Sunday, April 12, 2009

YOUTH CONFERENCE



IN THE PICTURE ABOVE JOHNATAN,P.J.,REBECCA,ME,HANNAH UNDER ME,ELIZA,SISTER MILLER, CONNER,MARRISSA (GREEN SHIRT),KATIE,AMBER,AND TEUILA.

I just had an amazingly awesome weekend, even though it took up my Thursday to Saturday night it was so worth it. So as some of you know youth conference was this weekend. The Laie Hawaii stake center is were our youth conference started right after school on Thursday at about 3:00 pm. We all got these fancy name tags they had our name on it, Laie Hawaii stake youth conference April 9-11, 2009,what ward we were in, I will go with the armour of god Ephesians 6:13, and what tribe we belonged to on the side,our tag was also our tribe color. There was six tribes Zion(green), Nephi(blue),Zarahemla(red), Manasseh(yellow the best group),stripling warriors(purple the leaders), and Helaman(orange). We all got registered by 4:00 pm, then we had opening exercises. Each of the wards in our stake made a flag we didn't get to see it until the last minute. Their was three people that was presenting the flag to the stake. Me, Katie, and Rebecca were sitting in the front and then all of the sudden sister Thee tells us that we are the people who are presenting our flag to the stake. We were all very surprised that we had to present it,so me and Katie told Rebecca that we will hold the flag if she explained what our flag was about. On our flag we had a person that had half of his armour on and the other half was a missionary with Scriptures. Rebecca explained how today we are trying to reunite with the past so that we don't make the same mistakes in the future. She also explained how we have to be prepared to put on the armour of god. After opening exercises we had dinner, then we all got on the bus to go to turtle bay resort to have a dance. At first it was freezing in the room but after everyone was in the room it got really hot fast. Me and my friends danced to a bunch of different up beat songs I had a blast. There was this one dude who was brake dancing on the floor. I think we were a little bit to loud because the visitors came to the door way and asked the policeman if everything was all right because we were screaming and jumping and running all over the dancing floor. I dance with Johnathan Lautaha during a slow song it was really funny because he was trying to spin me around the pole with balloons on the top but we almost knocked it over. The dance seemed like it would never end though we were dancing from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm. It was funny me and my friends were counting down how many minutes were left until we left. On the way back everyone was super tired we got home at about 11:00 pm.


The next day our youth conference started at 7:00 am. We got our youth conference shirts they looked really nice. On the front was I will go to fit the Eddie would go theme. Then there was a shield and sword in white on the back of the shirt and then our scripture theme the shirt was black. We went on the bus to turtle bay to do a service project some people went to the beach to pick up trash. Another group went to the trail and painted trees to show people were to go on the trail. The others went to the horse trail I was in that group. We had to pick up trash we had some guys go into the bushes they were stuck in there for a little while. As we were walking we realized that our group had left us so we just kept walking then all of the sudden it started to pour. We ran under the trees which helped a little bit we thought that we should keep walking to see if we could find any trash. We kept walking and then all of the sudden we saw a tent almost on the beach the guys thought that we should go on the beach. So they walked through were the tent was and then all of the sudden a homeless guy poked his head out of the tent we all ran like crazy. We came to a Field that had a ton of pipes. We kept walking we couldn't remember if we were going back or if we were going more into the "woods". We just kept walking and the rain just kept on pouring on us. We thought we were lost for sure we started looking for the paint on the trees to find our way back but I think we went farther into the "woods". We thought we were the only group that was lost but then we found another group and they were lost too. I think it was funny how the guy on the golf cart said to be careful because we might get lost. I don't think anyone believed him but sadly he was right. I turns out that when we finally found our way back all of the other groups were lost as well they just followed the ocean. After we got out we thought we were finish cleaning... Nope we just started we then walked up the the parking lot and picked up all of the trash and leaves, sticks, and so on. We walked back down to the main tent and played our first game. It was called 7 up down. It was a really fun game but it was hard to keep up with. I was in the bottom 3 in our little circle. Once two people won they played with all of the other colors. We ended up winning two yellows vs one green. Everyone on the yellow team was so happy that we won. The prize was that we get to choose which game we wanted to play first. We choose capture the flag, then we rotated every hour. We played capture the flag, rugby, jump rope, tug-a-war, funny galloping game, and human Foosball. The Jump rope we had to see how many people we could get to jump at one time the most people that we got was 20. Human Foosball was the funniest I think it was also the most painful one too. After all of the games we finally got to go home it was fun but I was so tired after just two days. We went back to the chapel we had a glow in the dark dance with the other Laie Stake. It was nice to see all of my friends over the weekend. It was so hot in the stake center though. There was a sign that was in the back and it said be a warrior ask some one to dance. I honestly thought that sign wouldn't work after what happened last night. But I was shocked that it did, almost everyone was dancing on the dance floor. I had a great time that night I got to see all of my friends who are going to other schools.

Saturday was the funniest well at least the funniest. We had workshops all day but they were funny one was a scripture scavenger hunt around the chapel. Horse radish never ever eat. So the teacher was telling us about the passover for the Jews. She told us to take some food. She didn't tell us that there was horse radish, so one of the guys who was sitting next to me took a huge spoonful of it and ate it he started crying, coughing, sneezing. He was so mad at his friends after that because they all told him that it was so good and it was the best thing that have ever tasted. After all of the workshops we had a "cheer fest" vs each color. I think the red and the purple did the best. After we had testimony meeting I thought that it would be boring but it was so hilarious. More then half of it was funny. They talked about how president beaver is such a joker and we all looked at him in the most weirdest way. We had so many testimonies that the guy who was conducting testimony meeting had to tell them to cut it short. This one person went up and said I am really sorry for cutting everyone in line but I really have to go the bathroom. Then there was another person who was thanking the "stake presidency" but she said I would like to thank the bishops and then asks if they are bishops. I had a blast at youth conference and cant wait until next year. By Mikayla

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Paying it Forward

I've demonstrated this concept this week, to give back to individuals who have influenced or served me in someway, and it's really made me feel joyful. I've had a rough five months since the passing of my hero, my daddy. Being by his constant side these last four and a half years since I've moved back home has been a blessing, but also caused me the most heartache because I'm not use to having him not here. I miss serving him, listening to his voice, learning from his wisdom, following his example, laughing at his sense of humor, and meeting all his friends. Anyways, spring break was meant for me to clean out his home (our home we grew up in) and to do it alone was not a happy day for me. Flood of memories poured out and as I look back it's an impossible job right now and I'll have to continue it when mom comes back. But that night I heard a song that touched my spirit and healed my soul, and that was "When Someone Cares", in the song it says, "and with God nothing is impossible and you just need to take his hand..." Therefore, I must have God's help to heal me and do what I need to do to accomplish this test in my life. Thanks to all my dear friends who have listened and cried along with me. I will continue to try to focus my life to giving and serving others and to not wallow in my self pity. So Imua! Go Forward.