EFY

I might as well blog about my time at EFY (Especially For Youth) a couple weeks ago since I've already blogged about Camp Helaman.

I went to the Tacoma 2 session, which was from June 30 to July 5 at the University of Puget Sound. I carpooled with some other people from my ward, and we checked in around noon on Monday. Most of us ended up in different companies. I didn't know anybody from my company, male or female, before going there. Fortunately, we spent most of the day getting to know each other. We started off by meeting with our councilors. I'll just be honest and say that I think my councilor was the best one at the session. He was just so happy and energetic that it's unbelievable. Afterwards we met with the rest of our company, had orientation and dinner, then had FHE. It was complete with a lesson and group activities. I didn't know everybody's name, but I got better as the week went on.

Our company was lucky enough to have the dorm with suites. Basically each suite had six independent bedrooms with shared restrooms, showers, sinks, etc. I heard the girls had the suites last year, but complained because they thought they didn't have roommates or something. Silly girls.

Anyways, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty similar. We had the usual morning routine of breakfast, scripture study, and morningside. After that we had four classes with lunch in the middle. The difference between the two days is that on Tuesday night we had a dance. There was a dance competition, and for the second year in a row I got 3rd place (if applause is to be trusted). In second place was some person who did some generic breakdancing moves, and in first place was some chubby Polynesian kid who was somehow spazzier than me. He deserved the applause. On Wednesday night we had a game night and a cheer off. Our company went around to different stations on a big field and competed against other teams. We actually did pretty well in the games, but I wish we could say the same thing about the cheer off. Our team didn't even place in the top 3 for our age group. Still, I thought our flag was cool. Our company name was "Be No More", so the flag was of a picture of a bee about to be slapped by two hands.

Another thing about Wednesday is that it was pizza night. Each of the 12 boys in our company pitched in $9 dollars, which amounted seven or so pizzas and various beverages. Also, I don't know who came up with the idea, but some people from another company on our floor lined the hallway with matresses, spun people around several times, and had them jump down the hall. Fortunately, nobody barfed or got injured. I tried it a couple times, and it felt like somebody was tilting the building but not at the same time.

Thursday was "reverence day" or something, which basically meant that we wore our Sunday clothes (keep in mind that I wasn't able to shower in the morning). For the most part everybody was quiter and more well behaved. In the afternoon we had the "Variety" (eg Talent) Show. We had a rather large number of musical performances, but that was unsurprising. One of the people from my ward stood up and read a poem about food getting revenge (puns abound!). There was even a guy who tried riding a unicycle. The most astonishing (and humorous) act was a skit about the world's fastest (and slowest) spitter and his assistant "Hawkeye Loogie." The skit was funny. I almost sorta died laughing. Fortunately, no saliva (real or fake) was actually used.

Before the fireside that night we also had a short musical program (about 30 minutes). At the insistence of my councilor, I participated in it even though I don't really have a singing voice. For all intents and purposes, being in the program meant that I had almost no free time whatsoever. Even so, I still think the practice produced a pretty good performance (or at least listenable). After that we split up and had testimony meeting. I managed to get up and bear mine against all odds. After that we went to sleep.

On Friday we did a bunch of different stuff. In the morning we had an activity about the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and after lunch we had a "Taking it Home" activity. The most surprising activity of the day was the service project, which involved knitting hats for babies. Every single group of two had to knit at least one hat (emphasis on Every). I was surprised at how easy the whole ordeal was. Dinner that day was a fancy banquet. We wore fancy clothes, ate fancy food, used proper ettiquette , and were even paired up with girls. It was a great time.

After dinner we met as a company to exchange addresses and taking pictures. It seemed like the girls wouldn't be satisfied until they photographed every single combination of people in our company, so we were half an hour late to a two and a half hour dance. Oh the horror. The dance was pretty fun, but due to the fact it was dressy I had trouble truly expressing my inner self without sweating profusely. After the dance there was a slideshow of the things that happened over the week. There was even a picture featuring nothing but me. After the slideshow we sang "America the Beautiful" because it was July 4th, and then we went back to our dorms.

Next morning we packed our stuff up and met in the lobbies for our last goodbyes. After a while I borrowed somebody's cellphone to call home and ask where my mom was, because I thought that she might be taking me home. While I was talking to her, I noticed my Dad smiling at me, so I assumed he was my ride.

And that's how I spent my EFY. It was pretty fun, and I've even got into the habit of journaling daily. Unfortuantely, I temporarily lost my flossing habit because I hadn't done it for two weeks. Don't worry, it's all better now.

Camp Helaman

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I had a severe bout of laziness followed by a couple cases of the camps. Fortunately, I'm feeling better now.

Two weeks ago from June 24 to 28 I had the pleasure of going to something called "Camp Helaman". Basically it's a missionary prep camp. We're paired up into companionships that were organized into districts that were organized into zones. The companionships had to stay together at all times and in all places (bathrooms excluded). We had a morning schedule and evening devotionals. The food was always really good.

Calling it a camp would be somewhat of a misnomer. Sure, we all slept outside in adorondacs (or whatever they're called), but 90% of the time was spent in the dining hall. We had our meals there as well as most of our classes. The only ones not in the dining hall were either just outside of it or in a room just by it. We also had lessons where we used the "Preach My Gospel" manuals, and even got to teach a few lessons with it as companionships. Granted, one's mileage during that activity woud vary quite a lot depending on one's companion and the attitude of the pretending investigators. I heard of an instance where a companionship pretended to be a gay couple when taught.

...yeah. Guess who'll need some work before going on a mission.

Anyways, we also had a couple of fun activities. On Thursday we did a service project. We went to a park in the very town in which we all lived and helped spruce it up. I helped pick up the remains of a felled tree, shoveled some dirt into some holes, and sweeped the concrete. Afterwards we played Ultimate Frisbee for an hour, with the three zones rotating in every point. The project was fun, but it would have been better if it was on the last day and we went home afterwards.

On Friday we had a nice hike. The trail was some sort of private logging road that wasn't being used at the time. Overall, it was a gradual uphill climb. The scenery was cool, but nothing particularly breathtaking. It was a pretty hot day, so I managed to use up all of the water I brought. At the halfway point of the hike, our leaders (who happened to be rather slowpokish), told some stories about our pioneer ancestors and such. The latter half of the hike was mostly downhill, so quite a few people decided to race on ahead. Most of us were glad that it was starting to get shady. The total length of the hike was about 9 or 10 miles, meaning it was a fairly respectable hike, but definitely not a remarkable journey of any sort.

On Saturday we had a couple classes, packed up, had testimony meeting, and left shortly thereafter at 5 PM. Overall "camp" was a fun excursion.