Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap; Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap; ClapClapClap; ClapClapClap; EFY!!!

Ever since I attended EFY when I was 15, I wanted to be an EFY counselor. I was thrilled when I got the chance to clear my summer in 2004 to enable me to apply. I must say that going through that application process gave me a greater appreciation for all of the people working with the CES. It was not an easy process. It started with a rather extensive online application that asked for a lot of practical information as well as questions pertaining to my testimony and my reasons for wanting to be a counselor and what I planned to do to make the experience as good as possible for the youth I would be working with. This was completed in September, and then I played the waiting game.

In November I received an e-mail letting me know that I was wanted for a second interview that would be held in January, but only if my schedule coincided with their needs. It did not say what they needed, it just asked when and where I would be available to work. I sent in that information, and in January I got another e-mail telling me that they wanted to do a group interview with me in February if my reccommendations were good enough. The e-mail then explained to me that I needed reccomendations from my bishop, and one other source. I asked Cory Sackett, one of my old seminary teachers to give me the other reccommendation, but I was afraid that he wouldn't remember me since he has been teaching for over 20 years and has been at a number of schools. I asked him over the phone, and he agreed- but just to make sure he knew who he was writing it for (I HATE form letter reccomendations) I left a picture of myself and a letter thanking him for taking the time, as well as a personal testimony and the reason I had asked him to write the letter for me. I had an experience in his class that really touched me and helped me turn my belief in the book of Mormon into true knowledge. He decided to include my letter to him in his envelope with his reccommendation because he said that the people making the decision would really want to see it as it had really touched him. A couple of weeks later I got an e-mail telling me when and where my group interview would be.

This group interview was really intense. There were about fifteen of us in the group, and we were told at the beginning that only one person from each group would be chosen to be a counselor. After chatting with some of the other people there, I felt like I had no chance because they were really great. In the interview we had to answer gospel questions, tell them how we would respond to different difficult circumstances, and then we had to put together a devotional about 'Saints' and deliver it after five minutes preparation. I did the best I could, but kind of figured that would be the end of the road for me. I was THRILLED to recieve my acceptance and schedule the next week! I got the e-mail while at work, and I ran down to the classroom that my mom helped in to let her know (we were both working in the same school at the time)!

Now, I could only find pictures from my first two weeks, which is sad because the last two weeks were my favorite. I also could not figure out how to flip the pictures to landscape. Just tilt your head or flip your screens if you want to have a better angle to view that figure I lost ;)

I was very lucky to have some amazing co-counselors my first week. It was a really good training experience for me. I also had some really great girls. Our league was Increased Wisdom- which was also rather fitting as I felt like I increased my wisdom in a lot of things. I learned so much about teaching youth- mainly about how deep (and shallow) they can really be. I also got the chance to bear my testimony A LOT, which is something I have never been real good about doing in public. I found that it got a lot easier for me by the end of the week- and I felt so much closer to the Lord. Good times, good times.

This is Micah- my co-counselor and Alison, one of my girls. We were the fire-power in our group! This was my favorite picture to take each week- all the boys pandering for me while I showed off my newly acquired engagement ring.

Derek was a really great guy. He had such a sweet testimony and he was a total gentleman to all the girls the entire week. He was highly sought after whenever the girls needed escorts or dance partners. Alli amd Candace on the left were my girls, and I loved them!! Good girls! Good, sweet, modest, and beautiful girls!

Our league won the Unity Award! This meant that we were pretty much awesome! Our league got very close and stayed close together the entire week. The unity I felt that first week set a good bar for me to try to reach up to for my other weeks.

Here are the mighty counselors- Micah, Amanda (duh!), Erin, and Mark

This is Micah trying to tell David (7'2) what to do. I LOVE that his name is David (cause he is tall- more like Goliath!)

My league the second week was Turn the Other Cheek. Our song was to the tune of 'Hit the Road Jack' and we sang 'Turn the other cheek, and don't you fight back no more, no more, no more, no more. . .' I lost my voice for the last two days of this week, which isn't too surprising considering the average counsleor only ever got about 5 hours of sleep a night, and my 5 hours was usually cut down quite a bit by phone calls with my pesky fiance'. My favorite memory of this week had to do with one of the boys in our group that was VERY negative. He was one of those kids whose mom had sent him as a last resort to get him into the gospel. He was always complaining about how far we had to walk, and he probably said 'This Sucks!' about 100 times a day. When our group was winding down at breakfast one morning the boys started playing that silly game where you put different things in a cup to see what it looks like all together. When they had orange juice, cranberry juice, ketchup, mustard, jelly, maple syrup, whipped cream, and some other stuff, Dustin (the negative kid) dared the other guys to drink it. When they all rejected his offer of five dollars I told him that I would drink it if he promised to go the entire day without complaining, and that if I caught him saying 'This Sucks', I got to make him a drink the next day. He agreed, so I downed that disgusting glop. It was totally worth it though. His attitude really changed, and he was quite pleasant for the last two days.

Cory and the boys all wrote and sang the girls a song before our awards ceremony. It was really cute.

The Amazing Counselors of Turn the Other Cheek- Cory, Jon, Amanda, and Lisa. Lisa is amazing!! The poor girl had to help me give my nightly devotionals the last two nights because my voice was so gone.

Me and my girls!

My third week was really great for a lot of reasons. I only had one co-counselor, which meant our group was really small and very unified. Colby was also my very favorite co-counselor. He was so sweet and funny. We both had the same sense of humor, and we both loved to sing- so our teaching was really the most unified of any group I was in. The League name was Signs and Wonders, which, of course meant that we sang 'I Saw the Sign' by Ace of Base- classic! This week was also really cool because two of the leagues were entirely made up of deaf kids. We learned the sign language for the theme song, 'Stand in the Light'. Our league got the Service award this week for the extra two hours we put in to the EFY service project. Since this week at EFY was one of the smallest, we didn't get as many blankets tied as usual. My group stayed to try and catch them up on the numbers.

My last week, I finally got the league name I had been envying the rest of the time- Beware of Dogs!! 'Who Let the Dogs Out' was a given! This was the best week of all! The funny thing is that I went into it thinkign it was going to be a let down. First of all, I has 14-15 year olds, and the younger groups are known for being hard to get excited. It can be like pulling teeth to get them to show enthusiasm or share personal feelings and insights. Also, it was the first week that I had a group with more girls than boys. Every other week I had been fortunate enough to have even numbers.

The first surprise of the week happened as I was giving the orientation meeting to my girls. as I was talking about all the rules and guidelines, a cute little girl knocked on the door and asked in a Brittish accent if I had any idea where she should be. I asked if she had gotten any sign on her door or if she had a roommate. When she said she didn't I got the other girls started in a get-to-know-you game while I went out in the hall to try and figure out where Abby belonged. It turned out that after coming here from England, she had somehow fallen through the cracks and had not been assigned to anyone. I gladly took her on even though I already had more girls than normal. I really think that Abby is what made this week so great. She was sweet and outgoing, and one of the most complimentary people I have ever met.

The other thing I think made the difference for me was the fact that none of my girls had come with someone they knew. All of them came by themselves, and they were all open to reaching beyond themselves to make friends.

I know this is getting long, so I will just share my favorite moment from this week. Wednesday nights were always the hardest nights to have a successful devotional. We came from games and cheer-offs where they were encouraged to run around and cheer and be as loud as possible. Then we got to the dorms and they were supposed to calm down to have a spiritual devotional about the book of Mormon, and then they got all keyed up for pizza night. As you can imagine- it was usually teh devotional that got cut short.

Anyway, this week, when I sat them all down to start my devotional, I kept it short and sweet, and ended with my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I did this every week, but it was different this time. I could feel the Spirit enter that room, and I could see that all those girls could feel it. It was an interesting moment for me. After I was done, one of the girls asked if she could share some thoughts. She was supposed to have given a mini-devotional earlier that day, but had forgotten her paper in her room. She wanted to give it then. Since the pizza hadn't come yet, I was happy to let her. She gave a wonderful thought and bore a very sweet testimony- the first time she had ever done that. After she sat down, another girl stood up and started to bear her testimony. What was usually a rowdy and fun night with pizza and games turned into an extemporaneous testimony meeting. Every single girl stood and bore her testimony, and for a lot of them, it was teh first time they ever had. They all talked about the different things they had gone through and how all the trials had strngthened them. It was really beautiful. I could see the love that they all had for each other- girls who had been complete strangers just two days before. It was really an amazing moment, and I was so grateful to be able to witness it.

Being an EFY counselor was one of the most amazing things I have ever done, and I still miss it to this day. Every year when I see the groups walking around campus, I wish that they would let married girls be counselors. I think that it is an amazing program that blesses so many lives! My testimony grew leaps and bounds as I shared it with the youth. It was really the perfect way for me to prepare for the temple. I know this was long and arduous, but since it is for me and not you- I don't care :)