Youth Conference 2015

Mr. Incredible and I were asked to chaperone the tri stake youth conference trip at Wingate College. It was a lot of fun!  

 

Sam Tuipulotu and Safici He says to pronounce his name like so fishy! LOL, and he also managed to have everyone including his chaperone believe that he doesn't speak or understand English! He's a smart boy!!

This sweet blonde was one of our guest speakers and she was a huge dream for many of the youth and lets say very easy on the eyes! She captivated us with her voice and the boys with her looks! Miss Madilyn Paige! She and her mom flew out and they joined us at all the dances and activities!

That is Sami in the back photobombing! She did that quite well! The two boys on the end were in our Family group Matt Jackson and Nathaniel Gunderson. The other two boys later became part of our family group.  I figure as long as they are attending, let them go.  But, some were not happy with that philosophy and I understand that, too. How else can youth meet new youth if they only stay in their comfort zones. We were stressed that it was important to ensure that they feel the spirit and they have a good time. They did both.  I know when I'm compelled to do something I have two choices. Have a good time and go with it, or drive the spirit away! All we can do is invite and guide the rest is up to them.

Nathaniel and his mom Blythe and Kayla Sobas. She is absolutely gorgeous!

The coolest chaperones around!

Sweetheart and Nicole were roomies and they were in another family but we would see them often at the activities. They made their way over to say Hi! Sam, was with her family but was with our family as well. The girls had not so great moments and then they had stellar moments! At the end of the very busy packed days were they liked it but felt there was not enough down time.  They ask you to ponder and think about the things that were heard but there wasn't any time in between to think about it or just have free time! I think that is important too. If you are going to try to keep people in their family groups it would be good to give them time to break away and re group with their comfortable friends to talk about what they heard, liked or didn't like! I'm glad they were able to room with one another. At least they could chatter at night about things.

This guy his name is John! He was in our family and an amazing kid! Because I am blogging about it almost 7 months later I have forgotten his last name! It was his first year and he was great!

Below is me celebrating that I found a room that I could sleep in all by myself!!! The first night was awful. I don't sleep well, sleeping with a stranger and I worried I would snore! I was up all night worrying about it.  The next day I was trash and I was either going to sleep in my car or somewhere.  Thankfully, one floor up there was an empty dorm and I took it!!! Praise the Lord, seriously I was praying and ever so grateful!! I couldn't do girls camp for that reason either!

I thought this girls shoes were just the snazziest shoes ever!! and she owns a cupcake or ice cream shop too! If you could have seen her full outfit it was very vintage and very true to her personality!
Bryan Cope was the master mind behind this entire conference and the South Stake did an amazing job! He's brilliant and it wouldn't surprise me if he became a stake president one day. He has served in the stake youth ym president for YEARS!!

Miss Virginia was also a guest speaker! She was the oldest sister missionary to serve a mission. She served when she was 27 years old! CRAZY! She gave a great motivational talk on going after your dreams and not letting anything hold you back! She loves the scriptures and serving the Lord.

 

Then they asked all the chaperones to get up and start dancing and WOAH we have some couples who really enjoy doing the jitterbug and twirling! We loved the youth from South Stake! They were so fun and open! We got to know a few youth from our stake as well.

Youth Conference Chaperones 2015

Did it go over exactly how I envisioned, no. Was it still amazing, OF COURSE! WE had a great group of YM in our family group of 15! The girls, I found challenging. Two girls were very into just being themselves and I didn't want to push them. They always were off doing there own thing and seperating from the family. But, it was about making sure they had a good experience so If they wanted to be where there friends were. I was ok.  They were quiet and nice! I had to play babysitter or police and I hate those roles. Why force me to put those hats on? Once, I was a coward and made Mr. Incredible play the bad guy. The girls were in another building and were suppose to be heading to another. I didn't want to go get them, so I chose to walk with the group to the devotional while Mr. Incredible went to get "my girls".  They arrived and everything was fine but I hated that I pushed it off on the Mr. to go and do what I should have done.  The other girls were a set of 3 that stayed mostly together. One girl was openly defiant but was everywhere she needed to be just was.... there is really no other way to describe her other than she was just plain rude and I held my breath and bit my tongue each time I was around her but as long as she was having an amazing experience it was ok.  We just needed to let her know all of the plans ahead of time and she was perfectly fine with being where she needed to be. What more do you need to ask for?? She also started off on a bad foot because her roommate cancelled and she was here with her male cousin.  I think to add to her frustration is the room assignments were messed up and as her chaperones we did NOT have her on our list.  In fact, we didn't even know who she was but she was positive she was in our group. So, we just added her name to our group, which is why our group numbers were off and she roomed by herself for conference. 

The other two girls I didn't even see them or have contact with them other than at devotionals. They asked we sit in families, however when our group number eats lasts every meal every day, it is extremely difficult and impossible to find a table in the cafeteria that can seat 17 of us. Our goals were to get fed and then off to our very scheduled day.  There were some key things upon registration that needed tweaking, along with meal scheduling. Rotate the groups so they are not always eating last. There were hiccups that only leaders knew about that hopefully didn't trickle to the youth.  Also, it was mentioned that they were over scheduled. Constantly fed the good and not having the time to absorb and take it in and have that time to talk with their peers about what they just heard. 

We connected with our good friend from years ago. We hadn't seen her since she was 4! 

Dance!

Me with Miss Madelyn Page. She was a guest speaker and performer at youth conference. She is an amazing young woman! The boy behind her, we ended up adopting him in our family group too!

For the most part these are the boys that were in our family group.

I just love this boy Nathaniel. He's amazing and seriously the best person you could ever meet! What a true light!

Me and the MR! WE were all suppose to take a group picture in our shirts collectively. All 400+ but something happened.

This was the night that the heavens opened up! I found a ROOM ALL TO MYSELF!!! I slept awful and I desperately needed some alone time to get some rest. I was going to sleep in my car if I needed to because I was hurting after the first night! I was so grateful that I found this room!!! Seriously!

This man Bryan Cope was the mastermind behind this amazing weekend for Youth Conference and it was amazing and wonderful! I know the work and planning that it takes! I know the sacrifice and understand that no matter how much planning you do, something will always happen that you can't plan for! 

We also got to hear Ms. Virginia speak. she is one of the oldest sister missionaries to have served. I think she finished her mission at 29! Came back entered a contest and won and now she is Ms. Virginia and her platform is modesty! She's beautiful and so nice! 

At the dance they had a chaperone dance off! Yeah we were rockin' it but then there was this couple that took it to a whole new level and they stole the show!!!

It was so fun to be able to be there with our children and see and feel of the spirit of all of the great speakers and classes that were planned for the youth!