Youth Conference 2018

Youth Conference 2018 -- Peace in Christ

Last week I had the awesome opportunity to attend a Quad Stake Youth Conference in our area.  Our Stake's Young Women's president {who was in charge of the whole thing and is in our ward} asked me a couple of weeks ago if I'd be willing to come on board and help out as an extra set of hands to help with anything that might pop up.  When I realized that it wouldn't be that difficult to arrange for my kids to be taken care of while I was gone, I happily accepted the offer.  As an added bonus, Ethan was there as well.  ;)

The Conference started Thursday morning and wrapped up on Saturday afternoon.  Take Your Kid To Work Day happened to coincide with that first day, so Grace only had Isaac to watch while the rest of the kids went with Scott.  I didn't want to overload Grace with another whole day of watching ALL of the kids for me, so for Friday afternoon, a friend from church kindly agreed to take Sophie through Isaac over to her house to play with her kids instead.  {Spoiler alert -- Grace went from being overloaded and aggravated with all of the kids, to being completely and totally bored once they were gone.  As a result, I spent most of Thursday and Friday fielding text bombs from her of how bored she was and how these were the worst two days of her life.}

 (Alex was thrilled to finally be old enough to join in for Take Your Kid to Work Day.)

 (Lunch at Panera.)

Oh Grace. 😑

While my family was persevering on the home front, I got to feel like a youth again and relive my glory days of dorm-living.  Hahaha.  J/K.  I still felt way too old to be a youth, but I do have to say that it was surprisingly nostalgic and fun to be sleeping in a dorm once again (even if there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on).  With close to 500 youth registered for the experience, it was a bit daunting to keep tabs on everyone, but overall, things worked out beautifully.  Sure there were a few snags, but for the most part, everything rolled smoothly along and the participants were cooperative and dependable.

(I could totally pass for a 14-18 year old, right???  Hahahahaha.)

The days were jam packed with get-to-know-you activities, dances, workshops, devotionals, and fun. Even though I was busy behind the scenes much of the time trying to help make sure things were running smoothly, I was still able to sit in on several of the workshops and devotionals that were presented and my soul was fed and fortified.  More than anything, I was impressed, amazed and in awe of the depth and strength of the Youth of this Church.  My spirit was touched and my testimony was strengthened OVER and OVER and OVER again during the course of the Conference.

The Variety Show on Night 1 was a crowd pleaser.

The dances, however, couldn't have been further from Ethan's definition of a good time.  Hahahaha.  To quote him exactly: "I don't understand how anyone actually thinks this is fun."

(In case you were wondering, he refused to ask anyone to dance, and he didn't join in any of the group dancing.)

{One of the companies with a few girls from our ward.}

The main devotional on Friday was given by Brother Michael Hicks and it was AMAZING.  He incorporated music throughout his remarks and it was so powerful. The spirit in the room was palpable.  As we all stood together and sang his arranged medley of "As Sisters in Zion" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth," I could hardly get the words out through the veil of tears covering my eyes.  And as we ended the devotional by joining in to sing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," I could pretty much only stand there and wipe the tears from my cheeks.  Ethan told me afterwards that he felt like THIS devotional was the reason why he needed to come to Youth Conference.  {Ethan was more than a little resistant to attending beforehand.  Moving and being thrown in with a crowd of new people is not really in his top ten of super comfortable things to do.  Nevertheless, we gave him the choice of whether or not to attend and he decided on his own to do it.  I'm so glad that he did!  He had a really great experience, even in SPITE of the two dances.  Hahahaha.}

Brother Hicks

Ethan's roommate, David -- AKA "Kid 7" in our family.  ;)

(Hard at work on a service project during one of the workshops.)

Some of the Youth from our ward on the last day of Conference.  I love all these kids so much!

Ethan's Company.

And that's a wrap!  I can't wait for next year -- hopefully, I'll get talked into going to help once again. :)