My Experiences at the Heber Valley Girls Camp!

Heber Valley Camp! What a wonderful and beautiful and spiritual place! We were so blessed as a stake to have the opportunity to attend that wonderful and special camp. It was Pres. Hinckley who had the foresight and desire to have this be a place where young women and on weekends that families can come.

Our week went from July 5th to the 9th. The weather couldn't have been better! We arrived at the stake center and loaded buses at 8:00 a.m. We also loaded all the girls gear on the buses and inside the buses. We had a little over 100 girls from out stake going. We had three buses. The bus ride was fun and we enjoyed laughing and talking on the drive there which didn't seem too long. Thank goodness the weather had cooled down and made the ride more enjoyable. We were assigned to the Eliza R. Snow Camp. It was a wonderful camping area. It had three camping areas, 1, 2 and 3. We were in areas 1 and 2. Another ward was in three. We unloaded gear from the buses and carried it all to the cabins and got our bedding and gear settled in the cabins. The cabins are really nice. They sleep 18 to a cabin. Each bunk has it's own window to let fresh air in if they wanted. I loved the cabins. There are two tables in the middle of the cabin to enable us to do devotionals and crafts on ect. That was really nice.

The pavillion was huge and it had two storage rooms with refridgerators and storage shelves to put our food on and in. The had two sinks out on the pavillion, nice big sinks. Four nice propane grills to cook on and nice firepits to use. It was like heaven, compared to going to our stake property up at soldier summit. We all loved it. I loved that the girls could all be in the cabin together. It brought alot of closeness and unity. When being in tents it is not quite the same.

I was one of the stake food committee members and it was alot of work, but it was fun and I loved getting to know the two sisters in the stake that I worked closely with....Sister Kari Summers and Sister Kim Dubois. They were the greatest and we worked well together. It all went well. The food was good and I think the girls all loved it. Hurray!

The first day we had meetings for those leaders who would serve at the challenge courses and then at 3:00 p.m. we did service for the camp. The girls shoveled gravel into wheel barrows and took them to the firepits and other girls raked it all around. Other girls shoveled wood chips into wheel barrows and put it along the paths and other young women would rake it along the paths. Then others still worked at the wood spliter and split wood. That was quite amazing to watch. I helped with the wood chips it was fun and I loved the service. It makes you feel so good to serve. Then that evening we had a family home evening for the girls and then played games.

Tuesday the girls had their hikes. A compass hike, which by the way wasn't very long at all. A three mile hike and a five mile hike. I guess the five miler was a killer and the girls that went on that were exhausted for the rest of the day. Many of them tood naps after lunch. The rest went up the the challenge courses that afternoon. They had many challenge courses to do and many of them were ones that you have to work together to figure out how to do them and it takes team effort. The zip line was probably the most favorite. The girls loved it! I was too afraid to do it on Tuesday and so I didn't. That evening we had a fireside at the amphitheatre. One of the camp hosts, Sister Cook, was her name told us about the camp and the great legend of Mt. Timpanogos. I loved the fireside. It was amazing!

Each morning and evening we also had flag ceremony and those were wonderful too! Each ward had a turn and did the flag a scripture prayer and song. Loved those! On Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. that morning we had a presentation given by Sister Ogden, one of the camp hosts. She talked about Eliza R. Snow. That was the name of our camp. It was so interesting to hear things about her life. I want to now read a book on her life and I will this summer. Then we practiced our skit and got it really prepared for Thursday mornings skits. That went well and the girls loved doing it. Then that afternoon we went back to the challenge courses and I went and watched the girls do each of the courses. Then we went back to the zip line. This time I got the courage to go and it wasn't as hard as I had first thought. I climbed right up the 25 foot pole and got to the top and then you have to walk across a 25 foot round beam. You are harnessed in and wearing a helmet. They won't let you fall. I crossed that and then they unhook you and then rehook you to the zip line. Away I went and I loved it and was amazed at how strong I was and could pull my weight. Hurray for losing weight and exercising each day! It pays off!

Thursday we had skits that morning at 9:30 a.m. All the the wards did a great job on their skits and we loved them all. Ours went well too! All of the skit were on Pres. Hinckley' 10 virtues. Ours was on forgiveness and mercy. The girls were wonderful and our song was good too! It was catchy and the other wards in the stake said they couldn't get it out of their head! Then that afternoon we hiked to Legacy Lake and the girls got to canoe and the leaders got in paddle boats. I was with Becki Little and we had a great time. I think the young women loved it too! Then back to camp for a bit of relaxation and then we did our camp craft. We made magnets and the girls loved that too! They turned out so cute. The young women are so crafty. Then that evening President Brown and his wife and all the bishoprics came up for dinner and testimony meetings. Our testimony meeting was really spiritual and I truly love these girls.

Friday we were up early getting cabins clean, having breakfast and cleaning the storage rooms and pavillion. It went well and all the girls pitched right in and it was taken care of in no time.

I was kept quite busy with the food end of it for each meal and that took time, but I enjoyed serving the girls. We had first through fifth years help with meal prep and clean up. It was a wonderful experience and hope the stake gets to go again. We were truly spoiled. They even had showers and nice bathrooms for the girls. It was so very nice! I was greatful for the opportunity to be our wards camp director. Heavenly Father truly blesses my life with wonderful experiences that help me to grow in many good ways. It was a great week and now I have Webelos cub country to worry about on July 19th and 20. Life goes on and it is all good!