July 9th-13th Girls Camp!

This year I was asked to be a ward leader at girls camp. I have to say that it was not something I was too excited about, but it went well, and it was neat to be around the youth. Originally my lack of enthusiasm stemmed from my concern of the physical demand it would be, and the fact that I have not perceived our ward as being the outdoors type. I was not too excited about having 16 girls that I didn't know, and that didn't know me, being dependent on me. Fortunately the camp was posh and we had very nice and newly remodeled bunk rooms that each had a bathroom, heater, and nice bunk beds with mattresses.

I have some funny stories from camp and I thought I would blog some so I wouldn't forget them.
One of my sweet girls was real cold one night when we were out having our first campfire. She was sitting a ways off and I asked her if she was ok. She said she was just cold and wanted to go back to the bunk. I asked her why she wasn't next to the fire if she was cold. She didn't think it was worth moving over to the fire because she didn't think that it would help warm her up. I talked her into standing with me a bit closer and in just a few minutes she said in a surprised tone that she was warmer, but her other side was still cold and she would be glad when we went back to the bunk. I suggested she turn around and warm her other side. When I checked back with her in a bit she said she wasn't cold anymore and was having a good time. In my head I laughed a little that these city girls couldn't even keep warm next to a large fire. Camp was good for us all.

One morning I woke up at quarter to five in the morning to the girl in the bunk right by mine staring at me. I asked her if she was ok. She nodded so I rolled over and pulled the blanket over my head.

One night one of the girls that was in my bunk room asked me to get her up early the next morning so she would have time to shower. I did, and she sleepily stumbled into the bathroom. Just a moment later I heard her whimpering. The shower did not come on, so I was concerned something was wrong. I didn't want to disrupt her privacy so I decided to give her another minute before checking on her. The whimpering became crying so I tapped on the door and asked if everything was ok. There was more crying so I asked again louder, now really concerned. A few sobs later she was able to spit out that there was a fly. I asked her if she needed to come out but between sobs she said no, and I heard the water come on. Her crying and sobbing was punctuated with stifled shrieks, all through her shower. Once the water stopped I could her her trying to swat at it and each time she did she would start to sob again. She finally came out, and looked worse than when she went in. I asked her if she was ok, and she said she was, but there was a bug, and she really didn't like bugs. She was still very upset and started to take it out on the other girls. I pulled her aside and we discussed how she might be able to change how she was feeling so she could have a good rest of the day. She said she had prayed that the fly wouldn't get her while she was in the bathroom, and I encouraged her to pray again that she would feel happier, and could leave the bunk and have a good day. She did have a good day, and at the testimony meeting at the end of camp she talked about how she knew Heavenly Father answered prayers because of that experience. How great is it that a fly, something I would think nothing about, could help build good camp experiences for this girl!?

This sweet girl woke up the next morning to a "little friend" as she called it. A tiny little spider had made a web between the rails on her bunk bed, and she asked the other girls to leave it alone. She set an example for the girl with the phobia, who was then more calm about about the bugs.

I did leave camp a bit creeped out by bugs myself. The night before we went home, the other leader told me about how the year before all the girls got head lice and she ended up having to cut her daughter's hair off. She said the two sisters that were in our bunk (The one above me, and the one next to me) had lice all the time, but when I showed some real concern she said she didn't think they had it now because she had sent home a notice to the parents. This didn't reassure me much. When I got home all I wanted to do was sleep! All week we had late nights, and the last night the girls would not go to sleep. They figured out that if the poked one of the girls she would start talking in her sleep and even answering questions they asked her about the boy she liked. Trying to put an end to this left me with only about 3 hours of sleep. Despite having a hard time keeping my eyes open, I could not relax due to the creepy-crawly feeling I had because of the though of having lice. I washed everything I took with me to camp and went over to the store and got some lice "shampoo." The thing is that it is not shampoo, it is oil, and with my think hair it took more than an hour to get it all combed through with that stinkin' little comb. Once all was louse free (in my mind, there never was any to begin with) I was able to crash. I slept 14 hours strait the first night and 12 the next. I can't even say how grateful I was to have a clean bed and an environment that I could just sleep as long as my body needed.

 Camp Magruder's mascot. This camp is right on the Oregon coast, not far from Tillamook. We had great weather the entire time, and even were able to have our second fire on the beach one night. There was no wind at all, and possibly the nicest weather I have, or will ever, experience on the Oregon coast.