Youth Conference 2012

Along with most of the youth and some other leaders from the stake, Thomas and I had the privilege of attending Youth Conference this past weekend.  He went with the Mahomet young men, and I was the chaperone for the Tuscola young women.  We spent a day and a half at a campsite.  There we were able to go on a youth-led geocaching scavenger hunt that lasted many hours. We worked in 18 companies of approximately 12 youth.  The Cache's contained clues about the next cache.  Some of them had tasks that had to be performed.   We were challenged with trials.  Cholera was contracted(which meant that a few members(1/3) of the group had to move on with one leg tied up.  Weston said he heard stories about youth getting frostbite.  'Snakes' had to be carried across the river.  Practical jokes were encouraged, which led a certain sister who was too exhausted to climb up and down a steep hill for the 23rd time(okay, maybe a little exaggeration there), to sit down on the hill, grab youth going by and tell them she had smallpox, and they had contracted it and must crawl up the hill now!  hee hee hee.


Then we went on to have a Book of Mormon battle, which was enacted in the woods with foam weapons and shields the youth made themselves.  The youth were divided into two battalions and battles commenced, with live drumming (that Brother Eliason was thrilled to contribute!) in the background!  We had an outdoor dance that night and it looked like a majority of the youth were having a great time....a number of them seemed exhausted too!  :)
The following day we had a march in the morning and then a devotional and headed to the St Louis area.  There we stayed in host homes in the OFallon Stake and heard Elder David Bednar speak for about 5 hours total, both Friday evening and Saturday Morning.  Elder Bednar spoke about being agents and not objects.  Teaching us to act instead of waiting to be acted upon.  He spent most of the time conducting a question and answer forum.  The teens asked questions both verbally and anonymously by submitting written questions on cards.  This process really seemed to engage the youth and there were never long pauses between questions!  The meetings were filled with a great spirit, and Elder Bednar brought with him a blessing from the Prophet, and a tangible love from the leaders of the church.
He also talked about getting an inexpensive copy of the Book of Mormon and going through it with a question and underlining anything that related to that question.  He said he has a whole shelf of inexpensive copies of the Book of Mormon at home, each one is there because he went through it with one question in his mind.  When we have questions we can always find an answer in the Book of Mormon.
If I have gotten anything not quite right, please forgive me, I think I am still running on fumes.  We got home late Saturday, up early Sunday to teach, then off to pick up the trailer that caused us to get home late Saturday...Since then we have been focusing on getting our 16 yo ready to leave for the mini-mission early tomorrow-what 16 yo young man actually owns 5 white Sunday shirts anyway??? lol :)  Okay, I digress. :)
I usually edit my photos before I share them but my laptop is not cooperating with me so I am just going to upload them as is.  Hope you can find a few to appreciate! :)
Michele Eliason