoiced when we finally re-entered the village tired and weary... but downhill at last!:

And then we saw this fixed penalty ticket which made our fragile, exhausted selves giggle uncontrollably for quite a while:

After being out all day in perfect hiking weather we returned to camp at 6pm to the start of more rain! As we have perfected camping in this type of weather, we held our skits in the marquee (you are so lucky I have no photographic evidence of us leaders singing along to Abba's Dancing Queen to our own version: Drama Queens... it was AWESOME but not flattering!) We gathered around the camp fire with our raincoats and umbrellas, and sang silly songs, primary songs, youth songs, bore testimony, cradled hot chocolate and talked about life until long past midnight. All the perfect ingredients for a camp fire in my opinion! I love that time when youth and leaders can loose the barriers of age and just be friends and laugh, talk and share deep thoughts and feelings. Today as we broke camp I knew that our relationships had been strengthened with the girls, we had shared deep belly laughs and fun, frustration and triumph, and most importantly who we really are beneath all the show.

Here We All Are!

I didn't have this photo of us at the London Temple in time for my last post, so here it is now:

Isn't it wonderful that we have this many youth in Newton Abbot? This isn't all of them either!