I have a new blog!

http://goingforthinfaith.blogspot.com/

Halloween

Hello All!

I am so excited for Halloween! This year, the youth are making a spook alley in the basement of our church. It will be so much fun! But, I have a problem, I don't know what to dress up as! Help! Any ideas?

Stephanie Y

Liber Retreat (finally!)

Well, nothing I can really write will do it justice. The feeling there was so awesome. Everyone is very accepting and friendly. I have never felt alone or left out once! Hugs are a standard there! I got to strengthen my relationship with my friends and make a couple new ones too. We had so many amazing speakers! Including Jim Rhodes, Heather Burton, Larry Murray, and Kathy Harline. I had two very amazing counselors. Bird and Sookie. The discussions and devotionals were very inspiring and were always accompanied with a page full of notes. Our political Simulation was hard but exhilarating ! My brain hurt after though! The camp was right by the mountains in the country and every night you could see millions of stars!!! On one of the warmer nights, me, Rebekah, Karissa, Tessa, McKayla, and a couple counselors lay down on our backs and looked at the stars. They are so beautiful and are one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen. Once I figure out how to put my pictures on here, I will!



Over all, this was an amazing experience!!!!!!!!!!!!

Calvin and Hobbes

I have recently fallen in love with Calvin and Hobbes Comics.... Here are a few!

Amazing quote

"Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Summer Arts Workshop 2007

This month I had the privilege of going to a Summer Arts Workshop put on by our Stake. All of the 12-13 year olds went on Tuesday from 9:00 AM- 4:00 PM. When we arrived we learned four songs. Children holding hands around the world, Singaba Yo (this is a African song) These are the days and The EFY Medley. Once we were done, we went into the gym to dance. We learned a Jewish dance called Mayim, Mayim. (which means Water, Water) After Lunch we learned a Hip-Hop dance. We had an amazing instructor! She made the dance fun and exciting. The second day was 14-15 years (they learned a Hawaiian dance) and the third was 16-17 (Spanish Dance). Everyone learned the Hip-Hop.
On the Friday, everyone came for a few rehearsals and costume fixes. On Saturday, we arrived at 9:00 AM to prepare for the play. Everyone brought their costumes (some of them were provided) and we went through 1 rehearsal and 1 dress rehearsal. We brought our own lunches and after we finished eating we went through the songs once more. At 2:00 we went into our separate change rooms and did our make-up. (at least the girls did!) We had to be completely quiet. Finally at three o'clock we got to go on the stage.

The story is about a boy who is growing up and preparing for a Misson. He thinks of all of the places he can go in the world. There are dances of all the places. Including,

Native American dance

German Folk Dance

Philippine Dance (the Tinikling, I did this dance!!)

Spanish Dance

Hawaiian Dance

English Violin Trio

Jewish/Hebrew Dance



In between every other song or dance, there was a little intermission sequence. Every time, the boy was one year older. He has an older sister who is meanwhile sharing the gospel with a friend. Towards the end of the play, the sisters friend gets baptised by the brother. (You don't actually see it, the just talk about it.) At the end, we all dance our Hip-Hop dance for his Grad. I think that was one of the funnest parts! Then we sang a song "Children holding hands around the world" We each had a different ethnic costume on.

We had two performances and after we ate Pizza and watched the video of us laughing at our mistakes! It was a blast and I was so glad I went!

:o) Stephanie

P.S. I will write about Liber Retreat soon!

Summer - Camping

Well, so far I have had a very eventful summer. First of all, Young Woman's Camp.

YW Camp was a blast! After arriving in William Switser park (after a noisy, 3 hour, car trip) unpacking, setting up tents, finding out groups, and unrolling sleeping bags we were finally settled in. During the following three days we...

Swam in the lake, paddled around in canoes, tanned, went on a 5 km hike, found a robins egg, picked two wild strawberries (and ate them), prepared food, ate it (it was delicious), went snipe hunting, did secret service to each other, took a couple pictures, preformed skits, sang songs around the fire, ate s'mores, read scriptures, listened to devotionals, reflected life in general while sitting on a log and enjoying the peaceful scenery, deep one on one conversations with good friends, and held an amazing testimony meeting.

That pretty much sums up the entire camp. Over all, and amazing experience Also, my last Camp in this ward :o(

Second, Family Reunion at Kookanoosa Lake...

We spent an entire week with extended family in our almost-brand new tent trailer. It was nice to see family again. Plus we were at a great lake for fishing and swimming- especially the fishing, which I have recently discovered and really enjoy. My Grandparents bought a float able trampoline Island from Costco and put it in the lake for us to play on. We had a blast playing truth or dare, and pushing each other off. A really cool thing that happened is that Amelia (10 months) took some steps by herself! She is learning how to walk! The down side of it all is that I got a really bad sunburn on my nose (which turned it bright red!) and that I accidentally walked into the water with my camera on... So now I don't have a working camera. Other than that I had a blast!

Anyways- til next time!

Stephanie

Newsies and YW camp

Well, I finally watched Newsies! It was so good! I have always like musicals (Fiddler on the Roof, Phantom of the Opera, Sound of Music, etc...) Me and my brothers can't get the songs out of our head, so I printed out the lyrics and we learned the songs together. Our favorite songs are
"Seize the Day" and "King of New York" The Newsboys Strike is really interesting. Here are some links about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Newsboys_Strike

Also, today I am leaving for Young Woman's camp! It is called BF3 (Building Faith, Friendships, and Fortresses) It will be so awesome! We are going on a bus for three hours (west of Edmonton) to a place called William Switzer Provincial Park. It is by the mountains and we have an area of beach all to ourselves. We also have a private dock, so we can swim, fish and canoe. Anyways I will be away for four days. I will try to get some pictures on here! See ya!