Who has?

Session: SLC 03

My very first week of efy = super oober nervousness. I showed up for training on Sunday, met this girl named Jenny, who was also training and one of first things I asked was "are you scared?" ha, cause I definitely was! Training was so good! We talked a lot about the theme scripture Joshua 1:9

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee, witherso

ever thou goest."

and how it's not just for the youth but it applies to each of us. I need to be strong and of good courage, I knew that Heavenly Father would be with me, helping me. He of all people only wanted my success, and through Him I knew I could succeed. So I had a little more courage after that, but I was still nervous because: I didn't know where I was going or supposed to be, I was nervous for teaching devotionals, I was nervous about the schedule, and at this point I had only been out of my walking boot for about 3 days, and I didn't know how much my foot could handle. I prayed a lot. We also learned about how Heavenly Father has planned for me to be their counselor for a long time. I know the girls i had were mine for a reason. I hope I helped them!

Sunday night was awesome, Brother and Sister Lowe were our session directors. They talked a lot about making lasting friendships with the staff, which is something that I hadn't thought much about before. Because it was the fourth of July that night after co-counselor planning we did sparklers and had bubbly and made toasts all night. It was so funny! Good times.

My co-counselors this week were Warren Hallmark and Kirsten Mills. They were so kind and helpful. I felt kind of bad because they kinda just got stuck with a newbie who didn't have any idea what she was doing, but they were awesome. On Wednesday night after lights-out Kirsten came over and we had a good talk about our girls, and we prayed together, and I really got to know her. She is one awesome girl. She served her mission in England. Warren is pretty great too. He taught really well, loved the kids, and was a gentleman. He was always very aware of my leg, and my limited abilities and willing to help whenever I needed. I appreciated it a lot.

Our company name was "Who has?" It was so funny because I'd always yell "who has, who has" to get their attention, and everyone would look at me and be like "who has what?" It made me laugh.

Wednesday night games were fun. Aaron brought his ukulele of power, and he taught me how to play "somewhere over the rainbow!" We didn't win anything, but we had fun.

Thursday was absolutely wonderful. I learned so much, and it was such a growing experience for me. I think the girls were all really touched too. The musical program this year is awesome! One of the biggest things that stood out to me was was a quote that said something like "besides the Sacrament,the holiest object presented to our senses is our neighbor." It is so important that everyone we meet is a child of God, and we need to treat them as such. Something that keeps coming to me is Charity, we must have charity.

Our session directors were awesome. Brother Low's theme seemed to be the music. Almost every time we met together we stood and sang the theme song. I really really love the theme song. It's amazing. Something else he promised was otter pops whenever we wanted. We may or may not be hiding away during FSOY to eat these...

Last photo-shoot.

My girls... love them!
and there we are, who has the best company? We do! :)

a few last things....

• Tuesday morning my girl, Monica, got sick. She was throwing up like a crazy lady. We prayed as a company for her, and she got better! I love seeing the power of prayer in action.
• Every lunch was catered, and it was always box lunches. On Wednesday, Brother and Sister Low were handing out the lunches. Sister Low gave me one, I thanked her graciously, and headed out to my company. I sat down with the company, asked how lunch was today, then smiled for the pictures because Brother and Sister Low had followed us out to take pictures. Everyone was watching me, which was slightly awkward. I open my box lunch, look inside, and there was a lobster in it! I screamed and jumped probably the highest i've jumped since I broke my leg, and I almost cried. Ha it scared me a lot. They got it all on video. I'll have to find it someday. I guess they had done it to one of my other girls and all she did was open hers and say "why is mine a lobster?" ha much more calm. :)
• Friday night "taking it home" was awesome. All of the boys surrounded us in the gym and sang "Duty to God" from the CD to all of us girls. They promised that they would do their duty to God. Then took a knee and started clapping, for us girls! They were just thanking us for who we are. They clapped for probably at least 5 mins straight, maybe more. It was a super neat experience. After they all finally stopped clapping they took a seat, and we recited the YW theme for them, all standing and joining at different times. Then all the girls surrounded the boys and we sang "I am His Daughter" from the CD. The spirit was awesome, and most eyes were wet. After that Brother Low had all the counselors go to the front and sing the theme song to them. It was neat because slowly all the youth stood up and joined us. So cool!
• Overall, this was an awesome week! I felt a lot more like a participant than a counselor. I learned and grew so much. It was amazing!

Next week I'm sure will just be better, I feel so much better because I know better what I am doing! Hoorah for Israel!