"WE BELIEVE!"

It's 9 AM in the morning on June 2nd. There's many kids gathered together at the stake building on Brown Road with pillows, ukuleles, suitcases, air mattresses, and swimsuits. Why all this stuff?

Three words: Stake Youth Conference.

Heck yeah. They all hop in their vans and take the 45 minute trip over to Superior, AZ. They are welcomed graciously at the steps of the old Superior High School building by their soon-to-be Youth Counselors from the Singles Ward. (The building was actually closed down back in 2000, but somebody bought the place years later for who-knows-what-reason.) After being placed on different teams, they get to work on their banners and cheers for certain competitions to be held later on in the week. I, myself, was a part of the Blue Team with two awesome counselors(:

...Making our team banner!

(Alex Baird Photography)

And this was also our cheer as we threw one of our teammates, Adam, back and forth: 

(Loyal and True; Royal Team Blue!)

Too bad it didn't get us first place, but we still had team spirit...

We did, however, get to do lots of games and work together as we competed against the other teams. I mean, come on, it's YOUTH CONFERENCE. What is it without playing games all day, really? Well, we definitely worked our hardest on each challenge, but in the long run, it was really fun to get to know everybody on Royal Team Blue and work with each other as well. As part of the challenges, each team was given fifteen minutes to build a boat out of cardboard, Duct Tape, and noodles (the swimming kind.) These boats would be used for the races that would be held at the city pool later that week, so our strategy was to cover the entire thing with Duct Tape.

We ended up using about 5 rolls for this baby.

Hahaha, sad to say, our boat was the first to go down. Although, I gotta admit, it was quite hilarious watching it sink and break apart so quickly, literally within the first twenty seconds of the race. 

...The aftermath of Royal Team Blue's boat.

Besides all the games that everybody did, we were able to put together a variety show for the youth. I was lucky enough to be in it, but not so lucky when I realized I had to go after many INCREDIBLE acts. One of them, I had to name, was a medley of different songs done by Brock (a crazy-good drummer) and Kylar (an amazing pianist). Another one was a man who danced to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson, and he did an awesome job, too! And then... there was me. Sitting on the chair, singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on my ukulele, and I can't tell you how much I did NOT wanna be on stage. But I figured I might as well relax and enjoy the time I had up there, and so that's what I did. As I kept singing, I felt more peaceful within myself and just began to let loose with what I had to offer the youth. Luckily, they enjoyed it, which I was really happy about, and I was so glad I could be a part of an amazing show like this...

On the breaks that we got, I liked to spend a lot of time with my wonderful 61st Ward girls:

...Sportin' our awesome Otter Pops! 

(We practically lived off of them during Youth Conference.)

...Gettin' hyped up for the dance!

(Party animals, oh yeahhhh.)

PICTURE PERFECT (;

(Alex Baird Photography)

We also had a bunch of great workshops that we took part in, but I'd like to briefly share my two favorites. The first one I went to was called "We Can't Do Hard Things... Alone," taught by Daniel Walker; it was very moving and definitely brought the spirit in. He talked to us about his son with Downs' Syndrome and showed us a video of him right after he had gotten surgery because of his heart problems. During the video, as the sweet little boy was crying because he had trouble walking, the man's wife commentated in the background, "Yeah, I know, buddy. We all have to do things that we don't wanna do..." And at that point, I was in tears. I'm so grateful to know that Heavenly Father will never let us down and is always willing to help us every step of the way. And I truly know that He gives us trials and tribulations to make us even stronger than we realize, all because He loves us.

The second workshop I really enjoyed was "Eternal Roles For Men And Women," taught by Cory Ellsworth, the man who wrote the play 1856. I loved his testimony of how men should treat women and how women should support men. He explained specifically how young men could obtain the priesthood and remain worthy of holding it throughout their lives, and he also told them how they ought to see women as angels. He then directed his attention towards us, the young women, and stated that we must remain worthy to go to the temple and also help support the young men in serving missions. He bore his testimony of spending eternity with his family, and he talked to us about how he had lost two of his boys from different accidents that occurred, but because he was sealed previously to his family in the temple, he knew that he would see his two sons again someday. I know that this is exactly the type of family I want someday; an eternal family. And I hope I can do everything I can at this point to prepare myself for the temple and the blessings that come from within it....

It was sad (yet somewhat of a relief) to return home on Saturday, June 4th later that afternoon.We were done with the air mattresses that kept deflating and the moths that would randomly appear in our room. The food, however, was very good and satisfying to us all. The testimony meeting ended Youth Conference with a very spiritual and meaningful feeling. It's hard to doubt that I thoroughly enjoyed it all.

 It was a great experience that I'll never forget, and I cannot wait to go next year; except this time, I won't be wearing my capris and T-shirts all day and playing my ukulele.

Instead, I'll be pushing a handcart over a few miles everyday and sweatin' in my awesome pioneer clothes...(;