guns, cows, bowling, & temple pageants

well, it's summer. time for every Mormon teenager to attend Youth Conference. this year, I went to Japan and hiked Mt. Fuji. it took 12 hours. it was super hard. but it was worth it.
Jusssssssssst kidding. that was last year.
this year, as all of you should know by now, I am not in Japan anymore. I went on my first real Youth Conference with my ward in Provo, the ward I've been attending for about 10 years. I knew everyone, some people better than others. It was really nice, because I got to know some people a lot better, and I became better friends with everyone. Some people, I knew their name and what they looked like, and that was pretty much it. but after this youth conference, I feel closer to everyone and it's great!

first, we drove up to the Utah County shooting range and shot guns.

before Thursday, I had never shot a gun in my life, and I obviously needed tons of help. Bishop Tirrell had to give me instructions about 10 times before I was ready to shoot it. The shotgun has a kick to it, and I guess I held it wrong because my shoulder was really hurting. Today at tennis, I found 2 bruises from when I was holding the gun, and it just felt really awkward to hold the racket. it also felt awkward to hold a shotgun. we shot at clay pigeons (not real birds), and I missed every single time. so I guess I need more practice before I start shooting real things! we also shot at targets, and I missed everytime as well. and there was this really big gun (please do NOT make fun of me, I am a girl who has never shot a gun in my life and I have no idea what the name of this gun is) that was really loud and big, and I really wanted to shoot it. so, I get one of the teachers (14-16 year old boys, not real "teachers" in case you are confused) to load it for me. and I pull the trigger, and it doesn't go "boom" like it was supposed to. so like every single boy and leader crowds around me to see what was wrong. turns out, the bullet got stuck! and of course, that could only happen when Miriam Castle is shooting a gun. but we were able to get it out, and I was able to shoot it. it was really awesome. I actually had a great time, even though I don't think I hit anything!

we then drove up to a teeny little town in Sanpete County called Spring City. the whole place, like any small town in Utah, had the wonderful fragrance of cows. we ate lunch at a chapel there, played some games, and had workshops. first, a patriarch spoke to us and explained the significance of patriarchal blessings. it is truly an amazing thing. I haven't gotten mine yet, and honestly I want to wait until I am much older, but I really like the idea of them, finding out exactly what your purpose in life is, and what Heavenly Father wants you to do.
but driving around all day and shooting guns can make me pretty tired, so at some point, I fell asleep. I felt really bad about that. but in between that, we had a little break and I was able to wake up.
the next workshop talked about self worth. the quote I remember from that was this (and I'm probably messing this up)
it doesn't matter what size of the audience you perform for.
basically that means that your perception of yourself shouldn't be affected by how many friends you have. even though I enjoy having a lot of friends. it's interesting to think about it.

our theme was "in his holy name." or something like that. in the next work, Melanie, the bishop's daughter, explained the significance of our names. they represent who we are. they can give people a reputation, good or bad. for example, if someone heard that I was the daughter of Dr. Steve Castle, they might think that because my dad is a chemistry professor and was valedictorian of his high school, that I, Miriam Elaina Castle, am really smart and into chemistry and science. this is not true at all. (except I get pretty good grades so I guess I'm smart?) one of the things that I really liked that she said was how on missionary name tags, there are 2 names in big letters. the first, is elder or sister (your last name). the second one is Jesus Christ. the reason for this is that the missionaries are representing Jesus Christ himself. and when you think about it, that's a lot to live up to. but it's an amazing thing to know that these missionaries were sent to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they do their best to be like him everyday.

finally, my favorite workshop was by the bishop's nephew, Jake. he was a really good speaker, and talked about obedience and how important it is to obey the Lord. he shared really amazing stories, quotes, and examples. one of my favorite examples was in being an athlete. he talked about basketball, but I'm going to use tennis as my example. It took me a long time to learn how to serve. I had to practice really hard everyday. but once I learned how to do it, I could've thought, I can serve. I can hit the ball in the court. I'm good at it. I don't have to practice. but even though I'm pretty good at it now, I still find room for improvement, and I still practice my serve everyday. the same thing applies to gaining a testimony. after you have a testimony, you can't just think I have a testimony. I don't have to do anything else. I don't have to keep working for it. you have to keep strengthening it. you either gain a stronger testimony, or you start to lose it. you can't just stay the same.

after the workshops, we drove to Sterling, a little town just outside of Manti and set up our camp. we camped at a nice grassy park with a playground, real bathrooms, and even a tennis court. I should've brought 2 of my rackets and a can of balls! I was so mad. but then again, we wouldn't have had any time to play tennis. but I really wanted to. but the playground was actually really fun, and I enjoyed going on the teeter totter. my friend Sabrina said, "oh look at Miriam, squealing and having the time of her life!" yeah. I was about as happy as a 2 year old. kinda embarrassing. but yeah, I loved it.

next, we had the famous Manti Pageant. this picture has no filter at all, believe it or not. although you would think it might, because Haley and I are actually freezing our butts off. and the temple is really that beautiful. and the Bishop somehow found his way into the picture. everything about the pageant was amazing: the story, the lighting, the costumes, and the Spirit. I loved every minute of it.

the next day, we did a service project, went bowling in Ephraim (another small town in Sanpete county that smells like cows), played kickball at a church in Mt. Pleasant (this town not only reeks of cows, but horses as well), ate dinner, had testimony meeting, and went home. it was a great experience, I loved all the workshops, and felt the Spirit really strongly. sorry for the long post, but really, it was so amazing. much easier than hiking Mt. Fuji. but then again, bowling is pretty hard. no matter how hard I roll it or where I stand, my balls roll into the gutter every single time. (Haley Spackman can testify to that!) of our little bowling team of 5 people, Mer Bear lost with a score of 36. Hays got somewhere higher than that. and the rest of our team (her older brother Josh and 2 priesthood leaders) got into the hundreds. you could say i was defeated. also, I can't shoot a gun to save my life either. (Bishop Tirrell and all the other Priesthood leaders can testify to that.) and I can't kick a kickball to save my life. (my whole ward can testify to that!) so, there were some challenges. but it still doesn't add up to the difficulty of hiking Fuji.
 

our desert adventure

so it's been a month. I have been doing so much end-of-year homework. holy crap, can I just say, most stressful time of year. so then summer starts, and I'm supposed to feel relieved. nope. on fridays, I practice tennis with Timpview for about 2 1/2 hours, and on other weekdays, I do the provo city league tennis for an hour. on saturdays, I have 1 hour with a private tennis coach who actually used to be the BYU tennis captain, and sometime in there, i play with my mom or with friends. so tennis takes up a lot of time. to earn money, I will be teaching piano lessons to little kids in my ward. and I still have to do some summer work. so I'm actually pretty busy this summer.

because we went to Japan last year, we decided to just have a chill summer and never leave the state of Utah. we spent an enjoyable 4 days in Moab this week to start off the vacation.

we drove away Tuesday morning after I went to my first Timpview tennis practice for an hour and a half. I am a walk on, so I don't really know anyone on the team so I just practiced hitting with the new freshman. anyways, we stopped off at Canyonlands National Park, did a little hike, drive around to some viewpoints, and took several pictures. it was really hot and we got tired quickly. we made it to our condo in Moab around dinnertime, and just chilled there.

Wednesday we hiked the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. since I hate hiking, I wasn't very excited for this hike. we were told it would take 3 hours, and there are no bathrooms anywhere, and we can't just poop on the trail, as Wesley brilliantly suggested. I braced myself for the worst, but it was pretty easy. we had a guide who stopped every 5 seconds pretty much to talk to us about the beauty of nature. it was more like a chill, extra long, intense nature walk with some rock climbing in the desert. after the hike, we went to some other arch, but it was really hot and we were all getting grumpy and tired. I don't remember exactly what happened, but my mom decided she had enough of me and spat a ton of her water in my face. I got back at her, and then she did it again, but this time she practically showered me with her water. at this point, we decided to leave, go back to the condo, take naps, and watch Elf. i know, you are thinking that we're insane, watching Elf in June. but that was the only movie they had at the condo, and it's hilarious, so why the heck wouldn't we watch it?

 Thursday we went river rafting! we left early in the morning, got in a van with some guy from Wisconsin and our guide, and drove along this really bumpy road for a looooooong time before we finally got to the river, which is basically in the middle of nowhere. we finally got on the raft, and it was just our family and Jake the river guide. poor Jake had to drive us, row our boat, and put up with us all day! the night before, the boys and i made plans to see who would get thrown out of the boat first and how long it would take. but we didn't do anything on our list. we were pretty good, I guess. by the end of the day, Jake knew pretty much everything about our whole family and could probably fit right in! the raft was fun, and I admit I did freak out when the rapids came and was terrified of flipping out of the boat. but we were all safe, got soaked, no one fell out of the boat, and had a great time. and no one got sunburnt. that's a great accomplishment.

friday or today, we packed up all our things and drove home! but first, we stopped at Goblin Valley to play around in the hoodoos and eat lunch. mom and Wesley had gone camping there last year with my grandpa and cousins and they said they had an amazing time, so Dad, Justin, and I were the only ones who had never seen it in our lives. all I knew about it was 1. rednecks like to go camping there, and 2. the music video for Human by The Killers was filmed there. it was a really fun place to just run around and check out everything and climb on the hoodoos. we found some pretty cool caves. but of course, Justin and Wesley wandered off, got lectured, Justin had a meltdown because he wanted to stay longer, it got really hot because we're in a desert in the middle of nowhere, I ran out of water, and my parents realized we had to eat ASAP. we all needed to refill our water bottles, but the water was yellow and questionable, so we asked a ranger, who said it was fine, just full of sand. yeeeeeeh. so we ate some sandwiches, drank some sandy water, and drove home.

I had a pretty fun time, even though I would've much rather been in London, New York, or San Francisco. or Tokyo again. someday, I want to travel the world.