I made some changes with the old "Laurel High Adventure". We don't use the name Laurels anymore, and the Stake YM President wasn't planning on a YM adventure because they were out of money. It feels like this should be combined so all can do the same thing and no one misses out. The stake YW still have some money! Going forward, our plan is to take all the youth in the stake that are about to start their senior year in High School and let them experience a day of fun adventure together. My desire is to plan adventures they may likely never get to experience otherwise.
We have a guy in our stake who is passionate about rock climbing and volunteered to spend two full days at girls camp teaching the younger girls. He was more than happy to assist in a full day again with the older youth. He knows of the perfect canyon with a wall of conglomerate rock that apparently rock climbing die-hards from all over the world come to climb. He and a friend would camp out the night before to save our spot and we'd get the kids there bright and early to beat the heat and climb away!
I remember going down to Moab with friends during a few Spring Breaks. We would camp in Potash and spend the weekend rock climbing. With rock climbing shoes, you feel like Spider Man on those red rocks! It was always so fun and scary and now such a fun memory.
We met the youth at 6am at the stake center that wanted to go and loaded up in cars. About an hour or so away we found the canyon, and the youth enjoyed watching the guy climb up and set clips and run the rope lines. They ran about seven lines along the wall, some easier and some harder. The youth harnessed in and started climbing. They were so careful and slow- it's scary! Even 10 feet up feels like you are much higher than you are. Once they made it all the way up to the tippy top, they had to lean all the way back like they were sitting in a recliner chair and start walking backward down the mountain wall. The belayer on the ground has control of the rope and speed of the descent, so the climber doesn't even need to touch the rope. Some kids were a little shaken when they got to the bottom and needed a minute before they tried again at another spot. It was fun for me to watch them gain more and more confidence and speed throughout the day until finally they would signal at the top that they were ready to be belayed, and would leap off the mountain backwards and kick off each time they touched the wall, bouncing all the way down to the bottom. What a rush!
It reminded me of when Eli came home from a young men's camp where there was a confidence course high up off the ground. He was harnessed in, but it was scary for him and he clung to the ropes, watching how high he was off the ground. He saw kids around him leaping from platform to platform, having a great time and he decided he wanted to do that. He decided he would just trust the harness that it would do what it was designed to do. From that moment on, he had a blast! Leaping from platform to platform, he didn't worry about the ground anymore.
I've used this analogy in teaching about Christ. "I Believe in Christ". I do! But do I believe Christ? If I believe His promises are sure, I don't need to worry so much about so many things I don't have control over. I can trust in Him, and know His plan is sure. That gives me the confidence to just go for it, and trust that while being yoked with Him, it will all work out!
We provided lunch for the kids. We got the sandwiches, chips and fruit all set up in the back of the truck. The Young Men couldn't believe the spread and how we thought of everything. Even napkins! The Stake President said sheepishly, "This is how it looks when the women are in charge."
After the kids got their fill of climbing, we took them on a really neat hike through a slot canyon. It was a great day! We as leaders talked about it on the way home. We realized there was no complaining, we never heard, "Are we done yet? When are we leaving?" So different than girls camp ;) It was because every single kid that showed up wanted to try it out and wanted to be there! It was so great!
