I Survived

Today at church, in sacrament meeting, the Young Women held their annual program. I'm so glad that it is over. I was stressing about my talk and how all the logistics of the program were going to go. To stress things out even more, three of my girls that were slated to speak did not show. It's a good thing that I anticipated this might happen and asked both of my counselors to be ready if needed.

So, we had three girls speak and all of the young women presidency spoke as well. Thank goodness for counselors who were ready and did a wonderful job filling in the time, so I didn't have to go on forever. I think that was best for everyone involved. :)

Although, we started out a little chaotic, with three girls not showing, we still pulled off an excellent program. The spirit was very strong, and I know that the girls that kept their commitments and delivered their talks will be blessed and grow their testimonies even more.

During the program we performed a musical number as a group. We sang one of my favorite hymns, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." It was beautiful. I have provided the music below for your listening pleasure as you continue to read the rest of this post.

Enjoy:

At the end of the summer, we try to hold our annual Young Women's program so that we can report on all the great things we have done as a Young Women's group during the summer months. Summer is a busy time for the youth program in the church because we do lots of activities like:

Going to Girl's Camp.

Girls camp is a week long camp where the girls go with other young women in the area to learn skills, escape the world, have some fun, and most importantly to develop their testimonies and grow closer to their Heavenly Father.

I was lucky enough to go up and spend some time with my girls. We shared lots of wonderful moments together having fun and feeling the spirit. Some highlights for me were the night we spent star gazing as we pondered God's love for us, our group devotional, and the sunrise devotional one morning when we woke up very early to watch the last space shuttle arrive back into the atmosphere. Following that, we were blessed to hear a devotional and read scripture. It's always nice to get away and escape the everyday routine and just enjoy the little things.

Here are a few of my girls in action at camp:

Brittany:

Rhonda:

The best alligator impression you will ever see from Ivy:

Moriah and Beverly:

The girls enjoyed other activities this summer like Youth Conference and a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to visit some church history sights, but our summer is never complete without a trip to the Temple.

Florida currently has only one temple and that is located in Orlando. It's a full half-day event for us just to get over there and back, so we always try to make the trip during the summer. It is always a wonderful experience to be with these beautiful young ladies (and guys) in the temple.

Some of the Gulfport Branch young men and young women:

A temple trip is not complete without a trip to McDonald's afterwards. YUM!

To reward them for all of their efforts during the summer, we throw a back to school pool party at our place. The girls love to come over, and it is always a fun experience.

Here are the final words from my talk that I gave today that I think is appropriate to end this post with.

I have been so blessed to watch these girls grow in the gospel. Each of them has a beautiful growing testimony that I have both seen and heard. I have witnessed the light in their eyes. They are striving to do what is right and find their way back to our Heavenly Father’s home. I love each one of them dearly and hope and pray that they will remember these choice moments in their life and remember to continue to follow the path of righteousness that will lead them to eternal life by entering into and receiving the ordinances of the temple and by keeping and following the commandments and covenants they make.