Youth Conference



Top left to right: Chase Lindsey, Braden Summers,
Ethan, Mike Gray, Matt Hanna, Me
Bottom left to right: Devin Durrant, Taylor Roth, Chance Burnham,
 Josh Fenton, Hillary Craner, Amber Hanks, Mandy Haws
Not pictured: Corbin Clarke

This year we went on a stake sponsored youth conference to Snow College in Ephraim for 3 days and 2 nights.  Since we went to a college and this year's theme is "arise and shine forth (D&C 115:5)," they decided to call the conference A&S University.  A&S University's mission was to be a Christ-centered university that focuses on the teaching of the Lord's standards which will lead you to the Lord's temple where you will make and keep sacred covenants.  With the ward split, our numbers were significantly fewer than originally planned for.  Amber was the lone young woman to attend.  Mike Gray is the YM's President, Mandy is the YW's President and Hillary is the YW's 2nd Counselor.  There were about 260 youth in attendance with another 40 or so of adult leaders

In an effort to reduce cost, the stake contracted school busses instead of charter busses...wow.  But, it wasn't that bad.  Although, my thigh was killing me the whole day on Thursday because of the cramped position I sat in the way down.  Ethan's in about the 3rd row on the left with Chance and Matt to his side

Thursday night and Friday morning, as individual wards, we had "devotionals."  The first night, I had to talk to the youth about sexual purity.  We had a good discussion for about 20 minutes or so about what they're facing these days.  Friday morning, Hillary talked to them about "modesty."  The theme was, "modest is hottest."  It really hit home to these youth.  With all the evils facing them, it was good to reinforce the value of integrity.  Hillary and Mandy gave each a candy bar with this homemade wrapper.  I thought it was good.  Women are just so much more naturally creative than men.

Roxy, Dale and Anita's dog, stayed at our house at the same time as youth conference.  Charlie, Anita's stepfather, passed away on the Sunday previous to us going to youth conference.  Charlie and Anita's mom, Jan, live in Laverkin.  So, Dale and Anita took their family down for the funeral and to spend some time with Anita's mom.  Roxy is a beautiful lab.  It made me wish we had a dog again.




The youth participated in fun games like water games the first day and then all the team sports like basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, etc. on the second day.  Those were all fun, although I missed out on the water games because of spending some time with 1 young man who was struggling with depression.  It was the first time in my life I had someone confide in me their inner struggles of wanting to possibly commit suicide.  The spirit was with us for the next couple hours as we discussed what was going on in his life.  Sometimes, people just needs someone they can talk to, and I was glad I was able to be there and help this young man.  He did a lot better the remainder of the time.  I just hope he will be able to get better as he continues with normal life in a normal setting.

I was able to do swimming in the morning before everyone else got up and did some laps.  It was good but minimal in comparison to the Echo Lake Triathlon I missed out on which I had previously signed up for months ago.  I was sad to miss out on that but happy to spend some time with this group.

The conference was full of spiritual renewal activites as well.  Friendships and bonds were made, dance moves were learned, some indexing was accomplished during free time, and youth topic-related classes were provided.  At the conclusion, they had a testimony meeting.  63 bore their testimonies over the 2 hour long meeting.  One cute occurrence was with a young woman who has down syndrome.  She was extremely difficult to understand with her speech, but the spirit was pretty intense during her testimony.  She was loved and admired by all the youth.  It was great to see her give her mom a huge hug afterwards in which they embraced for nearly a minute...so cute! 

Another 17-year old young man talked about his father.  His father had attended every youth conference with him in previous years.  He then said, "It was hard for me to get up because I didn't want to.  This was the first year my dad has not come to youth conference with me since he was called to his heavenly home."  It was touching to witness the deep love and respect he had for his deceased father.