Nauvoo

I am the first Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency and it is one heck of a good time. Don't get me wrong, it's also a lot of work, but I work with some AMAZING ladies and the youth are so freaking awesome. I love them all. 

Instead of doing girls camp this year, our ward gathered the young men and young women and went for a week long stay in Nauvoo-Missiouri. It was incredible. 

Our two camp directors along with our young women board have planned this since last year when I first was called into Young Women's. Then we all started really pushing it all together in January. 

It was a busy half year and then just like that it was time to load on the bus and get going. 

We had to be at the church by 4:30am which meant us leaders needed to be there by 4 to make sure an adult was there with any early arrivers. Then there was a mishap with the bus and it actually didn't arrive until 6:30! It was awful and the kids weren't too pleased but they spent their morning just playing and talking and we surprised them with donuts. So in the end everyone was happy. 

Some of leaders getting everyone loaded and happy on the bus! 

All geared up ready to go!

Getting the last few stragglers on the bus and then we were off for a 15 hour drive up to Nauvoo!

Our bus ride/car rides went as expected. Sort of. We had to stop in Tennessee to switch drivers and then we stopped again for dinner. When it was my turn to ride the bus, everything was going smoothly and then all of the sudden we heard this super loud bang! The driver thought someone threw something at her! haha turns out a rock or something super hard flung up from the road and shattered the drivers side window! It was scary but it meant that we had to get another bus that night.

We pulled into our cabins about 12:30am and we were all sooooo happy to have finally arrived! 

Our first morning there we had to be awake and ready by 7am to have breakfast and get ready to go to the Temple. I was so so so so excited to finally be able to see the Nauvoo Temple.

We were put into "Groups" We were the MerryWeather group. It took a bit for everyone to warm up to each other but in the end we all became best buddies and even the "too cool for this" kids were having a blast. I loved our group!

We first went to the visitors center and we were talked to by the mission president and the Temple President. It was really cool. We then got to explore the temple grounds. 

Our Young Women 

Our Young Men 

The Temple was beautiful and I loved being there. More than I could ever say. 

We got to go do baptisms for the dead and it was beautiful. I literally cried the entire time. It was so incredible to see the Priests, these 16-18 year old boys who were acting all too cool to be there and then to see that change as they did baptisms for the youth. It was so amazing. I mean I love those boys so much for that. 

We got to ride in a lot of wagons over the week and this was our first ride. 

That night we went to an outdoor play "Down by the Mississippi" and the boys got to participate in one of the children's parade. 

Leader love 

That night we had dinner devotional and the boys headed back to their cabin. Then us girls got to really play! All of us leaders bought moo-moo's and they were a huge hit. They were so fun to wear with the girls. We then played "To tell the Truth". It got funny fast and we learned a lot about each other that night! 

The next morning was breakfast and the boys were patiently "not so patiently" waiting outside for us to let them in. 

That day we got to explore Nauvoo. We learned all about Black Smiths and different bakery shops. Just how they were back when the saints lived there. It was pretty cool. 

Later that day we headed over to Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was shot. This was the original door. It was so overwhelming. We got a tour of the jail and we heard all the stories. It was amazing! 

We then had a few moments to reflect on our feelings. Someone snapped this picture of me. I was writing like a mad women. so many feelings that day. 

That night we went and did the "Trail of Hope" where the pioneers lined up their handcarts to cross the river to go west. It was cool and long. We were all pretty tired and ready for the end of the night. 

Randomly enough I ran into a long time family friend so I had to get a picture. 

Matching T-shirt Day! This day was a lot of fun of exploring and just hanging out. It was our last day in Nauvoo before we headed to Independence so we made the most of it. We shopped, ate and just played all throughout the town. 

Game time on the bus! 

A butterfly landed on one of the girl's legs while we were wagon riding. 

Loved walking past the Temple everyday! 

Part of the land that Joseph Smith's house was/is is actually owned by the Community Christ Church. You have to pay to go through there. It's actually a funny story our relationship with this church. They told us we couldn't take any pictures. Oops. 

After spending our afternoon doing all the tours and going through all the buildings, we all headed back to the cabins, had dinner and ended the night with a song one of our leaders wrote (Which was AMAZING!!) and a devotional to end the night! 

We woke up the next morning bright and early, got breakfast and headed over to Missouri. We stopped half way and had Chick Fil A for all the kids. It was a mad house but Chick Fil A was totally awesome at serving us all. They were prepared and handled it like champs. We were extremely grateful. 

Then we made it to Missouri and did a tour at the Community of Christ Church. This church was founded by Joseph Smith's son. He stayed back when the Saints headed west. So this church has A LOT of similarities to the Mormon church and it had the kids and leaders asking all sorts of questions. 

I do want to share this. After spending a couple of hours in this Church, we then crossed the street over to the visitors center to Liberty Jail for our Church. People it was an incredible distinct feeling being in the two different places. It felt really good to be in our building, a dedicated building where I knew the spirit was there. It was incredible! And every one of us felt the difference. 

After spending the evening doing the church tours, we headed to our camp site. Some of the Young Men leaders went ahead of us and set up all the tents for us. It was so much work and we were very appreciative. 

Camp fires and fun until late into the night. Then we went to bed and just felt instantly wet. It was soooooooo humid and all of us leaders were crammed into one tent for the sake of space. It was so comical and we were dying. But then we realized how tired we were and we were out cold! 

When we woke up the next morning we loaded back on the bus for an 8 hour ride. We gave all the kids back their cell phones and other devices. It was so nice not having those as a distraction over the week. 

We all drove back and got back to the church around 5pm. We were all so exhausted and ready to be home. 

It was an incredible trip and I am so grateful to have been apart of it. It was unique to be with the youth and see all the tender mercies that happened over the week. We were truly protected and watched over. 

So glad to be apart of this youth program. To work with such incredible leaders and incredible youth. I love them all dearly!