Friday, July 24: Day 42

Service project and kayaking day!! For the service project, the girls painted oil onto the 2 outhouses. It made the wood look so nice! They went in two shifts, so those not painting stayed back at camp and did crafts or hung out by the fire. First picture: (from left to right) Haleigh Robinson, Janel, Brook McElwee.

Rachel Brezenski's family moved out of the ward in December but she flew back for camp. I'm so glad she did, because she is an amazing person. She was in Matthias's Sunday School class. Her older brother, Scotty, was in mine. Both of them are just tremendous and I wish they were still up here!Then it was off to kayaking!! We also went in two groups for kayaking. In our group was Matthias and I, Virginia Owen (leader), Brandon Wilson, Rachel Brezenski, and Sarah Schwicht. We had a bit of trouble taking off but once we were out a ways we got the hang of it. Man, was it gorgeous! Steep rocky cliffs with trees coming up to the edges of the cliffs, the quaintest looking houses right on the water, fog making everything look mysterious, and otters popping up to look at us up close. We got to get within 10 feet of an otter a few times and we just stared at each other. They are the cutest looking animals until they open their mouth and you see their sharp, ferocious teeth. Yikes.

During the time we were waiting for our turn to kayak, we walked over to a spot where there were some salmon and fished. Nothing was caught, but I definitely improved my form. Which is very important, ok? I also bought a few post cards to send and thought they would be good to include so you could get a feel for what we saw kayaking. Once back at camp, we cooked up some incredible Hawaiian haystacks and ate way too much. Then it was time for the testimony meeting. Brandon gave a great talk to start off where he talked about how what the world needs most is righteous mothers and fathers to teach their children between right and wrong. It was very well-executed and I hope the girls were as inspired as I was to work hard at being ready to be a good mom someday. I loved hearing each girl's testimony and I see so much potential in each of them. It made me realize how much my own YW leader's must have cared about me when I was there age. It's so nice to be part of something bigger than yourself and realize there are people rooting for you to make it out on top. I only want the best for these girls and consider myself very lucky to have been able to spend this week with them.