Missionary Day Camp

 I had a quick turn around after my trip to help Allison, just one day to finish prepping and then it was the Stake Activity Day Boys Day Camp that I had been planning for almost a year!  I was in charge, but I had great people to help, and it was AWESOME!  When I was called to be the Stake AD Boys Leader, on the drive home I had kind of a vision- I could see in my mind a bunch of little boys dressed as missionaries, singing, riding bikes, and doing a bunch of other missionary things.  I just knew that should be the theme for the camp.  So I presented it to the Stake Primary Presidency and made it happen. I got lots of revelation along the way too!

This was the kickoff, we moved into the chapel because I couldn't get my speaker to work. The boys were so cute in their white shirts and nametags I had printed! You can see Owen on the right holding up our ward's sign- our brand new ward! 

I went to the microphone and talked for a few minutes about the Hurrah for Israel story with Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and then explained that Hurrah is like a rallying cry- Let's Go! We can do this! and Israel is the covenant people of the Lord. Which is us!  All who have been baptized and promised to follow their Savior Jesus Christ. Then I had them shout with me 3 times Hurrah for Israel!  And it gave me chills!  I knew this was the way we needed to start camp.  And we did the cheer every time it was time to switch stations, it was way cool. 

So there were 12 stations and they rotated around.  Here was the Map Game station, run by my dear friend Kennan Raymer, who is also a counselor in the stake primary. The kids had to read the map to find different train routes to stations from their apartment. 

And the frame painting station- they got a Young Men's Theme to put in the frame. Christina Thompson, who is the stake Girls AD leader, ran that for me and it was kind of a disaster, apparently the $1 frames were garbage!  But she made it work and the boys loved it!

This made my vision come alive!  I had the boys bring bikes!!  and have bike relay races.  My lovely friend Callie Hawkins (whose husband got called into the stake presidency 2 days later- yikes!) ran this for me.

This was the "Listen to the Holy Ghost Obstacle Course" (blindfolded and led by a partner) run by my great friend/the Stake Primary President, Lana Parker. She and her husband (our old bishop) also helped set up and clean up, I couldn't have done it without them!! I believe this is Cole McDaniel guiding Owen on the left!

More of the obstacle course- they had to crawl through the giant box from our new shed! And here was the Missionary Q and A station!  The elders did a great job and the boys all loved meeting them.

This was the memorizing scriptures station- led by a counselor in the stake primary.  I loved that the wards carried their sign around and marked their spot at each station.

This was a station for tie tying and button sewing practice. It was too much for one station, but they made it work!  The couple who was supposed to help cancelled last minute, so an awesome ward AD leader and the high counselor in charge of Primary's wife stepped in to help. 

Panoramic pic of the outdoor stations.

This station leader (bike maintenance) also had a late cancellation (Bro Statsny, his wife was critically ill) and Elder Glavin Sorenson (one of Eric's old scouts, home from his mission on medical leave) was able to come run it. He knocked it out of the park!!  Did so well not only with bike knowledge and general fun and friendliness, but he gave us one more missionary for the boys to interact with!  On the right you can see Owen with his yellow tie tied around his head- some of the boys did that and it was hilarious.

Our ward at the map station with Kennan (who is also our bishop's wife!) And my favorite station- the boys knocked on doors and had to talk to pretend investigators!  The other Elders in our stake Elders' district helped with this station and did a fabulous job!  It was so cool. 

Or maybe this was my favorite station?? The Try New Foods station led by one of my best friends Angie Ihli. They got to try foods from 6 countries!  Japanese sushi, French macaroons, Italian meatballs, hummus and cucumber from Egypt, Colombian cheese bread, and Tongan watermelon drink. It was all delicious!  But a lot of work to prepare and buy! Angie did the meatballs and cheese bread- she's from Colombia. Here's our ward being served by her.

The final activity of the day was getting all the boys together and singing in Spanish-Called to Serve- which was taught by the high councilor at one of the stations. They were a little more distracted than I hoped, but it was still powerful.  Plus lots of parents had arrived to pick up their kids by then, so they got to see it.  So that was pretty cool. 

Overall it was a rousing success and I am excited for Round 2 next year!  Also I was really happy that I got to do it with Owen!  I love him and I'm so excited for him to serve a mission someday. And he was a big help with setup and clean up!