I guess one thing I didn't realize - when you get called to serve with the youth you also take on the risk of being pranked.
Saturday night, someone toilet papered our house. Well, more so our bushes and yard.
Kind of makes me wish we'd gotten around to tearing up all the plants sooner. Then, while we slept, it rained. So we woke up to wet, disintegrating toilet paper and did what any normal person would do - we left it there to dry. We went to church, went to the birthday party for Chewy's work and picked it up around 7 o'clock when we got home.
I guess I'm officially a leader now. They've inducted me. I taught their class today and they tried to get me to say "yes, boo, yes" but with a funky accent and the words drawn out. I wasn't sure if they were trying to get me to sound like I was saying something else. That's just my personality though, never trusting people. I wasn't sure if they were trying to make me cooler (which - come on - that's near impossible this close to perfection) or if they had formed some kind of Lord of the Flies mentality while away at camp last week and they were all banning together against any adult authority.
By the way - they had Girl's Camp last week. Pray for me that I never get called as camp
director. I don't think I could do it. I would be too scared of ticks and other insects and I wouldn't know how to get the girls under control. I drove up on Friday to visit and it was great - mostly because I wasn't planning on spending the night there.
Their campsite - apparently the tents didn't close right to keep out the bugs...those girls are troopers.
The camp banner for our ward. Each girl decorated a shield in the weeks before camp.
I got to see my niece, Emily and my cousin, Samantha. She cracks me up. First - she proudly proclaims she has not showered all week (I'd be curious to find out how many ticks she got) and that she is really popular with the younger girls (she was a junior leader this year and was put over the first year girls). She said, and I quote, "It's because I am their intellectual equal." to which I promptly replied, "Are you sure you want to say that about theyounger girls?" I mean - no offense to them but it's got to be a step back for a 15 year old to say she's the equal of the 12 year olds.
I learned how to make bracelets while waiting for the girls to come back from the copes course
The girls had to have closed toed shoes....so Maggie got creative with some tape and flip flops
Haley and Terra (sisters) playing with the fire
Trina and Bryn (I think, I can't really tell) fighting with ranch covered pizza...not a good idea BTW
And this is what happens when you let one of the YW take your camera. I have about twenty selfies.
That evening we had a Stake Devotional. They had these wooden benches at the camp so we were sitting there enjoying compulsory music time when all of a sudden I heard this CRACK. Then the YW behind me squealed and laughed. I turned around to see them on the ground - their bench had broken. The best part, the people at the front just keep doing their thing without giving any attention to them - but all the other girls were craning their necks to see what happened. ...This - this is what happened.
After that we had our testimony meeting with our ward. We had a fairly large group compared to some others (one ward had ten girls - we had 28, 30 if you count the two stowaways I brought up with me on Friday), almost all of them bore their testimonies and some of them did more than once. I'm not going to lie, I cried a little too. I kept thinking about how grateful I am for these girls and this calling. I was terrified at first. I don't really remember being close to the girls in my ward when I was their age (maybe I was and I have forgotten and I'm sorry for that), I was kind of the outsider who never really fit in and I think that mentality is what scared me the most, because I felt like Josie Grossie* and worried I'd feel the same way "going back in". But the girls have welcomed me quicker than I thought they would. I got countless, random hugs on Friday, girls I had never really talked to were excited to see me...I guess cause I'm their intellectual equal :P Sorry, I had to tease my cousin even though she doesn't read this. But it was a good experience and I think I'm finally getting the hang of this calling (or finally getting comfortable with myself).
Anyway, I left right after testimony meeting (which ended at 11) and drove the two hours home. It rained pretty hard and the drive was stressful, but I got home around 1, checked for ticks and took a shower. Fell asleep by 2 and got up at 7:30 to head to the temple with Chewy.
It was an excellent session and we headed back home. Traffic was....okay. It only took 3.5 hours to get home this time. Then I made dinner and the Sisters came over to eat. After that, Chewy and I were pretty exhausted and we fell asleep early. It's been a pretty good, very busy weekend.
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