Reflections on church girls camp

In my youth I participated in Girls' Camp with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All in all, I would say it was a positive experience. However, this year is my turn to be a leader in charge. Whether it is a positive experience from the other end is still to be seen.

Tonight I will be camping out with probably 10-12 girls from my ward (otherwise known as a congregation).  To be directly honest, I HATE CAMPING, SO MUCH. Here is a brief synopsis of my camp experiences from the ages 12-17.

12 year old- My camp leader and I did not get along because I was too loud and didn't keep the campsite clean in her opinion. I was all about having fun. About the second night I was tired of it being hot outside, and my camp leader not being fair (in the mind of a 12-year-old girl), and overall I was just tired. I saw a dead spider hanging in a web above my face when I was in my bunk bed and I started crying. My friend who was not a member of the church and who was in an atheist family came with me. Even though she wasn't super excited about prayers and scripture study, she still had a good time. Over all, I would say it was a positive experience.

13 year old- I still enjoyed camp, but whoever was in charge was so focused on giving us a "spiritual experience" that no one had any fun. Needless to say, my friend who came with me the first year also came this year. She never returned to camp with me after that. Some older girls pretended to be ghosts and scare us. I was mad about that too.

14 year old- I found out in advance that we would not be at the same camp we had gone to the previous years before which had cabins. We would be sleeping on the ground. I decided right then and there I would not be going to camp. Thank goodness too, because it rained and everyone made mud pies etc. For a person who is not much of a girly girl, I hate mud and gross outdoor things.

15 year old- I went to camp and had a good time again. I can't remember much from this year, but I do know I made some really good friends and actually felt like I was getting church reacted lessons out of it. We had some really meaningful moments where I felt like Heavenly Father loved me. I do remember being slightly peeved off at a couple girls from my ward because they were hanging out with each other instead of me. But, at least I made friends from some girls from Osage Beach, Waynesville and so on.

I couldn't find any photos from camp, but this is about as close
as I could get photo-wise. This is another church youth camp I went
to called EFY. We were making blankets for a service project. 

16 year old- I was finally on top of the camp chain in my mind. I was a Junior Camp Counselor. We had our own cabin, which wasn't even a cabin. It was a building which had its own bathrooms. Thank goodness we didn't have to share with the little kids anymore!! Man, this was the first time I had a REALLY good time at camp. This was the year I made my best memories.

We stayed up late and broke a lot of rules. I remember one night three of us were out past lights out to go scare some of the younger campers. We made ghost noises. Unfortunately for us, a leader heard us instead of the girls. I heard the leader saying "GO TO BED." Then when we ran for it. We hung out on the swing set and talked for hours, until we saw a leader coming. I though "oh crap!" and warned the other two. We quickly ran back to our cabin, but as she was yelling and chasing after us with flashlights it was clear we weren't going to make it. We attempted to hide under and behind cars in the parking lot. She still found us. We got told off, but the reason the leader was so upset was because one of the girls in our group was an athlete and ran like and athlete. The other
two of us were overweight and ran like little girls. What she thought she saw was two girls running off with a boy in the middle of the night.

17 year old- This was the year I was on the top top of the chain of command behind the leaders. I remember enjoying it, helping to plan activities and the like. This was the last year my friend Katie and I rapped Mother goose rhymes for the talent show. It was a highly popular act at our talent shows and this year we just kind of did it out of obligation. We banged on trash cans with drumsticks and dressed up like gangsters, it was quite a sight to be seen. My name was "Goose Diddy," sadly right now I can't remember what Katie's alter ego rapper name was. Maybe someday I will remember.

After three nights of sleeping out with these girls, I will definitely have to elaborate the differences. To my leaders then: I am sorry I put you through so much pain and suffering. Thanks for the good memories and reinforcing my dislike for sleeping outside and doing lame crafts.