Holy Hands!

 Wow my first week as an EFY counselor is over! What an INCREDIBLE week! This is the most rewarding job I have ever had! The spirit is SO strong here 24/7, the kids just think you are the coolest person ever and look up to you so much, the other counselors are a blast to hang with, my teaching skills have greatly increased, I am not as nervous as I used to be, I have never prayed and read my scriptures so much. It is awesome!! I wish my life at home could be constantly teaching about the  gospel to the youth! They are just so great! I had a WONDERFUL group of girls. They were the 14-15 ages and I was super glad to have them as my first week. Since it was most of their 1^st times they were really obedient, modest, and anxious to learn. I had 12 girls that I just absolutely adored!

Every day was filled with great insights, and learning! Monday after getting to know them and stuff we had met the other boys and girls that would make up our company! We had 10 boys and 24 girls! Haha yeeaaahhh lucky boys! There were two boys that were kind of like the ring leaders of the group cause they were the “good-looking boys” and were funny and just naturally got people to listen. I was a little worried at first that they might be trouble makers, but they turned out to be SOLID boys! I had so much fun teasing and joking around with them! Then I had Dallas Thomas in my group which was cool to see and then Hannah Merkley which is my cousins neighbor! So it was refreshing to see some familiar faces! Then also at this session there was my lovely cousin DOLLY!  I was so happy to see her and wished she was my girl, but I still got to see her a lot J  Then Rikki Jarnigan and her friend were dolls! Then we had FHE and played games and such. After that I had my first devotional, which I was nervous for, but it went great and I am just so glad I had the spirit to guide me to what to say! Tuesday we had BC meetings at 6:40 then participant devo, and gospel study and then classes, which were AWEOSME! They had some phenomenal teachers! Then there was the first dance!! It was a blast! I love dancing! Then every night there was devotionals by the counselors which i love! It helps me be a better speaker/lesson giver, which I needed badly! Then wednesday was the usual morning stuff then in the evening it was banner/cheer & game night!! Our banner was tight and our skit was alright... haha they'll get it next year! Games were super fun but we didn't win a single game!! Disappointed. Then i was wearing one of my girls rings and it fell off my finger and I lost it :( i felt so bad!! Thursday was our spiritual day! It was so nice to finally wear something other than my EFY shirt! So we had the usual then split up for the YM/YW activity which was on the Family Proclamation and my BC Abby taught our group and she did a fabulous job! I definitely learned a lot on what I need to do now, as a wife, and as a mother! Then we had the variety show!! One of my own girls was in it and played the piano upside down! It was SWEET! Then everyone else was good, but then the superstar came on. This kid named McKay Hatch. He is the session directors nephew and he lives in California and started a No Cussing Club at his school when he was in 8th grade i believed and it was really a big deal and made it to the news and the media and youth mormon messages have it on the site and the director played the clip earlier in the morning side and he is a cute innocent looking boy and we think that the video made lots of girls fall in love with him. Then when he got on stage to play the guitar and sing (every girls fantasy is to find a boy that does that) all the girls all got giddy. Then he said he wrote this song called "Quench My Heart" and that was what he was performing! As soon as he started singing all the girls were in heaven. He had the perfect voice and the song was seriously so good! All us counselors were like we would definitely buy that song with him singing it on itunes. But all the girls cameras were out and it was just so funny cause they went WILD after he was done. Then after the show was over, girls were lining up to get pictures with him as if he was famous! I cannot tell you how crazy these girls were for him! They acted like he was Justin Bieber! It was hilarious! All the guys were mad cause he just stole every single girl away from them! Ha it was so great and the past 2 days he has had a non stop possey! I thoroughly enjoy watching this madness. Then we had the musical program that night and fireside that was very VERY good. Our session director is such a cool guy and a great speaker! Then we had testimony meeting. I absolutly love testimony meeting. This is when you really get to see the change in your youth and see their love for the Savior grow! It was very good and I am so happy for them all! Today was our last day :( we had the usual morning stuff then had the For Strength of Youth activity then our service project! This years service project was thanking someone who was on campus that served us! We all nominated 2 people earlier in teh week then we received the names of who we had to create a thank you poster for and then either a dance, cheer, or skit. We had Lisa the Du Bois manager, and the dishwashers. I took half of the group and did Lisa and Kade made a cheer to the Fall For You song and we sang it to Lisa and she LOVED it! Then after that was the LAST Dance!! What a blast! We also watched the end of the week video and talked about how we are going to take the goals we made here and take them home with us and continue to live them! Followed by a company devotional and goodbyes! Now all the counselors have to stay up pretty late monitoring the halls and stairwells to make sure no youth sneak out. I am assigned one of the stairwells and it is pretty boring!! But hey i was able to do this whole blog during the time so I guess there is some good out of it! Last week they stayed up til 1:30... which is in 15 minutes, so hopefully we get to bed soon cause I drive to Santa Barbara tomorrow :) I am stoked!! The food is way better there than it is here and I get to stay with Mia tomorrow night and heck I will be in CALIFORNIA!!!  I wanna get out of this stairwell and SLEEP!!