YW Camp (In Convenient Meme Form)

First off, I just have to acknowledge that I know I have been doing A LOT of memes lately. I know it. I get it.  Jacob, I will return to more personal writing in the following days, however, this post is not completely without merit as it does let me appropriately journal what I did at Young Women's Camp last week.  And seeing as how I did make each of these memes completely myself, it's not just gratuitous plagiarism and grumpy cats.


This year I was called to be the YCL leader at camp which was a Wizard of Oz theme called "There's No Place Like Home."  I oversaw a group of 14 girls, ages 16-18 and they really were a great bunch of girls.  I got to know them over the past month and especially at camp last week and I completely enjoyed being able to hang around with them.  In fact, they were so good that the ones sharing my cabin were complaining about being kept up too late!  I am having NASA look into the fact that my cabin was possibly some sort of alternate universe that bends the fabric of the time space continuum.  (Been watching a little too much Deep Space Nine apparently).  I'm still not sure what was going on, but when the other leaders complained about being up all night, I just crossed my arms and said:

True story.



And here I am as "The Most Interesting Camper In the World."

And it wasn't just bug repellent, really, it was pretty much anything I needed. Ever. Bug spray, phone, flashlight, hair tie, a pen, a jellyfish, my spoon- yep, I needed it all.  And I forgot it all.  (And I forgot how to spell when I made that meme. Sigh...) 

There were a lot of times when things got moved up, pushed back or taken off the schedule completely, but that is what camp is all about!  Sweating to death! I mean, being flexible!




One thing that did stay on schedule was the crafts!

We made Wizard of Oz Jenga block keychains, paracord bracelets and braided headbands.  

Here is Cindy modeling my hard work, which really was just for her :)

And is it just me or.....

Mostly because the YCLs forced me to be the host of "The Oz Factor" and make a giant goofball out of myself.   But in the end, I guess it wasn't so bad.  Any skit where you can make fun of Kanye West is pretty okay with me.

Here is kind of a picture of me crowning Dorothy as the winner of The Oz Factor:

(thanks to Allie for letting me steal this pic)

I may have been shy about doing my skit, but I was much better at camp songs.  

And to think it only took me four years to get it right....  I tried to find this on YouTube but I can't find a version that does the lap slapping motions.  Blasphemy! I thought everything in the whole wide world was on the Internet?

On the last morning of camp, our camp director woke up all the girls at 4:30am (with a siren, no less) and had them all board buses that would take them to a secret location.  The chartered buses she hired just happened to be "Disney Cruise Line" buses, so when the girls shuffled out to the buses a few of them got REALLY excited.  Well played, Sister Kemple. Well played.

No, we didn't go to Disney, but heading out to Melbourne beach for a sunrise testimony meeting while sitting in the sand and hearing the waves crash was a very close second choice.  Truly an amazing sight.  So beautiful and we even got to stay and play for a few hours afterward.  Thanks to Allie Bailey for again letting me lurk her Facebook and steal these photos:

Of course I couldn't let the week go by without reminding the girls (constantly) how good they had it out there at the church ranch- what with their uppity running water and first world toilets...

Everyone LOVED hearing my stories of what YW Camp really ought to be :)  

And now I will share with you my proudest moment at camp:

So as I was cleaning out my cabin the last day, I saw the most ginormous spider in the world near my bed.  It was hideous.  It was thick and scary and it looked like it never missed a day at the gym.  I ran out of the cabin and there was Brother Appel, the elderly service missionary that lives at the camp.  I asked if he would do me the honor of killing the spider and he was quick to accept.  I left him alone in the cabin to do his nefarious duty, and all I could hear was the sound of a broom smashing on the ground, over and over and over and over and over again.  Then he yelled, "Head's up!" and the spider body came flying out the door and into the grass.  He hit it a few times more, then bent down, looked really confused and said, "I don't think that's a real spider.  Usually they break up on you after a few hits, but that thing ain't movin.'  And so, yes, I had made him kill a plastic spider that was obviously left behind by some prankster loving ward.  Not cool.  Scary, but not cool.

And finally, like drawing back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz himself, I now reveal to you the truth of camp: