OUT OF THE FRYING PAN : INTO THE FIRE

I thought the long succession of weekly activities-to-coordinate was bad. Now I am in charge of the whole stake girls camp. At least until we get a camp director. Our last camp director was FAN-tastic. I am anxious that I am less-than stellar in her footsteps and eager to get a new Post-Sister-Fantastic Camp Director. Last summer the YW in our stake requested Surf Camp. So, Sister Fantastic orchestrated an amazing and exciting girls camp right near the beach in Surftown USA. I can't imagine a more anticipated girls camp. Relatives of stake members trekked across stake boundaries to join our girls camp. Sister Fantastic admitted that she had never received such support from the ward YW leaders. Suddenly, everyone wanted to come to camp and 'help'. Surf Camp was fabulous. Long days lounging @ the beach, tide-pool exploration and hikes with ocean views. It was nearly Heaven. Except, that the living conditions were sub-Telestial. Well, maybe not even that good. Public campground. Gross bathrooms with gross coin-op showers. Tents. Dirt. I know, It was camp; but this was used, dirty dirt. Surf and Skater boys in nearby campsites who had the priesthood leaders on constant vigil. Drunken altercations one campsite over @ 3am.

Yes, we had the fabulous beach and ocean, but gone was the privacy of being able to shout at the tops of your Beehive lungs all the verses of 'I Wear My Pink Pajamas.' Gone was the security of nothing bad out there except for bears trying to get away from all the singing. Gone were the campfire services that alternated between screaming "the Lord told Noah there's gonna be a floody-floody..." and tearful testimonies of daughters of our Heavenly Father. Gone were the mountaintops where we could commune with Heaven.

Is it no coincidence that despite Nephi's proximity to the sea, the Lord asked him to retreat to the mountain to receive instructions on ship-building?

So, next year, it's back to the mountains for us. We've booked a Boy Scout Camp* with a gorgeous lodge built in 1939. Complete seclusion. Just us, racoons, rattlesnakes and, if we're lucky, a bear. I'm told that we can get to the Ocean in 45 minutes for sun, surfing and beachcombing, yet be back home for the best parts of Girls Camp; camp dinners, camp fires, camp songs, camp cabins, camp stories, camp friendships and camp testimonies. I can feel my spirit starting to relax. I can hardly wait.


*Because we're LDS, the local BSA council is giving us rock-bottom pricing on the camp. Hurray for 96 years of BSA-backing!