Youth Conference '10 Kirtland Ohio!!!!

Amy at the service project
Amy helping sweet Michael get all of his stuff on the big truck!!

Me and Melissa at 4:30 in the morning at registration :)

The Vans getting ready to hit the road to Kirtland!!

What cute girls!! Diana, Lauren, Rachel and sweet Amy

Amy's van group, they were NOT happy when they got split up for the ride home so a van could be used for high adventure, NOT happy at all!!

The COOLEST port a potty EVER!!!

It IS still a port a potty!!!

The group photo after Testimony meeting, all those fabulous youth!!!

Sarah's awesome group!!

Sarah and Annie

Amy and her best friend Matt

Getting ready for the long ride home!!

Amy, Rachel and Lauren

Taty, Lauren, Becca, Rachel and Amy are great buddies!!

Lauren, Amy and Sarah are very sad that Youth Conference is over!!

We had an amazing 3 days in Kirtland, Ohio for Youth Conference this year!! It was a life changing experience for the youth in our Stake and I felt lucky and blessed to be able to be there and share the experience with Sarah and Amy and the other fabulous youth and leaders. We took 15 12-15 passenger vans and divided the youth into groups with different kids from various wards so they could get to know new people. They quickly bonded with their Van groups and made many new, close friendships on this trip. There have been many gatherings of kids since we have returned. It would warm my heart to see "our vans" out on the road with the kids making "Proud to be Mormon" signs and sticking them in the window. We spent Thursday traveling, visiting one site and doing a couple service projects before checking into the dorms. Some leaders stayed in hotels,I was in the dorm (not air conditioned!!) with the girls. We had a great time. We got settled, had dinner in the cafeteria and spent the night playing games: beach volleyball, tag, basketball, soccer, football, they could do crafts or watch a movie, had fun snacks and ended the night with devotionals with their groups.

Thursday we toured the sights: we went to the Visitors center where the N.C. Whitney Store is and other sights and saw a movie about the Whitney family. We also toured the Johnson farm and saw the farm where Joseph Smith was taken from his bed and tarred and feathered and beaten so badly. We toured the Kirtland Temple and our tour guide obviously loved that Temple so much and was so respectful of our Church and let us sing as a group "The Spirit of God" Our group also went to the Morley farm to tour but I helped with the lunches there and did not tour. The highlight there though was the port a potties!! These were not your typical port a potty mind you!! When you walk in the walls were a cherry wood and they have "O Divine Redeemer" piped in and playing the whole time and festive soaps and lotions, BUT a port a potty it still is!!! The girls and I could not stop laughing, LOVED IT!!

The highlight of the trip was Sacrament meeting that night in the Kirtland Temple after hearing all day the sacrifices of the Saints in Kirtland and the miracles which had happened in the Temple. We had a devotional outside the Temple before we went in for the meeting and from the start the Spirit was so strong. The music was just amazing. Both Sarah and Amy were in the choir and it was unbelievable. When they sang "In this very room" Wow!! The talks were wonderful and when we all sang "The Spirit of God" it was a moment I will never forget seeing all the youth touched so deeply. As Stake leaders we had a memento for everyone so we greeted each youth as they left and everyone was so reverent and most were crying as they left the Temple and we were the last to leave and as we walked out of the Temple not one person had started to walk towards the vans, everyone was gathered at the foot of the Temple, hugging and crying and looking up at the Temple. It was a moment I will never forget and as I went and found Sarah and Amy and hugged them it was just a tiny glimpse into what I imagine it will be like when we find out loved ones up in Heaven.

The next day we had Fast and Testimony meeting and it was such a treat to sit back and hear how much the youth had their testimonies strengthened. Then it was lunch and home we went. What a great 3 days!! I will never forget Kirtland and the early Saints!!