FUN: Our girl's camp experience this year was quite the interesting one for me. It was great fun just like it was back when I went to girl's camp as a young woman but I do not remember all the drama. Maybe there wasn't much back then, who knows? I learned that I do not have a very high tolerance level when it comes to teenage drama. I don't want to use any names because I have no idea who looks at this blog, but to put it in a very small nutshell I had one girl totally deck another girl (they were sisters) because she didn't want her help with her bags, etc. I had girls try to sneak in cell phones and iPods (no surprise), a girl who wouldn't eat or drink anything but apple juice, a girl who tried ditching out and hiding for half of the day, a girl who nearly got sent home, a girl who hyperventilated for 2 hours plus, and girls who cried becaue of the arrangements decided on for the ride home. On the flip side I did get to know a lot of the girls better and I had a blast with the other leaders that we up there from our ward and elsewhere in the stake.
FREAKY: The freaky part of camp was more freaky to the girls than to most of the leaders but it was a bad situation none the less. The shorter version of the story goes like this. We arrived at camp on Tuesday morning. The day was busy as could be between certification, day programs, and meal times. At some point during the day a leader and some girls from another ward spotted a random man lurking in the woods near their cabins. On Wednesday more stories surfaced of other girls seeing this man near their cabins and down by the lake where they were swimming. Some people insisted that their bags had been rummaged through, etc. One of the leaders said she was missing a bra and underwear. Wednesday evening a few stake leaders and the priesthood brethern that were with us at the time got in a car and drove around to try and locate this man. Sure enough, down a little known back access road they saw the man and his out-of-state pick up truck. It was all a little wierd becase this was a private group area that we were in and there was no public camping allowed around us. Not sure if they actually confronted him at this point or just confirmed that there was actually a man fitting the description that all the girls gave. That night after our camp fire program as we were all heading to our variuos cabins spread out all over the hill side, more girls claimed to have seen him near their cabin in the woods and did not dare to go back. Other girls said that they left their cabin with the light on and the shutter closed. When they went to their cabin to go to bed, the light was off, the shutters were open, and there was a window screen removed (no glass in these cabins, just screens). The leaders got the park rangers in on it. They went out looking for the man. Our stake president was called about the situation and he thought it best to gather all the girls in one place for the night where we could assure their saftey (the normal rule is that leaders cannot sleep with the girls). The only building big enough for that was our dinning hall. Everyone was called back up the hill and were to bring their sleeping stuff. The girls were just told we were having a big sleepover. Some knew why and some didn't. Our ward was not aware of this wierdo man in the woods until this point when all the leaders were gathered and alerted of the situation. One of our priesthood brothers told the girls a very watered down reason of why we were all sleeping in the dinning hall. As you could imagine, half of them freaked out. We did the best we could to calm everyone down. We even let them watch Alvin & the Chipmunk's. :) Around 10:30 the rangers came and told us that they located the man and asked him to leave. Really that is all they could do. But that wouldn't stop him from coming back. Needless to say, it was a LONG night with very little sleep. Overnight it was decided by the stake presidency to have us pack up and come home a day early. They did not want to risk the safety of any of the girls. We slept in a little Thursday morning, had breakfast, did a short program to end camp on a better note, packed up and headed home around 1:30. Come to find out, by that time the man had been spotted by leaders and the priesthood bretheren two more times that morning. So, yah, a little freaky to imagine that something could have happened to one or many of the 60 plus girls that were there at camp. We were very sad to have to leave camp early as the last day/night is usually the best but felt releived that the girls would no longer be in any danger.
FREAKY: The freaky part of camp was more freaky to the girls than to most of the leaders but it was a bad situation none the less. The shorter version of the story goes like this. We arrived at camp on Tuesday morning. The day was busy as could be between certification, day programs, and meal times. At some point during the day a leader and some girls from another ward spotted a random man lurking in the woods near their cabins. On Wednesday more stories surfaced of other girls seeing this man near their cabins and down by the lake where they were swimming. Some people insisted that their bags had been rummaged through, etc. One of the leaders said she was missing a bra and underwear. Wednesday evening a few stake leaders and the priesthood brethern that were with us at the time got in a car and drove around to try and locate this man. Sure enough, down a little known back access road they saw the man and his out-of-state pick up truck. It was all a little wierd becase this was a private group area that we were in and there was no public camping allowed around us. Not sure if they actually confronted him at this point or just confirmed that there was actually a man fitting the description that all the girls gave. That night after our camp fire program as we were all heading to our variuos cabins spread out all over the hill side, more girls claimed to have seen him near their cabin in the woods and did not dare to go back. Other girls said that they left their cabin with the light on and the shutter closed. When they went to their cabin to go to bed, the light was off, the shutters were open, and there was a window screen removed (no glass in these cabins, just screens). The leaders got the park rangers in on it. They went out looking for the man. Our stake president was called about the situation and he thought it best to gather all the girls in one place for the night where we could assure their saftey (the normal rule is that leaders cannot sleep with the girls). The only building big enough for that was our dinning hall. Everyone was called back up the hill and were to bring their sleeping stuff. The girls were just told we were having a big sleepover. Some knew why and some didn't. Our ward was not aware of this wierdo man in the woods until this point when all the leaders were gathered and alerted of the situation. One of our priesthood brothers told the girls a very watered down reason of why we were all sleeping in the dinning hall. As you could imagine, half of them freaked out. We did the best we could to calm everyone down. We even let them watch Alvin & the Chipmunk's. :) Around 10:30 the rangers came and told us that they located the man and asked him to leave. Really that is all they could do. But that wouldn't stop him from coming back. Needless to say, it was a LONG night with very little sleep. Overnight it was decided by the stake presidency to have us pack up and come home a day early. They did not want to risk the safety of any of the girls. We slept in a little Thursday morning, had breakfast, did a short program to end camp on a better note, packed up and headed home around 1:30. Come to find out, by that time the man had been spotted by leaders and the priesthood bretheren two more times that morning. So, yah, a little freaky to imagine that something could have happened to one or many of the 60 plus girls that were there at camp. We were very sad to have to leave camp early as the last day/night is usually the best but felt releived that the girls would no longer be in any danger.
