Some of you have already seen the pictures and most of this posting. I wanted to add to Keith's comments about camp. He told you what I did, but did not say what he did. He made it a goal to learn everyone's names. We prepared beads for each girl that they had to earn by 1) smiling at us and shaking our hand; 2nd bead) saying something to Keith in English or at least showing that they understood something that he said in English; and 3rd bead) helping me to memorize the YW theme in Japanese. I know the first 2 1/2 lines, and then it really gets into hard to pronounce words. We laughed a lot together as they tried to help me say them correctly. I'm still trying.
While I was preparing the beads, Keith was helping with all of that elaborate cooking. We had a fellow scout leader there--woodbadge trained and everything. He agreed with us that the Young Women camp is really great--maybe even better than scout camp:)
At the moment the church is not sponsoring any scout groups in Japan. Br Su-e came back from his wood badge training almost on top of the letter that canceled scouting in Japan. As you can imagine, Keith is trying to get it up and running again.
Our closing fireside was very impressive. The girls were divided into four groups and were led through several tableaus that re-enacted the war in heaven and then a family working together to get to the Land Bountiful to see the savior, a couple awaiting the birth of their baby (which represented each of them finally coming to earth) and arriving at the site of the campfire where they were all given lighted candles. Satan then went around and tried to blow out their candles, but they all made it safely to Zion (the campfire). The oldest YW were given torches (actual 3-4 ft long burning sticks right out a a tourist movie about Japan) to start the pre-prepared fire.
So there we were--about 40 of us holding lighted candles, with four holding monstrous flaming torches. The fire caught and roared into the air. It was very impressive. As I looked around to see all of those candles, I thought, "Why don't we do this America? Why are we so afraid of fire?" Just about at that point, the paper cup that held my candle (so wax wouldn't drip onto my hand) caught fire. I tried to blow it out, but it just burned hotter so I thought, "I'll just let the cup burn up and then I will still have my candle." Then the hot wax began to drip onto my fingers and I realized why we don't do this in America. Too dry or too klutzy or too ADD or something. Anyway I tossed the cup onto the wet grass and stomped on it. It immediately extinguished and I was left with my burnt out candle--the only one with a dead candle so far as I could see. So don't try this at home--unless you live in a wet forest and have extremely coordinated YW in your stake.
I don't know if I have Sandra Lathen on this e-mail group, but if anyone sees her, would you thank her from us. I remembered what she told us about girls' camp--how she would ask the Lord, if it was okay and would not cause any problems, would He moderate the weather for camp (and moderate the bugs also). I prayed that prayer every day we were there. We learned later that the large cloud cover that made it possible for all of us to be outdoors the entire day was actually pouring rain (cats and dogs, someone said) on Kumamoto and Oita--the two closest cities, one on either side, to the camp site. We had just a little drop now and then, just to remind us that rain was possible. But otherwise we were dry and comfortable and we did not have to cancel any outdoor activity.
While I was preparing the beads, Keith was helping with all of that elaborate cooking. We had a fellow scout leader there--woodbadge trained and everything. He agreed with us that the Young Women camp is really great--maybe even better than scout camp:)
At the moment the church is not sponsoring any scout groups in Japan. Br Su-e came back from his wood badge training almost on top of the letter that canceled scouting in Japan. As you can imagine, Keith is trying to get it up and running again.
Our closing fireside was very impressive. The girls were divided into four groups and were led through several tableaus that re-enacted the war in heaven and then a family working together to get to the Land Bountiful to see the savior, a couple awaiting the birth of their baby (which represented each of them finally coming to earth) and arriving at the site of the campfire where they were all given lighted candles. Satan then went around and tried to blow out their candles, but they all made it safely to Zion (the campfire). The oldest YW were given torches (actual 3-4 ft long burning sticks right out a a tourist movie about Japan) to start the pre-prepared fire.
So there we were--about 40 of us holding lighted candles, with four holding monstrous flaming torches. The fire caught and roared into the air. It was very impressive. As I looked around to see all of those candles, I thought, "Why don't we do this America? Why are we so afraid of fire?" Just about at that point, the paper cup that held my candle (so wax wouldn't drip onto my hand) caught fire. I tried to blow it out, but it just burned hotter so I thought, "I'll just let the cup burn up and then I will still have my candle." Then the hot wax began to drip onto my fingers and I realized why we don't do this in America. Too dry or too klutzy or too ADD or something. Anyway I tossed the cup onto the wet grass and stomped on it. It immediately extinguished and I was left with my burnt out candle--the only one with a dead candle so far as I could see. So don't try this at home--unless you live in a wet forest and have extremely coordinated YW in your stake.
I don't know if I have Sandra Lathen on this e-mail group, but if anyone sees her, would you thank her from us. I remembered what she told us about girls' camp--how she would ask the Lord, if it was okay and would not cause any problems, would He moderate the weather for camp (and moderate the bugs also). I prayed that prayer every day we were there. We learned later that the large cloud cover that made it possible for all of us to be outdoors the entire day was actually pouring rain (cats and dogs, someone said) on Kumamoto and Oita--the two closest cities, one on either side, to the camp site. We had just a little drop now and then, just to remind us that rain was possible. But otherwise we were dry and comfortable and we did not have to cancel any outdoor activity.
Our stake camp leader and a counselor in the Stake YW presidency said that there were two particular things that she felt made this year's camp strong--singing songs with a book prepared ahead of time, and having a specified quiet time for scripture reading every day. So thank you again--all of the camp leaders who have trained us over the years. None of us knew that that training would directly influence a camp in southern Japan, Kumamoto Stake. Once again it is mind-boggling how the Lord prepares us, as reluctant as we are sometimes to accept the preparation.
The church moves forward. I hope all of you are having a great summer.
Love, Kandie/Mom/Grandma
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