Monday, July 22, 2013

Boys

We have a 3 year calling in our church to work with the young men at APTC (Aaronic Priesthood Training Camp) This is camp where the young men from four different Stakes, who are preparing for missions or deciding if that is what they want to do - come and have four days in the high wilderness of Cache Valley to learn, teach, play, e a t and have some time away from our busy civilization to get know each other in ways you can't possibly do otherwise.  The spirit at this camp is strong and sweet.  It is remarkable to watch the older guys teach and mentor the younger ones.  It is a neat thing to see the bonding and growth that happens in such a short time.  Stand to sing and kneel to pray.  We really enjoyed our time with them.  I wish I had dozens of daughters that I could set them up with in due time! We saw firsthand why the age for mission-going-young men has been dropped.  They are ready.  These boys stole our hearts.  They came in many shapes and sizes, random hair styles and colors, quirky personalities and amazing grins!  They ooze with talent and conviction.  Not once did we have any problem whatsoever with any of them.  They know how to work, play, love and did I mention EAT? We really enjoyed our time with the adult leaders as well.  One more year to go.  We will enjoy our break for a few months and get going for round 3 this fall.


 The long hours of preparation really paid off.  
We met the night before we left in our backyard for prayer and to begin our fast.















 Boys can find mud anywhere!  It was crazy how they could aim for the target nearly 100 yards away.

 650 service hours were happily given.
(double click on any photo to make it larger)

 Something everyone needs to witness.  
SCONE NIGHT. 
It is a feeding frenzy! 500 scones, 130 boys 
and they were gone in about 15-20 minutes!


 Mark and his wonderful presidency and Colby.




 Our amazing leaders.


We love every single one of you!!