If we got to choose our church callings, there are two I would rotate between: Primary Pianist (because you can just sit behind the piano and laugh at the cute things the kids say and not really even have to prepare anything) and Girls Camp Director. I loved Girls Camp growing up. I still remember the night before my first camp at Willow Flats. I did not sleep for a single minute that night, but still showed up to the church parking lot bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning.
In our ward, Girls Camp was serious business. We camped. In tents that we pitched ourselves. And with outhouses that made me dry heave. And campfires whose wood we split (well, we at least watched She-Ra Summer split the wood). And we didn't shower for 3 or 4 days (but sometimes we shaved our legs in the river or the water tap).
In my ward today, they usually stay in cabins or condos and it seems bit pampered. We had a big fundraiser last week because their camp this year cost $600 more than camp usually costs them, which made me wonder if they are headed to California or something because that brings the total cost of Girls Camp to well over $1000 for not that many girls. I am certain our budget was miniscule in comparison.
But enough complaining about how soft Girls Camp has become. Girls Camp was the highlight of my summer. We had such a good time with each other. Here are some of my memories:
-Doing the Nestea Plunge at Willow Flats. That was cold.
-The rain year. One year at Stake Camp, it poured and poured. By the last day, all of the wards except us stalwart girls in Newton 1st had gone home. Our stake leaders were so proud and had a special breakfast for us. It was a lot of rain. We sang "Noah's Ark" 1 million times that year.
-How mad we were the year we had to go to Smithfield Canyon for camp since it was all of 8 miles away (and the boys in our ward were headed to Lake Powell). Camp was still fun though...
-Campfire sing-a-longs. In our ward, they were epic. Some of our favorites were "Princess Pat," "Fried Ham," and of course, "Noah's Ark."
-The dreaded camp craft. Do they still do those? Ours were pretty terrible and mostly a big joke among the girls. Maybe our leaders just weren't that crafty. One exception is that I still have my wildflower press that we made one year at Stake Camp.
-The Clarkston girls always got sent home. Not the whole ward, but it wasn't Stake Camp without someone in Clarkston trying to sneak boys or alcohol or something into camp and getting sent home. I bet their ward had to call someone as the sent-home-girl-retriever every year so they had someone available to pick up those girls. It wasn't really even scandalous after the first time or two because it was so predictable.
I can't wait for my little girls to head to Girls Camp in a few years. Maybe I'll luck out and be their fearless leader! They'd be so excited to have me there, I'm sure!
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