Always Remember – Hero Camp 08

Last week was “Hero Camp”, an amazing church camp that is planned and run by the mothers in my ward (congregation) and a neighboring ward. Last year Hunter and Emma had a great time, and they have been waiting all summer for this big week.  This year’s theme was “Always Remember” and focused on the wonderful examples of heroes we have had throughout time. Every morning the group of 99 children would meet together and get a visit from a hero that came through a Time Machine. Then they would split into groups by age and rotate through activities, music rehearsal, and a lesson.  I didn’t see everything that went on, but here are some of the highlights of the week:

Monday’s Hero: Old Testament – Joseph and the coat of many colors. The focus was on choosing the right no matter what happens to you, and having a good attitude. They talked about “CTR Power” quoting the scripture in 2 Samuel 22:33- “God is my strength and my power: and he maketh my way perfect.”  They also learned about other heroes in the Old Testament: David’s power of courage (they used sling shots to throw marshmallows at an amazing painting of the giant Goliath), Moses’ power of faith, Daniel’s power of prayer, Esther’s power to stand for what is right, Noah’s power of hard work, and Joseph’s power to forgive.

Tuesday’s Hero: The Book of Mormon – Ammon’s wisdom. God helped Ammon to be wise by giving him ideas in his mind and in his heart.  They did activities related to living in Nephite times, making an arrowhead necklace, a little clay pot, a headband and painted each others faces.

Wednesday’s Hero: New Testament – The Good Samaritan. This is the day I was most involved with and I helped teach a lesson about Christ and how he taught us to serve by the way he lived. We talked about how he used his hands for service, made painted hand prints and special pencils, did an obstacle course and assembled hygiene kits.

Thursday’s Hero: Doctrine and Covenants – Mary Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins (They saved many of the pages from the Book of Commandments when a mob destroyed the print shop). The theme for the day was “We can do hard things.” Much of the focus was on the early Mormon pioneers and the hard work and sacrifice they gave to live and defend themselves from persecution.They made covered wagon snacks, played games that pioneer children would have played, and made butter.

Friday: The kids all performed the songs they had rehearsed through the week.  Each group had a song they learned together, and there were two beautiful group numbers as well.  (I can’t remember the name of the CD that so many of these songs were on, so if you know please tell me!) Each child was given a memory book with pictures of them and the things they did all week.  Then we all went to the Lagoon for swimming, sand and water slides.

It was such a special week.  The kids felt the love of their Heavenly Father and learned so much while still having fun with their friends.  There were tears shed by one of my girls because it was over so fast and she just loved learning and singing.  A huge Thank You to any of you that were involved in making this week happen.  It will be something that my kids will always remember.

Hannah’s group singing Nothing’s Too Hard For The Lord

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4tPi2GnCg

Emma’s group singing Good News

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53cieMeMGA

Hunter’s group circle dancing

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTaE8sXHWBw

The whole camp sings together

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hcnq-hU82Q