On June 19, the South Jordan River Stake youth and leaders made their way to Snow College for a fabulous Youth Conference experience. When we arrived, we had an opening orientation from our youth and stake leaders. We then made our way to our apartments at Park Place where we were delighted to find roomy accommodations for the entire stake.
The first activity that we did after unloading the cars was spending time at the Activities Center and Badger Blast games. At the Activities Center, we had the choice to go swimming, play volleyball, basketball, or learn line dancing. During the Badger Blast games, we played several fun games including some I have never heard of-flag tag, and hugging rugby.
That night, our stake went to the Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant. We had fun waiting for the pageant to start in front of the beautiful Manti Temple. Everyone had a great spiritual experience during the production and came away with a wonderful feeling. When we got back to the apartments that night, the real fun began. Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, the Bishopric got out four gallons of ice cream, several bags of chips, and lots of other treats.
The next day after breakfast, we had our individual ward time. After playing volleyball and visiting for a while, we had a nice devotional given by the Bishopric in a small pavilion near our apartments. It was great just spending time with our ward and having fun with one another.
Later that afternoon, we participated in Snow Follies, a series of water and outdoor games with our stake, as well as several other youth groups. The first game we played was crab soccer where we all were in “crab position” trying to kick a giant green ball to the other team's goal. While we were trying to kick the ball around, we were being sprayed by the hose. We sure did get wet! Some of the other activities we did were sliding down a giant slip'n'slide, playing parachute, walking across a series of sticks held up by others, playing the sponge game, and racing each other down a giant blow up water slide. The Snow Follies concluded with a giant water fight, everyone for themselves. No one left the field dry.
After cleaning up, we went to the church for a closing fireside with the stake president. While we were waiting for the fireside to begin, our ward played the hand game where everyone lays in a circle with both hands in the circle. Each hand must tap the floor in the right order or that person is out. The fireside was another great spiritual builder. We began by singing the EFY medley. The spirit was so strong as we all joined voices in singing this powerful song. The stake president then spoke about how we must put on the “Whole Armor of God”. After the fireside, we went back to campus for the dance. We had a lot of fun being crazy and dancing the night away.
Youth Conference was a great experience for everyone who came. There were times to feel the spirit and times to be crazy and have fun. Everyone was able to take something new away from the experience and build relationships with others.
