I was very sick with so kind of stomach flu 2 days before I had to leave, so thankfully my dad gave me a blessing that I would be strong and be able to take care of the family I would be over. So the day arrived we loaded up Jed Wilkinson's Trailer with everything we needed and the girls headed out. We got there pretty early got registered, got to our camp sites and met our parents and family. My parents name were the Matthews, they met at ldssingles.org haha I never thought that worked :) well she is from Guatemala and he was from Washington. during the civil wars sister Matthews parents sent her to New York, which is how she learned English. She came to America for 10 days to meet Brother Matthews and then 2 months later he went to Guatemala and proposed to her in a palace there. They have a really cute story. Well my family was great we all got along and I got close to boys from Magnolia 1st this time and also Madeline Morris.
We went to the presentation of the pre-mortal life which we were under the stars and when the world was created a big fire was created. then we went back to our tents, I began to get a horrible head ache which lasted through the night. I woke up the next morning refreshed and ready to work. I woke up when the Nicole's got there and distributed all the kids their shirts and then Jordan and I left to go set up the carnival. the set up was easy especially with Justin Nordins help. He brought us breakfast and helped set up and then helped with carnival. Then Jordan and I left to meet up with our family.
we started our rotations the first one was the plan of salvation, the youth leaders went on "Missions" where we were given the information to teach our families of the plan of salvation. The next rotation was boy/girl relations where we learned to communicate face to face rather then text messaging. then we went to the family rotation. Brother Straighter taught us about the bikes that have more then one seat and how it is a tradition in a country to add a seat to the bicycle when you get married and then have kids. he represented that to as a family you are on the same bike you might have ones pedaling and helping and some that are pushing on the brakes. He asked us to think about what role did we play in the family. we are all on the same bike ride but are we helping or stopping the progression. then to Lehi's dream where we learned of the importunates of the gospel. Sister Beckstead told us of a family she knew and the son did everything he was supposed to, he left for his mission however after a few weeks of being in the MTC was sent home due to addiction to video games. His parent didn't know that he would get up at 1 in the morning and play till 4. he was so addicted that in the MTC they found him in the fetal position unable to function. How crazy is it that technology can take over our lives to where we can't function and prevents us from our spiritual abilities. after that we went to the importance of the body which was really similar to communication. The last one was the carnival! :) How awesome was it to see the youth get so excited, going against each other in stick pull, getting their face painted, throwing darts at the balloons, and doing scripture mastery. the Singles ward really did a great job and helping and motivating everyone, the leaders bishop hair and brother sister dayhuff did a great job at helping also. Madeline and I had a great time going against the boys at stick pull as they threw us across them. when the carnival was over we had a FHE where our Moms and Pop's taught us threw the talk the great imitator. we learned that Satan tempts us even when we don't notice. and the person with the most blue tickets got the lucky treat "chocolate covered garlic" the boys that knew played it cool and Jordan Anderson got it. We all started laughing but I helped him out with some gum :) they really got it after the FHE though.
We had family games which was really fun b/c we had to protect our precious gift a water balloon threw the whole thing. At the end another person and I were the only ones that had our water balloon left and got awesome cup cakes :). W e soon headed off to dinner where I ate alot since I have been sick. After that though my stomach hurt soooo bad!! but I pushed threw it and got threw the dance. At night time all the girls were in the tent and Chase Kunz, Jeff Thomas, Riley O'neal, and I think Tim Stewart were hanging out by the window talking to us. They were really sweet they got us water and made sure we were doing great. Then they kept us up pretty much all night haha. However I woke up probably about 4 am and sat straight up and had Nikky Open the tent door fast!! I ran out of the tent and threw up everything :( yeah not a great time. I was basically sick the rest of the day. But I went back to sleep after washing my mouth out. I woke up very slowly trying not to feel nausea's and packed all my stuff. The boys took down the tents and Justin came and carried all my stuff, even though I told him I could carry some of it but he just told me no and to put it down haha such a good guy. Well after his help I made it to my ward where I jumped into the car. We went to Klein and changed and took showers (I was so excited) I started feeling a little better however when we got to the Stake Center I didn't eat. We left in our families to the Nursing homes and I met Marie Mitz Thot who was from Staten Island, New York. She grew up their her whole life and was a telephone operator. She tap danced as a youth at nursing homes and loves to cook and do crafts. She traveled by train, and ferry to get to work (which she said a lot) :) She has short term memory loss but it could be because she was born September 27, 1911. She is 99 years old!!!! She was sweet and Maddy and I were very patient with her.
As we left the home and went back to the Stake Center where we learned the importance of the priesthood and how we should always honor them and appreciate them.
We should not feel any less because they have that power because we have a stronger power over them. It was really good She told us to always strive for a return missionary and someone willing to go to their meetings and always wanting to go. Then as the young men were brought in we were taught of the importance of the temple and given a piece of stone directly from the Houston Temple! How awesome!
Well I think at testimony meeting I got my answer to whether the youth got what they needed or not. and the youth testified that they loved it and they learned something from each activity that they needed in their life. Just like Brother Kunz asked us at the beginning of the planning of youth conference "to be simple but profound" I think we achieved that. The youth as we fasted and prayed for this conference the spirit was there and we where taught. How grateful I am to have this chance to be apart of the conference and to truly see Heavenly Father answer our prayers :)
Love Shanel
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