I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany our church youth group on a trip to Lake Seneca in western New York. We stayed at a church-owned girl's camp in very nice cabins--much better than the girls' camps I went to growing up (they even had small mattresses!) I was a little worried about how cold it would be in October with no heat in the cabins but they were very warm even though it was freezing outside a couple of the nights we were there. The weather couldn't have been better during the day. The previous week, it rained there continuously but we had perfect weather the entire weekend! It was fun being there with Rachel. I think she was a little apprehensive about having me there. . .cramping her style or something. . . but she told me during the trip that it was fun having me there after all.
The first night we got settled into our cabin and the kids played Ninja most of the night before bed. In the morning, we ate breakfast and then while waiting for some of our boys to do dish duty, took a nature walk. After that, our entire ward headed to Palmyra to the Hill Cumorah. It was a beautiful day to be there.
Following our visit to the Hill Cumorah, we went to the Palmyra Stake Center to eat a picnic lunch and change for the temple. We then took our young men and young women to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was a beautiful experience to see these young people together in the temple.
After our temple excursion, we headed to the Sacred Grove where we had a devotional in an ampitheater right within the Sacred Grove. During the meeting, a beautiful pillar of sunlight poured through the trees. It was a spiritual experience for me and many other kids. We then walked through the Sacred Grove. I felt like I was walking on hallowed ground.
That evening, the older kids went to a dance with the Palmyra Stake youth and the kids under 12 went back to camp for games and a bonfire. I chaperoned the dance. It was fun to see our teenagers having so much fun dancing with each other. We really have a great group of kids. It's so good for them to get together because so often they stand alone in keeping church standards as they are the only or one of the very few students in their schools that share our faith. Rachel had a lot of fun with the kids her age at the bonfire that night and got to know the boys her age a lot better.
When we returned to the camp after the dance, while the girls were fast asleep, we (the four adults in our cabin) stayed up until 4:00 in the morning talking. It was so much fun but exhausting to say the least. Sunday came a little too soon for us but it was a beautiful day. We started the morning with Sacrament Meeting. I got to play the piano. It was a nice meeting. We served lunch and then the kids had free time until 4:30 when we had a devotional. The guy who spoke was the CES director from the Palmyra area. He gave an engaging and uplifting talk. After dinner, we had a beautiful testimony meeting. I especially loved hearing Rachel's testimony. The spirit was so strong. It was such a special way to end our visit to New York.
In our cabin that evening, we had a very spiritual devotional. We were still up at 1:00 a.m. and we got a second wind and started dancing. We were crazy! We even made up our own Cougarette spoof dance (this was about 2 a.m. so it wasn't perfect but it was still funny!) It was a wild and crazy night!
With the morning, our camp came to an end. We packed up, ate breakfast, did our chores and drove back home. We enjoyed looking at all the colorful autumn leaves on our trip home. The entire camp was exceptional. Rachel said she couldn't stop smiling because she loved it so much. I did, too. I think it was one of the best youth activities I have ever attended. I'm glad I had the privilege of being there!
I'm only posting pics that have a Madsen in them. Enjoy!
Some of my girls!
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| The first night we arrived |
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| Good times! |
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| P:iggy Back Attacks |
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| Some of our ward kids built a pyramid! Go Nazareth Ward! |
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| The foundation is crumbling! |
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| FAIL! |
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| Mother and daughter and the stunning fall foliage |
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| On our nature walk around the camp |
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| And we're walking. . . |
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| Had to stop them to get the lake in the background |
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| New York's finest trees show forth their beauty! |
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| We walked by this pretty pond on our nature walk |
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| After the kids climbed straight up the Hill Cumorah. It was pretty steep! |
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| Looking at the view from the top of Cumorah |
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| Silly faces! Love Rachel and her bubble! |
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| That's my gorgeous daughter! |
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| What a beautiful setting and a beautiful girl! |
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| The girls reading the plaques at the Hill Cumorah. For some of these beehives, it was their first time experiencing it! |
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| Standing for truth and righteousness! |
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| View from the top of the Hill Cumorah |
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| Some of our ward at Cumorah (a few of the kids were at the bottom after rolling all the way down. We didn't wait for them to climb back up the hill.) |
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| These are such wonderful girls! I love serving in the young women! |
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