It was mid-July the summer before my seventh-grade year. I was just a little twelve-year-old girl, not even five feet tall. And this was going to be my first year at Girls Camp. I was going to be the first year at my church camp. I had been waiting for this for so long. As soon as the dates were set I immediately started packing. even though it was still months away. It seemed like the only thing I ever talked about.
My entire life all of my church leaders talked about how much girls' camp had changed their lives. In my church, I was always told that we were to rely on spiritual experiences that we have had when we face doubts, but I had never experienced the Holy Spirit that strongly before. I yearned for a spiritually uplifting experience and I thought that Girls Cap was just the place for that.
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I felt as if I was being cooked alive. The 100-degree summer heat, even at night, poured into our cabin and the four fans that we had done nothing but move around the heat. We had twenty-two girls crammed into bunk beds together. Sweat dripped down our faces as our damp clothes clung to our bodies.
We all sat soberly waiting for someone to come and get us. We were filled with anticipation of the unknown. The only noise to be heard was the loud whirring sound of the fans.
I was on the bottom bunk with scriptures, articles, talks, quotes, inspiring letters from my parents, and other works to get me in the right mindset for later that night. I did not know what was going on, or what was happening, but my youth camp leaders told me to just go with it and that it would be an experience that I would never forget.
I started off really strong. I was determined to have an amazing experience to look back upon when I was older. I fervently studied my scriptures. I wrote all of my thoughts, feelings, and promptings into my journal. I did everything that I knew I was supposed to do. At that moment I thought that everything in my life was exactly the way I wanted it to be.
The theme of the camp was to grow closer to Christ. My favorite scripture that I read was Moroni 10:32, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”
About an hour and a half later, things start to change. People started looking around the room instead of doing that which they were supposed to do. We all became unfocused and strayed from the task at hand. The anxious feeling in the room slowly started to dissipate. The air of mystery, suspense, and allure that once surrounded us was now nothing but a morsel of thought in the back of our minds.
There was an ever so slight rap against the solid wood door leading into our cramped cabin. All heads in the room snapped up. I could practically feel the joyous excitement and wonder that was being experienced by everyone in the room. The door slowly opened with a loud screech. One of our camp leaders came into view.
With a soft and loving tone, she said,” If you would please get up and follow me I will take you to where we will need to go,”.
We all dropped what we were doing and quickly arose from where we were on the bunk beds. As I jumped out of bed and onto my feet I felt my muscles tighten up and fight back against me because they had been still and unmoved for a considerable amount of time and had fallen asleep. I ignored their pleas for a break and time to wake as I walked briskly over to the door at the front of the cabin. We were being herded out the door like cattle. Everyone was pushing and shoving each other in the hopes of getting closer to the door. Hoping to get out of the cramped cabin we had been stuck in for hours. The small restricting cabin only permitted one person to pass through its threshold at a time. This made the process of escaping much more burdensome and time-consuming.
When I was finally released from the confining grips of the cabin I was hit by the smell of fresh trees and a welcomed cool breeze that could not be felt through the walls of the cabin.
We were all handed blindfolds. Everything was pitch black. We formed a line and grabbed onto a rope that was meant to guide us to our destination. The rope started off as nothing more than a frail piece of thread. As we got farther into our journey and clung onto our guiding thread it turned into a piece of string, then yarn, and lastly rope.
After tripping many times, bumping into the person in front of me more than I would like to admit, and going around so many twists and turns that I was getting dizzy, we finally came to a stop. We were at our destination. After everyone got there we were told that we could take our blindfolds off. Before us stood a huge magnificent tree covered in more glittering Christmas lights than I had ever seen in my entire life. It took my breath away. I stood there dumbfounded and amazed. I was absolutely elated and filled with an extreme amount of overcoming joy and gladness as one of my favorite hymns began to play.
My youth camp leaders were right. I'm glad that I listened to them and tried to make the most of this moment in my life. I will never forget this astounding and awe-inspiring experience for as long as I shall live. This moment forever changed the way that I view interactions with others, myself, and the world that I live in. That day I grew so much closer to my lord and Savior Jesus Christ and felt his love so strongly for the first time in my life.
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