June was the month of camping. Literally. 4 weekends in a row, and some of those full weeks. At the first of the month, due to various circumstances I found myself throwing things into a bag, with 5 minutes of warning that I was going up to girls camp for the week. The girls had left on the bus 30 minutes earlier, and didn’t have any leaders going or that would be there to greet them due to unforeseen circumstances. I left my family with our good friends not sure if I would be returning that night or at the end of the week.
I had no idea what had been planned for the week, what food I was supposed to cook, or what was really going on. All I knew was that I had peace, I knew things would work out ok, and that I didn’t need to worry about my family.
Ironically months earlier after my miscarriage, I had been in turmoil trying to decide whether to volunteer to go as a leader or not. I was emotionally unstable, exhausted, tired and yet wasn’t sure if I needed to be going for the girls. After weeks of prayer, fasting and going to the temple I finally only had peace when I decided that I was not going. I knew I wasn’t supposed to go. The events that happened after that to find other leaders and growing experiences with the girls were unreal, and ironically I found myself packing myself up to go to camp with the complete peace that it was ok for me to go, and in fact that I was SUPPOSED to be there. The Lord works in miraculous ways.
The minute I was in the mountains I knew I was supposed to be there, and I did not want to leave. My soul needed healing and quiet introspective time that I could not get at home with 4 little ones around me all the time. I needed things that only the Lord knew I needed, and experienced numerous things at camp that were literally life changing for me. That week turned out to be a major highlight of my life. I saw miraculous things happen, I developed a stronger friendship with another leader, I grew to love my priesthood holders more than I ever have, I gained strong testimony of things I didn’t have a testimony of prior, and I left with some clear direction as to some very specific things in my life. I left knowing God knew me personally, that he knew the condition of my heart and that it needed changing, and he knew it would only happen at Girls Camp. It would only happen in the mountains in his majestic creations and after a sacrifice to serve.
I am so grateful for that week.
The rest of the month we continued to pack in family camping trips, birthday parties, reunions, and Beau got to have his amazing experience with the Lord at Youth Conference for a week. What a growing, exhausting, and packed month. I don’t know if any other month can compete with it, but somehow sometimes I sure it will.
(I’m in love with Angie’s new calendar templates. It’s such a great way to document the events of our lives, in a simple format that still keeps exact dates, and is fun to look at! I can’t wait to keep doing it, and do it for past years!)
