The Amazin Race of LIfe

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend our stake youth conference with the Mountain Pointe 10 Th ward and I was so thrilled to get to know the kids better throughout the trip.
The theme for this year was " The Amazing Race of Life" and how hopefully through living righteously and learning that all roads will lead you to the temple and then ultimately "The Celestial Kingdom".
We started this adventure on Friday morning at 8 am. The kids were groggy and not quite sure what to expect. As we divided them into 3 teams and handed out their first clue they immediately felt their competitive juices coming alive. Lisa Henry (Convert) was our driver and I (The Lady) was the videographer for the Green team. (A special thanks to Lisa and her husband who had Nike sponsor our team with green hats, water bottles, and unlimited amounts of green gum).We were nicknamed by our team as we were filling out a questionnaire at the Church museum and the volunteer told the kids that they could seek help from their leaders if they needed it. One of our boys immediately scoffed and pointed to us and said "Yeah right, look who we have for help, Convert and The lady. We will forever be known to our kids as so.

The race started in Draper where we performed service and cleaned the church building and continued on to Salt Lake where the youth had the opportunity to take a turn in missionary work, and hand out a Pass along card to someone on Main Street. We headed from there up to This is the Place Monument where we had to find certain names and etch them on paper, and then continued to Sugar House Park. Here the kids had to put the book of Mormon books in order, and had lunch as a team (tied together while they made their lunch and ate it). From there it was up to Park City with a few more obstacles, a run down the Alpine slide and later to the park for water and games. To bring the evening to a close we stayed at a gorgeous home in Park city and ate yummy Navajo tacos. As the sun set we sat in the backyard with an incredible view and had a spectacular devotional by the bishop about overcoming trials and how they make us stronger.

The next morning we had breakfast and then tubed the Provo river.

I don't remember the water being so high it was really moving and we had a few mishaps. Everyone came out of it alive thank goodness and we convened at the park for a BBQ and some rest. Our final destination was the "soon-to-be" Draper Temple where we had a speaker bring things to a close.

I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this weekend was for me. I see the Young Women every Sunday and Wednesday and sometimes more than that. But the thing is I don't get that special one-on-one time with the girls that I had during youth conference. I got to know the girls and boys so much better and I realized what strong individuals they truly are. Sometime I don't think we give them enough credit. We see these 12 and 14 yr olds constantly goofing off and being loud and we automatically think that they don't care about learning. When it comes right down to it these kids are smart. They do listen, even when you are sure they are not. I am so grateful for all that I learned from our youth this trip and for the wonderful light they bring to our ward.
Than you to all those who participated this year and for all the leaders who made this experience possible.