Youth Confrence 2008-Day 1

Matthew and I have a stake calling in the young men and young women stake presidencies and thus we were partly in charge of Youth Confrence. This was our second one since we've been here and we've gotten nothing but wonderful memories and experiences from them. It's been a great pleasure working with the youth here in Puerto Rico and I'm sad that this was our last youth confrence together.

So the first day was a big day because we only had three days to fit all our activities in. We started at 10:00am and as the youth arrived we had them sign in put a name tag on and decorate their shirts. Our theme this year was "I will keep myself firm in all good things", a shortened version of Mosiah 5:15 "Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works..." This was printed in Spanish on their shirts.




While we waited for all the youth to arrive and others to finish up their shirts, we played some games.





Soon after the games were over we had lunch and then headed out to our service project. We visited an orphanage that held abused children, from newborns to seven years of age. It was a heartbreaking experience when we entered and found the little babies crying. I noticed a leader from Pontezuela crying I couldn't hold back any longer, the tears just started running down my face. I never understood how parents can do this to their own children. I forcing myself to control my feelings of anger and remembered that we were there for the children; to provide them with love, a fun experience, and laughter. I put a smile on my face and began greeting all the children. They had 19 children at the time. We made a little easter craft and then they decorated their own paper bag to collect easter eggs once they were done.

As they worked on their bags the youth went out and hid all the eggs. It was the most humbling experience to see the smiles on those kids faces. Since they had been abused and held the right to all saftey measures, we were not allowed to take pictures of the children. This was the only picture we were able to take because their faces were not facing the camera. It took a while to get them to look the other way, but we finally got a perfect shot.

When we returned from the service project we watched "The Testaments" on a big screen through the projector. And that was day 1.