There's No Place Like Home

This summer I went to Girls Camp ( July 8-11) and the theme was There's No Place Like Home from the Wizard of Oz. The whole camp was total Wizard of Oz. It was great! I was a YCL 1 this year and I was over Greenfield ward. I didn't really know anyone from Greenfield ward before I went to camp but now I know all of their leaders and the girls! The first day we got there was a Friday, we met at the church and all the YCL 1's sat on the stage and sang a bunch of camp songs. We watched as the 4th years were getting all of their gear and loading it on the bus and we teased them about how they have to go on a backpacking hike and we already did ours so we didn't have too.

The YCL 1's are in charge of giving devotionals to their assigned ward and since our theme was " There's No Place Like Home" all of our devotionals had something to do with the Wizard of Oz. In fact each day at camp had a little theme from The Wizard of Oz. The first day's theme was the Scare Crow or Knowledge. We taught about how the Knowledge we gain in this life we can take with us into the next life. We talked about how unlike the scare crow we know we have a brain and we know how to use it. We talked about the importance of gaining knowledge.

When we got to Camp Lo Mia we unloaded all of our sleeping bags and other things in our cabins. We then went to rotations with the Greenfield ward since we were their YCls. The first rotation was a class on Knowledge given by Sis. Udall who is the Young Women President in the Monticito Ward. She is also an English teacher at the High School we go too. She talked about the different types of Knowledge's we have. School knowledge, homemaking knowledge, scientific knowledge, random knowledge, and spiritual knowledge. The next rotation we went to was archary, then we went to a service project, and then an art project.

Everyday at camp we had something called a Tornado Watch. In The Wizard of Oz they had a tornado that they had to be protected from and like them we have to be watchful for the tornadoes of life. Everyday they had a siren go off sometime in the afternoon and when that went off no matter where we were we had to go back to our wards and study the scriptures. They had a little packet made up for us and the first day we studied knowledge. This was all independent scripture study. It involved us reading a lot of quotes or little stories given by the prophets and apostles. Some quotes were from The Wizard of Oz. They had little questions here and there asking you to recall what you learned. Then to conclude our study time they gave us an assigned chapter to read in the Book of Mormon.

That night we had a special program given by the YCL 2s which involved singing and acting. They had different stories of girls and the different problems we face and how these girls chose to make the right decision that would lead them to their Heavenly home above.

Saturday we woke up and went to give the devotional on courage ( the lion). We talked about how to have the courage to stand up for what we believe in and the courage to do what's right. Our rotations we went to that day was an obstacle course, a dance class ( they taught us some line dances), a shoe making class ( we had red flip flops that we made flowers to go on and we put red sparkles on like the ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz), and a class on Courage. The class was taught by a lady from the Highland ward. We talked about having courage in our lives and that courage doesn't mean your not afraid. Having courage means you do something even if you are afraid. You will be fearful a lot of the time but as long as you still do what's right, then that means you have courage. She then told us the story of Ester.

Later that afternoon we had our tornado watch and we studied about courage.

We then had time to practice our Lip Syncs. We performed our lip syncs, then we prepared for Glitz and Glamour in the Emerald City. We had to bring fancy clothes to wear for this evening. Some people really dressed up in sparkly dresses and skirts and others just put on a boa and did more simple dressing up. I did the more simple kind. That night we had a carnival where they had cotton candy, game booths, juice that were all different colors, hamburgers, face painting, and other carnival type things. It was really fun! After that they had a fear factor show since the theme was courage for the day. After that we had a dance party where they put on a ton of music and we all danced. Line dances and free style dances.

The next day was Sunday and we got up early to give our devotional which was on the pure in heart ( the tin man). We talked about how the pure in heart is how we create Zion, the pure in heart will see God, and you have to have a pure heart to go to the Temple. Then we went to Sacrament meeting and Young Women's. The Young Women lesson was on having a pure heart. We then got to spend time with our home ward. From the time we got to Girls Camp until now we had spent all of our time with the Greenfield ward but on Sunday they let us spend time with our own ward. We had lunch with our wards and when the tornado watch siren went on we went to our own ward's atties and studied on our own about the Pure in Heart. Later that afternoon we had a fireside talk by President Wood. He talked about the ruby red slippers and how all along Dorthy had them. Since the start of the journey down the yellow brick road she had what she needed to get back home and so do we. He compared the ruby red slippers to the white slippers that you wear in the temple. He also talked about how families can be together forever. After that we had dinner and then they did this really special fireside that night. They blind folded us and we went through Christ's life by touching objects, and smelling things, and tasting things. It was mainly by touch though. As we felt the different things they had an audio going telling us about Christ's life. It was also filled with many songs about Christ. When it told of Christ being a baby we held a baby doll. When He was baptized they put our hand in water. They put the cross on our backs when he was lifted on the cross and in short, they took us through Christ's entire life through touch. It was a really neat experience. Afterwords we had a testimony meeting with our own wards and because of the program we had just had, a lot of testimonies were about Christ. Monday morning we woke up, packed our bags, and went home. Overall it was a really great Girls Camp. We went one day less than normal because they wanted to end camp in a spiritual way. Because we went one day less than normal we did all of the certification before Girls Camp. As a YCL 1 I taught certification and my topic was what to do when your lost. I told the story of how my cousin Anthony along with some other boys got lost. We did that way back in March though. We also did our hike before we went to Girls Camp. It was a really neat experience and I can't wait till next year!

Because there is no place like home, how do you get there?

First you have to know how to. You have to know of the Gospel and increase in knowledge. Then you have to have the courage to do what you must do to return home. Last but not least you must be pure in heart.