Girls Camp...

Back in February when I had only been in Virginia for a couple weeks I was extended the calling to be the Ward Girls Camp Director. Under most circumstances this would be normal and happy... but I had just moved into a Singles Ward (= no Young Women in the ward). I didn't quite understand how that was going to work out.
I was assigned to the 3rd Year Girls and was blessed with best partner ever in Jocelyn. She really is lovely. I'm certain that the preparation and the week would not have been nearly as much fun or as effective without her. We jokingly said that between the two of us we had one complete camper, but there may be a lot more truth to that statement.
Our girls were lovely - they certainly rocked the rest of the campers. They were the obedient ones even though it was the largest group and they have a lot going for them.

First - Here's Jocelyn - she saved me dozens of times throughout the week. Thanks for being my partner in crime and for being the snarky directors at the bottom of the hill. You're the best and I'm so excited we're friends now!Yes... our hands are in the candy jar, but we were making bags for the girls... we just made some for us too :)

We went on much longer hike than I've done in a long time.
We did some service projects in the local town of Thurmont, Maryland.
We performed skits for the other groups.
We went swimming in the pool.
We sang silly girls camp songs.
We cooked wonderful things over the fire.
We certified like crazy the first day to leave lots of time to play.
We did lots of crafts and projects during free time.

We talked about the gospel and strengthened our testimony.
We played at the lake and hiked to the waterfall.
And the best part are the embarrassing pictures of me sans makeup, sans respectable clothes (just clothes I confiscated from my garbage bag that is waiting to be dropped off at a thrift store), and of course while performing awkward things to get the girls to laugh.In way of an explanation - I was pretending to be Richard Simmons' grandmother... that is me wiping my brow with a sponge and then I literally rung it out (filled with water) in front of the crowd... and then that is all of the leaders singing and dancing to our rendition of Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical" but instead the words were "Let's Get Virtuous"... yes, I know... you're excited...

Special thanks to Jocelyn for keeping me sane and the girls for being amazing.