I absolutely adored Girl's Camp while I was growing up. It always inspired me to become something great. I wanted to inspire girls like I had been at girls camp and sometime around the age of a Laurel, I made a goal to be a Girl's Camp Speaker...someday in the far away future. Well, I am happy to announce that "someday" came true. My Mom was called to be the Stake Girl's Camp Director this year, so after subtly mentioning that I could speak if she wanted me to, and then continuing to hint for months, my Mom finally asked me to speak at Girl's camp.
I was thrilled. The theme for their camp was "The Hero Within" and was all about Superhero's. My talk was entitled "The Faith to Fly." I dressed like a "Super Sister" and spoke about Faith and that it implies action, not just a belief and that all superhero's have it. I even ventured to say that anything extraordinary that has ever come to be, started with Faith; someone who believed in something and acted on those beliefs. I told the story about the Wright Brothers and their dream to make an airplane fly and how they achieved their dream with Faith. I told about Spiderman and his first attempts to climb up walls and swing from his web and how he used Faith.
To illustrate how important the action part of Faith is, I told the story of Nephi and explained that he didn't just say "The Lord will provide a way," and then sit around and wait for the plates to land in his lap. He moved his feet. He went to Jerusalem. He did all he could and then the Lord provided a way. The Lord will provide a way for us to use our individual talents and strengths to promote the Gospel, if we are taking action and striving to. Prayer and Scripture study, supported with courage to take action about what you know is right is how we exercise our Faith. With Faith in the Lord, He can make our weaknesses turn into strengths, and our Strengths turn into Superpowers. I even pulled out some of my pre-baby gymnastics moves to illustrate the Faith I demonstrated when learning to perform an Ariel. It left me very sore for days to come, but I have never been able to resist showing off (as you probably know if you regularly read my blog!).
Overall, what I learned in my heart was that it takes Faith to be a disciple of Christ. It is good to believe, but we must go beyond just believing or our beliefs will dwindle. Believing is just a step to gaining Faith. If you don't first have belief you will never gain Faith, but if you want a strong testimony and to be a tool in the Lord's hand, you have to take action, and by doing so, you will be blessed with more Faith. You can't just believe in Christ from afar. You must follow his example and do as he did. Remember to do those simple things that we learn in primary. Faith is not a noun, it's a verb! We don't just have faith, we exercise it! Faith is a muscle that grows when we use it. If you want more, use whatever amount you have to do something and you will be given more. I always thought that Faith was just believing in things we don't see. Now I realize it is precisely that, when we add "and acting according to those beliefs." Speakers always learn more than those being spoken to. I hope the spirit was able to touch a few hearts out there, even if it was only a fraction of the way the Lord touched me.
I stayed the night and brought Lucy with me. Dave was in Utah and we all know I have separation anxiety, so you do what you have to. We squished onto a small cot on the bottom of a bunk. I forgot to bring a sleeping bag or pillow. I guess I was thinking about my talk too much and just rushed out the door, plus we usually camped in tents and so I didn't think about needing bedding, knowing that we would be in cabins. Luckily, someone brought an extra sleeping bag (Melanie, bless your heart for following that prompting!), and my sweatshirt sufficed for a pillow. We endured to the end, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor the next day!
July 15
We spent the next day canoeing, feeding the ducks and swimming at the pool. Lucy had a ball!
I didn't think we would get to go canoeing, since it was for the girls, but Lucy kept asking the guy in charge "boat please," so he invited us to go after all the girls had a turn. We were both thrilled!
Here are some shots of Lucy's first canoe experience:
There was also a Mommy duck and her babies at the lake, and Lucy couldn't resist wading with them.
Someone offered Lucy some bread to feed them and I got a sweet picture of the bread in motion!
And Salute! Looks like a little gymnast after a great performance in this shot!
Yay for Girl's Camp! We had sooooo much fun and were so blessed to go embark in the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of young girls! Oh, and the Director couldn't have been any better!(Good Job! I love you Mom!)
