At least at Girls Camp, they do. This is one of the first things I learned as a priesthood observer at our ward’s Girls Camp this week. Scout Camp: fun, not very organized. Girls Camp: organized and a lot more fun with some amazing spiritual moments.
I’d like to address one of those spiritual moments first. The young women’s leaders recreated Lehi’s “tree of life” dream in a very special way.
The young women were told they were going on a “night hike.” They were taken about a half-mile from camp. One by one, they were blindfolded. A leader took their hand and led them to a rope. This rope went into the woods for about 600 yards or so. They were told they had to hold onto the rope and keep on walking until the end.
Along the way, adult leaders walked beside them to make sure they didn’t trip. The older young women would try to “tempt” them to let go of the rope. One of the older young women feigned an injury. Another told them they should come with her and pull pranks on the other people in the group.
The adult leaders would gently remind the girls that if they held onto the rope and continued to move forward they would make it to the end. Meanwhile, the older young women would whisper in their ears that they should let go of the rope and go have fun.
At the end, they arrived at a pretty impressive “tree of life.” It was a Christmas-tree sized pine decorated with glowing decorations and candy. Behind the tree there was a beautiful nighttime view of a nearly full moon.
The good news is that most of the girls “held onto the rod” and kept on moving forward, even though they were blindfolded and walking through the woods along an uncertain path. There were a few who walked off into the “mists of darkness” but they eventually realized their error and got back to the rope.
The beauty of the final scene — and the intellectual process of trusting and following instructions from leaders versus the temptation of not following instructions — brought home a truly touching spiritual message for these girls. Unprompted, they spent hours discussing what was going through their minds and why they acted the way the did. They talked about the lessons they had learned by “following the commandments” rather than “having fun.” This object lesson did more than a year of Sunday School for many of the girls in bringing to life Lehi’s dream.
Two of my kids were at Girl’s Camp, and it was truly touching to watch them be tempted and make the decision not to accept the temptation. I felt like I was transported through time to observe their lives and feel proud for them making good decisions and avoid all of the potential pitfalls around them. It reminded me that a successful life is about making good decisions most of the time rather than succumbing to the many temptations to take the wrong path.
But my key impression of Girls Camp was: “wow, these women sure are organized.” The young women’s leaders kept the girls occupied with activities more than 14 hours and day, and the girls clearly loved it. I work with the young men, and by comparison there is a huge amount of “down time” at Scout Camp, time spent just sitting around doing nothing. No such thing at Girls Camp.
Girls Camp: I highly recommend it if you ever get the opportunity.
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I have a blast at Girls Camp. I go every year as one of priesthood observers/designated mules, and plan on continuing to do such as long as I have daughters attending (which, assuming all four of our daughters remain active through their teen-age years–fingers crossed!–will keep me attending Girls through 2024 or thereabouts). Like you, I’ve been struck by the dedication, the seriousness, as well as the sense of fun, which the leaders bring to designing activities and engaging the young women. I’m a fan of Scouting, personally, but I can see that there is an advantage to building a youth event entirely through and around our own traditions and needs, rather than fitting them into the mold of a different (admirable, but still distinct) program. From what I’ve seen, the YW–despite the collective desire of teen-agers to be “their own” person–generally respond very well to being part of and surrounded by an expression of church culture.
We did a Lehi’s Dream activity like the one you mention here last year. It was a lot of work getting organized; I spent an entire afternoon trying to get extension cords over to the chosen tree, and then clambering around, putting Christmas lights up in it, and I had the cuts to show for it. But man, was it worth it. The result was a very powerful, humbling evening, one which brought the whole camp together in a very touching way. I got to hear my oldest, the high-schooler, bear her testimony for the first time. It was a lovely experience.
RAF, thanks for your comment. I was not a member of the Church when I was a youth, and I really wish, in retrospect, that I had had the opportunity to participate in these types of camps.
I’ve never been to YW camp with daughters because we don’t have any, but I try to sign up to go when I can because I think it is a worthwhile thing that deserves support.
I’ve spent a lot of time in YM and I’ve also noticed the differences between scout camps and YW camp and have wondered how to account for them. Maybe one reason is because boys go camping every month. It is difficult for scout leaders to go full throttle all the time because they know they’re going to have to do it again in three weeks. That might also explain why the pace at YW camp seems so frenetic — the leaders know they have to get everything in now or wait until next year.
In our stake, the biggest difference between scout camp and YW canp is the quality of the chow. A woman goes to girl’s camp as the full-time cook, and she excels at her calling. One meal I remember was chicken alfredo with pasta and cheesecake for dessert. I thought of that the next month when I was camping with the scouts, eating pork and beans out of a can.
“The older young women would try to “tempt” them to let go of the rope. One of the older young women feigned an injury.”
Wait–we can lose grip of the iron rod by going to help someone who needs our help? Not sure I agree with the logic there. I hope in the future, when I have children who go to girls camp, that they would be the ones to let go of the rope to help someone they think is in need. Charity is better than blind obedience.
Otherwise, sounds like a terrific time.
I think Tim missed the whole point of the exercise. How would you propose the older young women tempt the younger ones to let go of the iron rod and symbolically fall from the truth? Should they have tempted them with actual immoral or spurious behavior?
I think the girls understood the exercise and that “temptations” do not normally come in the form of selfless service unto others.
Tim, there were some special circumstances associated with this particular case, ie, the girl feigning an injury was a practical joker who did that kind of thing on a regular basis. So, part of the test was, “will you follow instructions or will you fall for what you know to be a fake by the person who loves to pull pranks?” I know that’s not obvious from the story, but that was the circumstance involved.
We actually had a long discussion on the importance of keeping to your standards even if you are tempted to do something that seems “good” but is not. One girl used the example of, “should I do something wrong if a girl manipulates me by saying that I am helping her out and accompanying her in a way that helps her?” Another girl said she has a friend who tries to manipulate her into going to rowdy drug and alcohol parties with her so “she isn’t the only girl there.” The young woman realized it is not her obligation to follow her friend off a cliff if her friend insists on jumping.
So, the girl feigning an accident helped the young women think about when and where it might be a good idea to help somebody — and when and where it is not.
Got it. It makes more sense in that context.
I remember on my mission, having to choose either staying out 30 minutes or an hour too late at night and being able to attend the ward I was assigned to, or getting inside on time but having to go to church with a different ward. Staying out late is a big violation of missionary rules; there was no such rule against attending another ward (as long as you already had permission to be outside your area). Attending church with my ward was more important to me than the violation of the rule. Sometimes we have choices like that, and sometimes some rules should be broken for the greater good.
My wife has been able to attend girl’s camp lots of times. She LOVES it! I do wonder why they NEED a “priesthood observer” though. Oh, well, at least you have an excuse to go. I agree that it sounds a like a LOT more fun than scout camp ever was. All that ever happened at scout camp was hazing right under the leaders’ noses. Obnoxious boys…