On Saturday, we had an awesome Youth Conference. Our theme was "Fight for the Right". We started early at the church where we received our name tags and colored bandanas that divided us into Nephite teams. Team Teancum was blue; Team Helaman was green and Team Moroni was orange. We began with an introduction from Sister Bird talking about Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. We talked about challenges we are facing today and then created our own Title of Liberty which included haivng courage, respect and love for each other, teamwork and trust, and the gospel at the forefront of our lives.
Orientation and Opening: Jayden, Juliana, Paytene, Patch, Allie, Alaynah, Sister Jones, Brent, and the Marriott's
To get us going, our Youth Conference Coordinators, Brother and Sister Hinton, had created a fun Risk-type game where we had to work together to conquer a land. We used the bandanas to tie ourselves together in groups of two to four. The gym was filled with our team-colored balloons and the challenge was to get to a balloon while being tied together, pop it, and then either take the sticker and place it strategically on the map or read one of the challenges that were in the balloons. The green team was very fast and finished before everyone . . . however, that gave the other teams more time to conquer other areas on the map where the blue team eventually won. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get us working together.
Sister and Brother Hinton explaining the rules
Chandi, Kynz and Jason
Kaycee, Caitlyn and Tyler
Alaynah, Allie, Brent and Paytene
Braden, Jessica and Maddy
Brother Toki and Michael
Juliana, Jayden and Patch
Sam, Denver and Natalie
Sister Marriott and Sister Clark
Brother Toki and Michael
Brother Toki really going after those balloons
Alaynah racing to get her stickers up.
Feet tangled up . . . let's go!
Paytene, Brent, Allie, Alaynah
Juliana and Patch working together to help keep Jayden from falling
Jason and Kynz
Working strategy on the map
After the game, we were ready to start serving. In our colored teams, we went out into our ward neighborhood with a list of services that we could provide and point values assigned to each. We had two hours to see how much service we could provide and who could get the most points. We did a lot of weeding, washed cars, mowed lawns, walked a dog, cleaned a microwave, all sorts of things. It was great to talk and serve our neighbors and they seemed to really appreciate what we were able to do. In the end the green team was victorious with the most points, but everyone was a winner by helping so many people out.
Sister Jones, Brent, Paytene and Alaynah
Brent, Allie, and Alaynah
Kynz, Chandi, Brother Toki, Jason and Michael
Next was lunch where we took a much needed break to gear up for our afternoon.
Juliana
James and Brent
Jessica
Keeley, Maddy and Alaynah
Allie and Caitlyn
Chandi and Kynz
Michael and Brother Toki
Braden and Patch
Jason and Teem
Natalie, Jayden, and Denver
Sister and Brother Marriott
Sister Clark and Kaycee
After lunch we were ready to head to our next challenge, the CLAS ropes course. We stayed in our groups and had the chance to do a variety of challenges that really pushed us. They tested our courage, our faith in ourselves and in each other, and helped us to realize that we can do hard things and also to realize that we are never alone. We are here to help, serve and look out for each other.
Instruction at the CLAS ropes course
Kaycee, Tyler and Brother Jones
Brother Christensen, Teem, Brother Tok, Kynz, Jason and Caitlyn trying to work on the ring
Chandi and Jason
Denver and Sam
Shall we Dance . . . Natalie and Keeley trying to balance on a thin beam
Jannelle and Jessica
Braden working hard to figure out what size of boards went where in order to build a bridge for others to cross.
Maddy and Natalie
Allie and Alaynah
Brent
Juliana
Jayden
James
Patch working hard to help everyone across
Our fearless leaders, Brother and Sister Hinton
Juliana and James working together to get across a thin cable
Sam and Natalie
Brother Toki, Michael, Teem, Brother Jones, Caitlyn, Kynz, Jason, Chandi and Kaycee - Their challenge was to distribute their weight evenly so the long was evenly balanced.
Chandi and Kaycee
Juliana, Allie, Jayden, Brent and Alaynah
Brent and Juliana
Race to get the ball down . . . we had the record breaking record of 4.2 seconds. Keeley and Braden are visible in this pic.
Jannelle, Denver and Natalie
Maddy, Keeley, Natalie and Jannelle
Tyler overcoming his fear of jumping off and flying through the air in the Leap of Faith challenge.
Jason after his leap of faith
Paytene getting ready to conquer her fear of heights to ride the zipline
Michael ready to go
Brother Toki who did some Samoan chest pounding and chants to get himself geared up to take his leap of faith.
Kaycee
Patch going for the ring. This was a true leap of faith as you notice that he is missing something very important on his head . . . a helmet!
Kynz
Patch, Denver, Jannelle, Jayden, Natalie and Maddy
Caitlyn
Chandi flying through the air after taking a "leap of faith"
Allie and Alaynah
Maddy on the giant swing
Juliana
Brent, Jessica and Jannelle
Maddy and Alaynah
Patch and Allie
Sister Marriott getting all strapped in.
After an incredible time at the ropes course, we came back to the church to talk about what we had learned and we had a little time before dinner where we got to enjoy some refreshing otter pops and play frisbee in the parking lot. Even Bishop Campos took off his jacket to join us. then it was on to get cleaned up for dinner. The Hinton's served a delicious meal of chicken cordon bleu, baked potatoes and green beans. We also fested on yummy rolls and ended with a piece of "Fight for the Right" chocolate cake and ice cream.
Jayden, Brother and Sister Marriott, Chandi and Kynz
Jason, Braden, Patch and Michael
Allie and Caitlyn
Paytene and Jessica
Teem and Juliana
Sister Sorenson and Sister Clark
Natalie, Maddy, Jannelle, and Alaynah
Kaycee and Denver
Jones Family: Meredith, Nick and Berkley
Sam and Keeley
Brother Tilby and Brother Libberton
We concluded with a talk by Brother Libberton about the physical and spiritual battles we face and how to overcome those. We had an awesome testimony meeting and some final thoughts by Bishop Campos and Brother Jones. It was a great day and we appreciate all of those who helped to make it possible.
Braden and Patch at the end of a long, wonderful day.
Learning the Thriller Dance
Natalie and Angel
Taylor and Arianna
Jessica
Jayden
Maddy and Colton
Kelsie and friend
Juliana and Denver
Tearing it up with the Boot Scoot'n Boogie
Jentry, a new friend and Baylor
Patch and Juliana
Laurel L.
Natalie . . . who loves having her picture taken . . and Taylor. Get used to it Natalie :)
Jessie and Sister Tingey
Juliana and Teem
Kaycee and Sam
Denver and Caitlyn
Loving Line Dancing
Baylor (what's up with the tongue?!), Allie and Angel
Patch, Braden, Maddy, Allie and Denver
Take two . . . somebody cracked Denver up
Tyler enjoying his popsicle after working up a sweat dancing
Sam with her triangle orange popsicle
How many people can we cram in Sister Bird's backseat? Not a lot
