Young Women's Camp

We had a big surprise last Monday night Nov 5^th as we were taking an evening walk. Sister Flores was outside talking with her friend when we stopped to offer her a blanket for Young Woman’s Girls Camp. She was surprised we didn't want it ourselves. “Why would we want it?” we asked “Because won't you need it while you two are at camp with them?” WHAT?!? Apparently they expected that we were going and would give an hour presentation! Talk about a wake up call, hahaha. The counselor in the District Presidency was to have called us and he must have forgotten because when we saw him at camp he never said anything.

After searching all the Walmart's up to the Capital we finally found two sleeping bags and air mattresses at Cemaco. On the 7^th during a meeting we were told we needed a tent! Wow, the surprises just keep coming. We don't have a Cemaco here in Escuintla so we checked the two Mega Pacas (these are the local Good Wills), and they had one huge tent for $100! So we left it up to the District to find us one, which the did :)

So on Thursday Nov 8^th we woke up at 4:30 am, got ready, met at the District Center and watched them pack the two buses with all their camping gear, food, leaders and girls. We headed out for camp around 5:30 am. We arrived in the mountain area of Chimaltenango where the Church has developed a camp ground for the youth to use. Needless to say it was beautiful! I called it “parking” not camping because all the area was covered in grass! This would be the first time we actually sat on the grass since we got to Guatemala!

Loading the buses at dawn

The area was so clean and well kept, they have cedar and pine trees with orchids and Spanish moss hanging off them, covered eating area with new tables, huge bathrooms with showers, groomed trails that take you through and around the grounds. This is truly a blessing for the youth because it is the only place they can have a camping experience that is safe from robbers. It is all fenced in and has armed guards walking the perimeter.

The girls are so sweet and thankful for all of these things, they treated us with so much love and kindness. I had several girls come up to me and one spoke English and thanked us for coming. She said we were their angels and they were so happy to have us share this time with them; that truly melted my heart. The leaders were just a wonderful to us. We were told we would be fed by different branches each meal, but one sister made sure we had food served directly to us every time. I told her she was our camp mama.

Speaking of food; I was truly shocked at the amount of time spent in the preparation of their food, they would get up around 4:00 am each morning and start breakfast. The branches fed their own girls but they all had to use the same cooking area and they cooked over open fires (which they do at home). For breakfast the first morning we had scrambled eggs with sausages mixed in, re-fried black beans, rolls and bundt cake. As soon as they were done cleaning up breakfast they started on lunch! We had six sisters always cooking and they took turns having girls clean up. Incredible! Everything was made from scratch or freshly cut up, so much work for these sweet sisters.

They had five sisters from the District that were in charge of all the activities, they had them on the open area playing games, singing songs, having testimonies, they went on a hike, studied scriptures, had a talent show with each branch doing a song, instruments, play acting scripture themed stories. They also did a service project by moving a huge pile of firewood, bundle by bundle in their arms, up a steep hill to a storage location. Ralph and I did our presentation by the camp fire, it was about the traits they needed to truly be daughters of God. As they answered questions I tossed them cookies. They seemed to have fun. The highlight of the campfire was having fireworks, something we are not allowed to have in our Utah mountains! They all got sparklers to play with. They shot off several fireworks at the same time followed with the brethren shooting off fireworks. It was such fun and the girls really enjoyed it. Overall, it was a great time and we felt the love of these great people and we were truly blessed to have experienced this time with them.