CHOICES- Girls Camp 2012

now, I know what you're thinking. another church activity over the course of let's say... a week. I don't know. was Youth Conference really that long ago? it's crazy. I feel like I've just got back! but girls camp wasn't highly anticipated for me. sure, all my friends would be back from the states (those are the losers who didn't go to Youth Conference with me!), and that it would only be one night of camping in a tent (which just isn't my thing), and that I could have fun, but again, I just really don't like camping or hiking. but if I had to choose, camping is a lot worse. you can never sleep in tents because the ground is so hard, it can be noisy, it can rain, I can't breathe because of the smoke, there's tons of mosquitoes, and I've had some pretty bad camping experiences with my family which I would prefer not to blog about. but sure, it may be fun if you like to pretend you're homeless! and after being at an amazing youth conference, I just had really high expectations. plus, I didn't bring any camping gear to Japan. but the biggest thing of all is that it was the first girls camp/youth conference without my mother. I'm a real big Mommy's girl here, and I just really miss her whenever she's not here. I know, I'm a baby, but it's true.

our theme was C.H.O.I.C.E.S. every Mormon activity always needs some cool acronym, right? this one stood for: Church. Home. Outside Influences. Eternal Salvation. we had workshops on all of those choices we have to make. and of course, with every church activity, along with a theme, you need something cutesy to go along with it! in this case it was Dr. Seuss. we talked about Oh, The Places You'll Go! and how if we make good choices, it can lead us to the right places. we got these cute little Dr. Seuss lanyards, but my name was spelled Mariam instead of Miriam. this happens way too often. you'd think that after hearing my name, you could figure out how to spell it, and we didn't throw in any weird spellings either! my name is Miriam Elaina Castle. it's as simple as that. spelled exactly how it sounds. but this mistake was fixed, and everyone started calling me "Miiiiiiiiiriam" to avoid further spelling mistakes.

well, fun stuff first. we combined with the Tokyo 2nd English-Speaking ward (none of whom I knew), and I made a ton of friends! I instantly bonded with KC and Lisa. we talked together, ate together, and partied together! In my tent was Lisa and Sarah, my roommate from Youth Conference who is already in my ward. we were up all night talking and singing and telling weird jokes! we finally decided to go to bed at like 3, but like I said, it takes forever to fall asleep. and right as I was drifting off, Sarah started snoring (which didn't happen at youth conference!) I only slept about 3 hours. I was so tired the next day!

other stuff we did that night: getting-to-know-you games, a workshop, and testimony meeting. We also had a "snipe hunt", which apparently every girls camp does. but in my first 2 years, our ward never did one. But I got the experience here, and sorry to say, it was the stupidest, most pointless, freakiest activity ever. basically, the Laurels (16-18 year old girls) try to scare the younger girls by telling us about snipes, these furry white creatures with crazy red eyes that bite really hard. they are prone to attack if they see/hear: humans, loud noises, and light. the only way to protect yourself is to put toothpaste all over yourself. I don't like being forced to do pointless stuff like that, so I put my foot down and said, "This is lame. I am not putting toothpaste all over myself just because of some stupid activity." well, that didn't work. the Laurels just got mad and had to watch me put on toothpaste. it itched really bad. so, my wonderful Aussie friend Scarlett who is like my younger sister and I just kinda hung back. but not until after I got attacked by Shay.

this sweet girl here is Shay. she's always very happy, friendly, and super fun to be around. but as a baby, she had a lot of seizures and because of that, she acts more like a child instead of a 16 year old. she arrived later than most of the girls, so I hadn't been introduced to her before the snipe hunt. but right before, out of nowhere, this girl I've never even seen before jumps out and grabs me and drags me around. I thought it was one of the Laurels pretending to be a "snipe." so, naturally, I screamed "LET GO OF ME!!!!!!!! I DON'T KNOW YOU! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" but then her mom was talking to her all calmly and told her to let go and not to scare people and to introduce herself. I felt so bad because I reacted the wrong way! but she is really a sweet girl! even though I nearly wet myself!

after getting all covered in toothpaste, we all looked pretty sick. we washed ourselves off and then did testimony meeting. after that we got in our PJs and did campfire songs. Scarlett and I talked the whole time, and after the closing prayer, Lisa, Scarlett, and I sang pretty much every song we knew until the leaders yelled at us to go to bed. it was super fun!

 Lisa and I made matching toothpaste mustaches because if you are forced into doing a stupid snipe hunt, have fun with it! unfortunately, by the time it was done, our mustaches came off so you can't really see them.

 Sarah covered herself pretty good! It took forever for her to get clean again!

India put toothpaste all over her legs, and here she is, struggling to remove it.

the next day, we woke up to rain. we tried as fast as we could to get our stuff out of the tents, but it still got pretty wet. we ran into the workshop place for shelter. after eating a nice breakfast, we did skits. I did mine with Shay, Marissa (a Laurel), Shay's mom, Kelly (our amazing leader), and India, Scarlett's sister who's just a grade ahead of me. Oh, how I love the Aalders sisters. when I first moved into the ward, India was the first person to welcome me into Sunday school, and she is super smart, friendly, and always happy. She and my friend Savannah introduced me to everyone, and as soon as I met Scarlett, something just clicked. Like her sister, she's also really friendly and happy and bubbly, but really spunky and energetic and never stops talking! kind of like me. you can see why we're friends! but anyways, we did a really cute skit. I hope the video works. but if it doesn't, I was supposed to "shelter myself" from the worldly influences with my high gospel standards.

 working on the skit!

 India and me, with poor Mia falling asleep!

here comes the spiritual part. we did a lot of workshops, but there was one that really affected me. Kelly, who also did the skit with me, was in charge of it. She talked about the OI part of choices, outside influences. she came from a really good family, raised in the church. but as she became a teenager, she was doubting it. so, she stopped living the gospel standards and was greatly influenced by the world. she rebelled, quit going to church, partied, and didn't make really good choices. but all of that changed when she had an impression to move to Japan for education. in Tokyo, she met a Buddhist lady who invited her to practice her religion with her. at first, she didn't really mind, but later on, she got this feeling that it was wrong and that she should start going to church again. So, she did, and she felt the Spirit so strongly that she decided to change herself. she stopped making bad choices, dressed modestly, repented, read her scriptures, and returned to the gospel. since then, she said, she's been "happier than ever" now that she isn't as influenced by society. and that's really an amazing thing. but what I especially liked was that she said that it's actually good to care about your appearance and make yourself presentable. it's okay to wear makeup. just as long as you don't lower your standards and become too influenced by "the world". and Modest is Hottest!

then we ate lunch, talked some more, and went home. it was a nice, short girls camp, and I'm glad that I came! I have really come to love Japan and the people there, and I'm still not ready to leave yet! Oh, but don't worry. Only 20 days until I come back!