Camp LoMia...the Return!

As a youth I was able to attend girls camp at Camp LoMia in Pine, Arizona. I did my 6 years in my teens and was invited back for a 7th year to be a youth stake assistant camp director. Loved it! As an adult in Glendale Stake I returned for an additional 3 years of service as a leader. So the last time I was at girls camp was over 8 years ago. I have always loved going to LoMia and was thrilled when I was asked to go as the Sports/Nature leader this year in my new stake.

The grand entrance to LoMia has changed from a log pole sign to this lovely rock wall entrance.One of my main responsibilities at camp was to co-teach archery classes. This is why I took the class at Archery Headquarters the week before. I even told the girls that's where I got my great skills. One class was totally convinced of my technique when I hit a Bullseye on my practice shot. They were very impressed! I was ecstatic!!!! It was super fun to teach all of the girls at camp archery. We had several girls get the bullseye award.

My second main responsibility was to lead the 3rd year hike. We hiked Temple Canyon. This is a hike that goes up through one of the many canyons in the area. There is lots of climbing over boulders and a place where we climbed up a 45 foot rock wall. There was a chain in place for us to hold onto as we scaled up the almost vertical wall. It was pretty tough to get some of the girls up this wall. They had to use lots of lower body strength to push themselves from one foothold to the next.

This is a picture of all the third year girls right before we climbed up the 45 foot rock wall. Along the trail after climbing this wall, there were wild raspberry bushes. The girls picked and ate tons of raspberries. Many of them had purply/red stained hands. Once we were out of the canyon we had to hike to highway 260 and then walk along the road for just over a mile until we reached the trail head for the switchbacks. Then we hiked the switchbacks back down the mountain. The switchbacks are in the sun and it was very hot. Many of us were very low on water.
We were really hot and tired by the time we reached the creek. We all stuck our hands in the cold water and splashed water on ourselves. It felt soooooo goooood! After crossing the creek, we had about a half hour left of hiking before being back into camp. The hike was over 10 miles and it took about 7 hours to do the whole thing. We were all tired and sweaty when we made it into camp.

Our camp theme was "Curtain Call - Are you in Tune." Each ward and cabin was assigned a different movie/Broadway musical to represent. I stayed in the stake Young Women's Leader cabin and they were Phantom of the Opera. My friend Jeanine and I made all of the masks that decorated the cabin. We also made phantom pillow cases for the inside of the cabin. We thought the decorations turned out pretty good.

This is Orchard Chapel aka The Sacred Grove where we have church. I was one of the speakers at church on Sunday. Going to church while camping can be an inconvenience. However, the programs for sacrament meeting, Sunday school, the evening programs and evening testimony meetings at each cabin were very spiritual and amazing! The big purpose of coming to camp is to have each girls' testimony grow.

On the last night of camp they have dance night. Each ward and group at camp is assigned a song to do a dance to. They have the option of making costumes and all of their own moves. It was an incredibly funny night. I was recruited by the craft cabin to be a part of their dance. We were assigned a random song from the radio because their cabin musical was "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat." We decided to do a workout video instead of just a dance. It is quite embarrassing for me but we did get many requests for our workout video later that evening. Our workout moves are sweaty hiker, painting, stamping, archery, glue gun, scissors, duct tape and washer. Each move represented something they did in the craft room or during sports/nature.

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I am so grateful I was invited to go to camp this year. I had so much fun. More importantly, my testimony grew too. I would love to go back again someday!