Stand Ye in Holy Places

Well, we made it!

Home safe and sound and rested (finally) after three full days/nights at Girls' Camp.

Verdict: Success. 

 For the most part. Of course there are things I would've done differently or I wish would've gone better, but for the most part...I loved it and I think the girls did too.

The leaders at the top of the hike on Thursday morning. No, I'm not sweating so much...my neck cooler was tucked into my shirt. Lovely.

The theme for young women's camp this year was: Stand Ye in Holy Places

derived from the scripture D&C 87:8- Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved until the day of the Lord come.

We talked a lot about the temple.

It is a holy place.

But we can't always be at the temple, we have lives to live.

 So we can always live worthy of the temple and that means we always need to be standing in a holy place.

So we talked a lot about this year's mutual theme which is my favorite, the 13th article of faith:

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men. Indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul: we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

We sang Guardians of Virtue

You get hundreds of teenage girls in one area singing that song and you will feel the Spirit undoubtedly.

What did I walk away with?

In my journal I took these notes and I am more than happy to share them with you:

*We have been asked to make lists of things we will always do and things we will never do. I have much to work on. But these are goals for the woman I want to become.

Things I will ALWAYS do:

 -Attend church

-Accept/Magnify Callings

-Attend Temple

-Pray Daily

-Read my scriptures daily

-Take care of my body

-Maintain and uphold virtue

Things I will NEVER do:

-Drink/smoke or abuse harmful substances

-Be unfaithful to my husband

-Take the Lord's name in vain

-Live a life that others would not call virtuous

*Commitments to self and Heavenly Father take some of temptation away.

*What can I sacrifice to show my Heavenly Father that I am willing to sacrifice to get to know Him?

He knows what it means to you to give that up. John 15:18-19

*Honesty is being accountable for anything we do or say.

*Honesty is necessary for our salvation.

*"This trial wasn't going to do me in and it wasn't going to do my family in." -Powerful statement made by a powerful guest speaker up at camp on Tuesday.

*I want to live my life with honor and faith. I want to return to His arms unashamed."--Song" Valiant Faith"--those words really hit me.

*I need to take time. Just a minute or so, every day to think about my Savior. What He did for me and who He is. I will be happier and I will make better choices every day.

I left camp with a stronger testimony of The Book of Mormon. I truly felt it's power while reading at camp and during Bishop's night as the Bishop bore testimony of the book. I left with a stronger testimony of the knowledge or who I am (a daughter of God). I have always known that He loves me, but sometimes we need reminders. I think that is one of the reasons that I was given this calling, so that I could stand with the Young Women and recite the Young Women's theme every Sunday. I need a reminder of who I am, what I am worth, and what I should be doing. I am so far from perfect, but during Bishop's night I truly felt better about my path than I have in years.I will probably share the Bishop's insights at another time. All I know is that I feel like I know where I need to improve, I always have. But now I feel better about where I need to start. Just a little bit each day. 

I need to do things that remind me of who I am.