Emergency Numbers ...

I'm working on these little scripture books for our Ward's Youth Conference which is next weekend. We got these from a Murray ward, I believe, but I'm afraid I can't give the proper credit. The book is half a sheet of cardstock, folded into three parts. One part will have a notepad affixed, on which the kids will write their favorite scriptures, much like a yearbook. On one of the pages is this list of "Emergency Numbers"; all from the Bible, these are great references for all sorts of spiritual needs.

Emergency Numbers

When in sorrow ......................................................... call John 14

When men fail you ...................................................call Psalm 27

If you want to be fruitful ............................................call John 15

When you have sinned .............................................call Psalm 51

When you worry .........................................call Matthew 6:19-34

When in danger ........................................................call Psalm 91

When God seems far away ....................................call Psalm 139

When your faith needs stirring ............................call Hebrews 11

When you are lonely and fearful .............................call Psalm 23

When you grow bitter and critical ................call I Corinthians 13

For Paul's secret to happiness ....................call Colosians 3:12-17

For understanding of Christianity........call II Corinthians 5:15-19

When you feel down and out .......................call Romans 8:31-39

When you want peace and rest ................ call Matthew 11:25-30

When the world seems bigger than God ................. call Psalm 90

When you want Christian assurance ............. call Romans 8:1-30

When you leave home for labor or travel ............. call Psalm 121

When your prayers grow narrow or selfish ............ call Psalm 67

For a great invention/opportunity ........................... call Isaiah 55

When you want courage for a task .......................... call Joshua 1

For how to get along with your fellow man ........ call Romans 12

When you think of investments and returns ............ call Mark 10

If you are depressed .................................................call Psalm 27

If your pocketbook/wallet is empty call ........................ Psalm 37

If you are losing confidence in people ........ call I Corinthians 13

If people seem unkind ............................................... call John 15

If you are discouraged about your work ............... call Psalm 126

If you find the world growing small and yourself great ..........call Psalm 19

Alternate Numbers

For dealing with fear ............................................ call Psalm 34:7

For security .........................................................call Psalm 121:3

For assurance .........................................................call Mark 8:35

For reassurance .................................................call Psalm 145:18

NOTE: ALL LINES TO HEAVEN ARE OPEN 24/7!

And for those of you who are LDS, the other flap of the book has this information:

Answers to Life's Questions

Elder M. Russell Ballard

Is there a God? ~ Alma 22

What does Jesus expect of me? ~ 2 Nephi 9

How will belief in Jesus help me? ~ Alma 36

Is there life after death? ~ Alma 40

What is the purpose of life? ~ Alma 34

Why do evil and suffering occur? ~ 1 Nephi 2

Should babies be baptized? ~ Moroni 8

Does God know me? ~ Alma 5

How can I find peace and joy in life? ~ Mosiah 2 & 4

How can I have a happy, united family? ~ Mosiah 2

How can I balance family and career? ~ 3 Nephi 13

How can I strengthen my relationships with my spouse? ~ 3 Nephi 3 & 14

Enjoy!!

Girls Camp Again

Aww, sweet! Girls Camp was a joyful and eye-opening experience for me. I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and how I might help myself grow. Most of my learning came from spending so much time with the 2nd counselor in the Presidency, Dawn.

I've known Dawn for a long time, but honestly I wasn't sure until just these past few days what to make of her. Perhaps because of my childhood, I am inherently suspicious of people who are very friendly and affectionate. I tend to believe that they are either insincere or over-compensating for something. I tend to shy away from physical affection, feeling that other people don't or won't appreciate my attention because they won't believe that I am sincere. Do you see how my mind works? Always a circle, a rat biting its' tail, I can't receive love without feeling the giver is insincere and I can't give love because I fear the receiver will believe I am being insincere.

Dawn has a wonderful gift, and after these few days I'm certain she truly is as giving and loving as she seems. I've decided that I am too selfish to give like she does, or for that matter, to receive. It's hard for me to not think about myself when I give to another, or to think about myself when I take. Dawn, on the other hand, gives for the pure love of giving, out of love for the other person. She has a true gift and I love her for it.

Because of Dawn's wonderful example to me, I've determined to strive to be less self-centered. For one thing, I need to improve my worship, for I'm certain that if I'm more worshipful the light of Christ will fill me more and I will have more love and charity to share. Then, I'm going to work on thinking of myself less in my family, looking more to how I can show my husband and children I love them, rather than looking for proof that they love me.

This is a life thing for me, born out of a childhood of uncertainty and love granted only under the proper conditions. I've thought a lot about this shortcoming of mine, this weakness, but it was only until this week when I watched and talked with Dawn that I understood how perhaps my weakness might one day become my strength.

Not the update on girls' camp you were expecting, eh? Well, here's a little more conventional information:

Thursday night we enjoyed some canoeing with the girls around the small lake. We had a ton of fun trying to 'hit and run' as my co-paddeler Alyssa called it; our favorite target being Dawn and Joni and their canoe. Joni is a real fun-lover and I enjoyed splashing her with my paddle. *U*

After that we hit the rope swing where I was content to watch Dawn and Wendy (Wendy is our President) give it a whirl. I *said* I couldn't do it because I was afraid I might hurt my 'favorite muscle' (my groin area) because I'm still not entirely healed up from my surgery. Or so I said. Whatever the reason, I couldn't resist when the girls started chanting my name "Ali! Ali! Ali!" and I gave in.

And I'm glad I did too! It was great fun, though I whacked my heals hard in the industrial spool they use as a launch and landing pad. Ouch! But more than the exhilaration of zooming over the water on the rope, it was such fun to just be with the girls, to feed off their exuberance and feel like I was a part of them.

Here's a picture of me, Dawn and Wendy after our turns on the rope swing:
I wish Tammy was in this pic, then we'd have a fun one of our whole presidency. Tammy didn't get up to camp until shortly afterward though.

In the evening we had a Testimony meeting, which was oh so sweet. I bore my testimony, as did the other members of the presidency, and most of the girls. These girls are so amazing, with such wonderful trust in God. I hope their faith never fails them and they always live in the comforting shelter of obedience.

At bedtime the four of us and one fantastic camp leader named Caryn, crammed ourselves into a four-man tent for the night. And oh my but a body-snatcher stole our mild-mannered Tammy from us and replaced with her a really wacky bad karaoke singer. She was hysterical! She and Dawn entertained us and some of the girls till the wee hours of the morning. I laughed so hard my gut hurt and I got a headache. Fun times! *U* We enjoyed singing songs back and forth between our tent and the Laurels in a nearby tent. They enjoyed laughing at Tammy and Dawn and their bad renditions of popular songs. In the morning Tammy had singers' regret, but I don't regret a moment of it. Her entertainment was the best I've had in ages!

In the morning we quickly packed and were outa there. Dawn and I drove home with three of the girls. We sang songs and bopped around in the car earning some weird looks from passersby. But I didn't endanger any lives and I followed the speed limit, but wow we had fun!

Now that I've written a novel, I suppose I can be done. I'm glad to be home, but so glad I participated as much as I was able in this years' girls' camp. I'm glad to have strengthened the foundation of my relationship with these girls and to have learned some things about myself and I am eager to improve. I have a lot to overcome from my own girlhood, but seeing these girls going through their own problems gives me the courage and desire to try to overcome the lingering demons in my heart.

Girls' Camp

Girls' camp started Tuesday. This is where all the girls aged 12 to 18 in our ward, or church, get together for a few days. It's a lot like Girl Guides, which I grew up with, but heavy on the spiritually uplifting side and not-so-much on the outdoor survival side. Although as I understand it, yesterday they learned how to recognize certain grasses and weeds and such and how to cook them up for a tasty, er, umm, edible, treat. So, really, what do I know?

I have been girls' camp once before but it was deep in my I-feel-sorry-for-myself and I'm-not-even-sure-I-beleive-there-is-a-God stage so I don't remember much from the experience at all. I don't even remember staying over night. I didn't have an official calling there, well, maybe like assistant to an assistant sort of thing. I did a lot of the preliminary work for girls' camp but not so much UP there.

Whew!

So now I'm a fully active member of the church and I'm secretary in my Ward's Young Women organization and here it is girls' camp. I and the other leaders went up last night just for the evening to see the girls' skits and to give our own. We, yes, even me, were really sorry we had to come back home last night. Thankfully, we'll be going up again tonight and this time staying over.

First of all, the camp is situated high above the dirt and grime of the valley. There are actualy trees, well, shrubby trees but trees nonetheless, and little streams flowing by. You can see the blue of the sky, rather than the gray drab we ar accustomed to 'down below'. It was quite lovely.

We had dinner with the girls, during which the conversation of braces and the woes of such dominated the dinner conversation. One of the girls had to eat only pudding and yogurt for dinner because she just got braces on this past Monday. Ouch! And as an aside I have a little story to tell that involves this girls' pudding.

The other night I was talking with one of the camp leaders' husbands and he was sharing how frustrating the whole experience has been for his wife. How frustrating it was to have a mom call up at the last minute saying she needed room in the cooler for her daughters 'special diet'. And how enraged this husbands' wife was when she discovered the 'special diet' was pudding, jell-o and yogurt. I was equally baffled by the story, but purposely did not ask for names because 1) it's not my business and 2) I didn't want anything coloring my good opinion of these girls.

Nevertheless, I immediately recognized and grasped the truth of the situation when I sat across from this sweet girl, her lips taut and barely moving as she tried to spoon smooth pudding into her oh-so-sore mouth. Instead of ridiculing her for her bizarre 'special diet' I applaud her for coming up to girls' camp when she could have sat at home moping and feeling sorry for herself. And when she was done, she freely shared her new fizzy yogurt with her table mates, even though I wondered how much soft food she could have left if she was so willing to share.

I hope that leader who was so quick to bad-mouth this girl and her mom to her husband has recognized the folly of her thinking.

After dinner we had a riot watching the girls' skits. We watched Mad try to find a place for her anger, which she could not, and learned that it's better to forgive; we saw the birth of the a new super hero - The Good Works Hero - and applauded her wondrous good works and learned how we too could be heroes just like her; and finally we learned that anything is possible with faith, and almost nothing is possible without it.

The YW leaders and I gave our own skit. The theme of our camp was S.T.A.R.S., "Standing Together As Righteous Sisters", and I wrote a skit for us to perform for the girls. It was very funny and sweet. If you want a copy, just email me :)

We all caught a ride with this one friend who was anxious to head back down to the valley before it grew too dark, which we were sort of sorry about because none of us were in a hurry to leave. One girl, the most amazing sweet girl you could ever hope to meet who has a life story that would break your heart, begged us to try the 'monkey bridge' with her before we left. We convinced our friend and driver to wait a little longer, while we went down to try out this bridge.

Oh my, it was hysterical! I thought I would pee my pants! It was a rope bridge strung over a shallow lake/large puddle. The girls wildly bounced on the rope so it was suitably dangerous and exhilerating for us. Our president went out first and I was behind her and oh boy I thought she was going to pitch in. Sometimes my feet would leave the rope beneath me, being bounced so high by the exuberant girls at either end - one of whom was a leader who was taking far too much pleasure in seeing us so close to our doom.

Finally we all made it safely to the other side and I just had to hug, hug, hug that girl who took us on that fun little trip. Sometimes as a grown up, at least for me, I get mired in my adulthood and it feels like a couple of lead blocks have been cemented to my feet during the night while I slept. I forget how darn fun it is to just let loose. It's fun to have fun!

So I'm going back up there today with far less trepidation than I had yesterday. Yesterday I feared I wouldn't fit in, that I would feel lonely, that I wouldn't have fun. I bet those are a lot of the same feelings some of the girls felt too, don't you think? (I don't think I've ever grown up) Today I go up looking for some adventure and expecting to find it, and more courageous to find my place amongst these awesome girls.

Wish me luck! I'll try to post pictures when I get home tomorrow afternoon.