Girls Camp

I had such a good time being Girls Camp Director last year that I really wanted a chance to do it again. This time I wanted to see the process through the entire time and with it being Ward camp, something I have never done, I wanted to take the challenge on. Luckily Laura Johnson, our Young Women President, was fine with me doing it again and I got to be Director again.

We had a lot more YCL's this year, 9 in total. We met early I the new year to start planning our Girls Camp. I had the girls come with a list of ideas for a theme and they came up with a lot of really fun ones. After compiling all of them and giving the girls time to think about it I had them each name their first choice. The majority of the votes went to an Olympic theme and that was what we decided the theme of this years camp was..Olympics. We put the YCL's in pairs and one trio and had them pick a country to represent. Rylee, Leah and Allie were France, Claire and Alivia were China, Taylee and Kinsey were Mexico and Addie and Ella were Australia. We spent a lot of time planning and getting decorations ready and finally the day arrived to announce our theme to the rest of the Young Women. 

The girls made flags and once everyone was gathered I had each Country come in with their flag while I played their Countries National Anthem. Alivia and Kinsey were not able to be there that night but the rest of the girls were and they did a good job hyping the rest of the group up for Girls Camp.

The week before camp I got the YCL's together to bleach tie dye our camp T-Shirts. We did not want to spend a big part of our budget on getting t-shirts printed plus those shirts are never worn again after camp. We thought that this would be a cheaper and cuter option. The YCL's were down with it and liked the idea so that's what we did.

The morning of Girls Camp we met at the church and had a breakfast and devotional with all of the campers. After that we left to go play at the Gutter. The gutter is a water area that you can go with a boogie board or float and it kind of shoots you out. It is impossible to describe but is a lot of fun for the girls.  After a while of being there Laura and I left with the YCL's to get to camp and set everything up. The other campers came about an hour after we did and once they came we announced what groups everyone was in and left them to get situated. The area we were staying at was in Cascade and we had 3 Yurts for the girls to sleep in. The yurts had queen size beds and bunk beds but we still had to bring in cots for some of them. Most of the Leaders chose to sleep in their cars, Laura, Jessica Pace and I slept in my tent and we had a tent for our three Seniors who came with us, Avynlea, Addie Bjorn and Kaitlyn Lindley. 

Some of the campers inn Rylee's group wanted to go exploring so she took them on a little hike. While out and about they came across some stinging nettle and some of the girls including Rylee got a small rash from the plant. They learned their lesson and opted out of exploring in the woods again.

Rylee, Piper, Jane, Addie and Hazel

Every day we gave the girls about 30 minutes of gospel study time. I loved finding Sophie Hansen with her non-member friend every day during that time teaching her about the Book of Mormon and helping her learn how to pray. Sophie has always been such a good missionary and I love the example she is for everyone else. 

One of th traditions of girls camp is to do some service in there area we camp. We talked with the rangers about doing service and they came up with us pulling weeds. They said on the day they would come and show us where to pull weeds. They never showed up and finally I split the girls up into their four groups and pull weeds around the yurt balcony, along the ramp and around the water spigot. It did not take long at all, they did a great job and it looked a lot better when we were done.

On one of the days we did our Olympic Games. We did not want to make it a competition where we had winners and losers we just kept it fun. The girls "competed" in 9 square and corn hole then they did puzzle building. After that was done Kirstie Christianson and Katie Givens taught them drill team moves and had them execute them. As they shouted out the commands any girl who messed up had to sit down until we were left with a girl. The girls were so good at this that it took a long time to get to one left standing and in fact we had 2 girls left in the end a couple of times. That was really fun for everyone, fun for the leaders to watch and fun for the girls to do something different.

Before the Olympic Games we had the girls walk in as their countries, I played their national anthems and they carried their torches and flags, we also took group pictures in front of the Olympic Rings.

France

Makayla, Rylee, Leah, Piper, Leah and Hazel

Addie, Jane and Alanna

Mexico

Melody, Tayci, Kate, Kinsey and Eliza

Kinsey, Natalie and Claire 

China

Alexa, Avery, Addie, Casha, Lola and Claire

Alivia and Sophie

Australia

Makenna, Saylor, Ella, Addi, Klaire and Ragan

Nora and Brynn

Leah is alergic to mosquito bites and of course got bit by the mosquitos up at camp. There were a lot of mosquitos and I think everyone got bit. Leah's ankle swelled up because of an allergic reaction and unfortunately she had to deal with a pretty nasty cankle for the rest of camp. It gave us all a good laugh and we affectionately teased her about it for the rest of camp.

For one of the nights we did skit in a bag with all of the campers. Each group got a bag of items put together by one of the other groups and stye had to use all of those items and come up with a skit. They had time to work on it and we had a good time watching what they came up with. I got a picture of Rylee performing in her skit, she was really fun to watch.

The YCL's really wanted to take the campers on a snipe hunt. Lots of the girls had never been and it was really fun to watch them all participate. Lots of the girls were really into it and really believed in the snipes. The YCL's were hidden amongst the trees and I walked with the girls out trying to find them. They were pretty far out and it was taking a while so I finally said ok I think the snipes are going to be coming over now, I had to say it a couple of times before they finally listened and came rushing in. I felt bad for the girls who really believed and I hoped they weren't too disappointed. Avynlea did a good job of talking to the girls afterwards, letting them know they were now in on the big secret and keep it quiet so as not to ruin it for the new girls in upcoming years. 

I took a picture of the hunters and "snipes" and then we called it a night.

Every morning we have our YCL leaders give a small devotional to the girls. They talk about a real female LDS olympian ad teach us how we can learn from them and how living the Gospel has helped them in their sport. I got a picture of Rylee, Allie and Leah when they did their devotional. 

The last day of camp was lake day. We had the Givens and the Neilsons come up with their boats and the girls got to water-ski, and tube. They had so much fun and it was so refreshing to be at the lake. The Givens have a cabin up there and we were able to utilize it and have a place to dock and sit and relax with chairs and shade. I didn't do any of the tubing but I did take a dive in the lake with Avynlea. I also goto n the paddle board and had some fun doing that.

I spent most of my time at the cabin but when my girls were taking their turn on the boat I went with them so I could watch, video and take pictures. 

Saylor, Rylee, Piper, Avynela and Brynn rode the hot dog around and loved it.

I also got photos of Allie, Addie, Leah and Avynlea on the tube.

The last night we got a group picture and then we had testimony meeting. It was a greta camp and I had a lot of fun being with the girls again as their camp director.

back row: Mikelle, Erika, Katie, Claire, Saylor, Leah, Rylee, Allie, Brynn, Addie, Addi, Kinsey, Tayci, Kaitlyn, Lola, Ragan, Klaire, Layne, Emily, and Linda

 

middle row: Elizabeth, Jessica, Eliza, Avery, Kate, Avynlea, Makayla, Ella, Casha, Hazel, Sophie, Alivia, Laura, Jessica and Michelle

bottom row: Natalie, Alanna, Jane, Kinsey, Piper, Nora, Adele, Makenna, Claire, Alexa and Addie

 

Kenedy and Ty in the Bahamas

Kenedy and Tyler were finally able to go on their Honeymoon in the Bahamas. They were there for almost two weeks and had. a lot of fun. 

 

They had a layover in Houston on there way home, it was too bad they couldn't have met up with Ryker.

Elder Peterson Week 94

Well... I am extremely frustrated right now. I wrote the entire email and then the whole thing disappeared. So this is my second time writing it. I have much less motivation to write now, so this is not going to be very long.

We had a lesson with Mary Ann last week and this is what I wrote in my journal:

"We had planned with her to meet over zoom at 6. We got on the zoom and got everything ready and then texted her the zoom link. In response we got one of those messages that says we are blocked. We about panicked. We had no idea why she would block us, in fact it seemed like the absolute last thing she would do. She’s on date to get baptized on the 15th and is super excited for it. We had to make a change to our plans since that lesson fell through, so after some praying we decided/were prompted to stop by in person and see what’s up. We were hoping that she had accidently blocked us, and that it was not on purpose. After some contacting in a different neighborhood we showed up at her house around 8. She was already outside sweeping out her garage and when she saw us she was super happy and waved us over. She told us that she ran out of service or something like that. Her phone couldn’t receive texts or calls at that time. She was glad that we came though because she still wanted to have our lesson. So, since she lives alone, we set up some chairs and sat outside. We were a little nervous for our lesson today anyway, because we planned to discuss the Word of Wisdom and we know that she drinks coffee. The lesson went AWESOME! She kept commenting through the whole thing that she knows that it is from God and that he is looking out for her. When we got to coffee she acknowledged that it would be difficult to stop drinking it, but that she wants to stop and is going to now. It was awesome! She is still super excited for her baptism and completely agreed to obey the Word of Wisdom even though it will be difficult. We are super grateful that the Lord had us go see her in person and get things cleared up. She lives at the top of our area too, so it was a decision we need spiritual guidance on."

The end.

I'm so irritated about this. I poured out emotion into the email I wrote. It took me like 15 minutes!

I've grown. I know that because the old me would have thrown my phone through the wall. I am just going to write my testimony and call it good. 

We had a lesson with a guy last night and he had one of the best reactions to the Book of Mormon that I have seen as a missionary. He asked good questions and commented that we had explained its importance very well. He said that he will read it from cover to cover and pray about it as he goes. It will be difficult meeting with him because he works a literally random schedule, but I have faith that it will work out. I am grateful to have seen someone so faithfully accept the invitation to read the Book of Mormon. I know that the book is true. I know that Jesus Christ has restored His gospel to the earth through modern prophets. I know that no other book on earth contains as much truth as does the Book of Mormon. I know that. I have felt the confirming witness of the Spirit of God as I have studied its pages and asked God about it. I know that the Bible contains many truths that are important for us to understand, I love the Holy Bible. But I know that God has given us the Book of Mormon to give us the fullness of the Gospel. I also know that Russel M. Nelson is a prophet of God and that his words are living scripture. The Saviors words, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear," still apply in our day. I testify that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and that it can be found in no other church than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the Kingdom of God on the earth and ANYONE can know this for themselves. It takes effort and time, but I know that it is available to anyone who, in humble sincerity, desires the truth. Find out for yourself if you don't know! As a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise that you will not regret it.

I love y'all and hope that this is a good week for everyone.

- Elder Peterson

4th of July

For the 4th of July Avynea went camping with her friend Anna and her family so it was just Kefford, Rylee and I who went to celebrate with our family in Nyssa. 

I made a cake to contribute to our 4th of July BBQ and the little popsicles I made on top were Mike n' Ikes and frosting, they looked so cute and I was pretty proud of the design.

Alison had glow stick rings, glasses and bracelets for the younger kids and after they put them all on they made a pair of glasses for me and then had me go downstairs with them to try them out I the dark basement. While down there we decided to have a dance party and we spent the next 30 minutes dancing our hearts out. It was so much fun, I loved dancing and playing with my little nieces and love that they love to have me around.

My Besties...

Sadie, Tayvia, Maddie and Hazel

Bob and Dustin bought a lot of fireworks and the kids were able to participate and shoot off some of them. We had a lot of fun and it was fun to celebrate the 4th of July with the Petersons

Rylee

Kefford

Brielle, Rylee and Qiana

 

Walking Date and Game Night

I have been walking every day on the treadmill and the days that Kefford is home in the morning I have him go walking outside with me. On this day we walked across the street through Spurwing and we walked down the hill and by the canal. After a little bit we walked far enough that we saw the Temple. It was a fun walk and I liked that Kefford is willing to go with me. 

One of our favorite things to do is game night with Nikki and Kyle Lyons. They have little kids who need to go to bed early so we alway do game night at their house. We play lots of different games and it is always a fun time. This night we were playing Uno and every time someone won they got to make up a rule that we had to implement in the next rounds. One of the rules that Avynlea I think came up with was if we were caught cheating we had to lick the floor. The Lyns had moved their table over a little to accommodate us and in doing so found a spot that the Rumba was not able to reach. It had crumbs and some sprinkles on that spot and that was where we had to lick. I got a picture of Avynela and Rylee licking the floor as punishment. I also had to lick the floor because when Kyle called Uno on me for having one card left I was teasing and said I didn't. I immediately said just kidding but the majority felt that was cheating so I had to lick the floor. So gross but so funny.