Youth Conference

About 8 months ago we were asked to be in charge of our ward's youth conference this summer. I was slightly overwhelmed, but we worked with another couple who has lots of experience planning youth conferences before. It turned out pretty awesome, if I say so myself.

We started at our church building early on a Thursday morning. We had copy cat Kneader's french toast, using Kneader's cinnamon bread. It was amazing. Then we had a guest speaker, Ty Bennett. He is a professional keynote speaker, and I was honestly kind of nervous he would be very cheesy. 

He did a good job engaging the kids and I enjoyed it. 

Following that we played human hungry hippos which was so entertaining to watch. A few crashes in the middle, but mostly just fun. I wanted a chance to hop on a scooter, but I never did it. 

Then we had the kids make what we called one-word testimony flags. We told them to think of one thing they really believed in that can help ground them when they are feeling confused or lost in doubts and fears. 

Throughout the rest of the conference we would pull out 5 or 6 at a time and each kid would tell everyone about it. 

Then we hung them from our pavilion at our campsite. 

After lunch we started the drive to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We gave each car of kids assignments at certain mile markers on the drive. One of the assignments was to make a lip sync. We had five 15/16 year-old boys in our van with us and I thought they wouldn't be willing to do it. They ended up getting super into it. Our guest speaker had shown the video clip of Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent as an example of someone finding their purpose. So the boys lip-synced to her version of I Dreamed a Dream. It was hilarious. I discovered I really don't think being the leader in charge when decisions need to be made. We had to set up tents and figure out who would get what tent and where. I found myself wanting someone else to decide. 

That afternoon we did a few activities relating to doubt, fear and trust that some of the kids had planned. That night we went to the hot springs and they were really nice. It was quite the contrast to the hot springs we went to in McCall, Idaho, last year. I would love to return to the Lava Hot Springs. 

On Friday we did a service project (painting picnic tables and pavilions at the camp ground) 

and then had some workshops focused on specific doubts/fears/things the kids struggle with. Our theme was D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not" and we had the kids anonymously submit the things they struggle with most a couple months before. 

These workshops each focused on the most common things, like friends, school, missions.

Then we went tubing down the Port Neuf river. 

That was probably my favorite part of the conference.  It was perfect- fast but not terrifying with several patches of rapids. 

The sharp lava rocks hurt when you fell out so you really didn't want to fall off your tube. Daniel flipped over twice on the first run and I couldn't stop laughing at him. On the second run I fell out and it humbled me. I am still sporting bruises from that fall/drag along the rocks. The most fun part was when we decided to all go down together. 

We grabbed each other's tube handles and went down with almost 40 of us together. We were that obnoxious massive group, screaming and causing problems, but the kids loved it. The 4-person tubes were my favorite way to go down the river because they were more stable and it guaranteed you had people to talk to the whole way. In the single rider tubes it was hard to stay with friends. 

That night we watched all the car lip syncs and our car's was the best. That is a fact, not opinion. Daniel and I weren't in it at all but I did contribute a lot by holding the phone steady to record a few things. The next day we woke up and packed up. I started feeling terrible on the drive back and by the time we got home I was struggling. I ended up not helping to unload or return any borrowed items. It was lame and I still feel bad about it. After taking a long nap I pretty much felt fine. Just proves how lame I am. 

It was a good time and I am relieved it is over.