In June, Zac attended Aaron's Camp with the young men, age 14 and up, from our stake. Adam, as our ward's Teachers' Quorum Advisor, was able to attend for a couple of days with the boys. Zac loved every minute and would have liked for it to last much longer. He wrote the sweetest letter home to his brothers and we saw his faith and character grow incredibly in the short time at camp. While Zac came home gushing with stories and experiences during the week following camp, fifteen-year-old boys don't like sitting to type essays about camp for their mother's blog, so Adam will sum up this incredible camp experience:
Aaron's camp is a faith based high-adventure camp designed to help these young men feel the spirit while being exposed to hard things. It gives them the experience of accomplishing hard things while their peers provide encouragement and support. It lasts for a full week and is a life-changing and character-defining event for many. I was so lucky to be able to attend with our youth even if for only the first couple of days. It was amazing to see the amount of growth and development that occurred and see how much the group was there to support and lift up one another when needed.
The spiritual aspect of the camp came through daily firesides and devotionals, memorized scriptures and songs, group and individual prayers, and the constant support and encouragement from friends and leaders. The high-adventure ("hard things") came in the form of a high ropes course up in the trees, rappelling off a 60 foot cliff, an obstacle course (which claimed the honor of injuring the most participants, mostly leaders), an "amazing race," the Leap of Faith (where participants needed to climb a 30 foot tree stump and leap from the top, trusting that the ropes and harness would keep them safe), a grueling six-mile hike up a nearby peak, thundering hail storms (not planned) and more.
The biggest learning for me was how important it is for us to provide our youth with opportunities to experience hard things and learn how to overcome them. It was very evident within our small group that everyone has boundaries (where things transition from comfortable to hard) of different sizes. Some have boundaries so large that I have never seen them bump up against those boundaries. Others hit those boundaries almost every day. Everyone, no matter how large their comfort boundaries are, will hit the outer edges of those boundaries at some point during their life. As mentioned earlier, it may happen every day for some while others may not hit their boundaries until they are adults. How they respond once there is part of what defines them. It is important for us as leaders and parents to help them learn how to overcome those challenges to where they can be successful in any situation. That is my challenge.
