“Walking with Christ”- Young Single Adult Camp August 2017

YSA camp is a highlight of the summer.  The summer holiday is about 6 weeks in Europe, from mid-July to the end of August.  There are YSA camps all over Europe during that time.  The biggest of them all, Festinord, was held in Sweden this year, with 750 young adults attending.  Ours, with YSA’s from four stakes, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Apeldoorn, and Antwerpe,  had about 115.  It was Monday-Saturday.  It is sooooo much work….and we don’t have to do any of it! 

The young adults do it all. They are so very impressive and capable!   You can’t see all of the committee in this picture but from l. to r.

Joey- handled all the sound equipment we needed, Sjoerd and Noel- all the activities, Jessica-workshops, Gail and Nik-co-chairs, Sister and Brother Gout, area YSA advisors, and Brother Noot-presenter of workshops.

The general schedule every day was breakfast, workshops for 2 hours, lunch, games/service/activities, dinner, more presentations/activities, snacks and bed. 

 

The camp started off Monday afternoon with Elder Johnson, the Europe Area President and his wife coming to talk to the youth.  They drove from Frankfurt, talked, and drove home the same day.  This tells me that these young adults, the future leaders of the church, are so very important and deserve our best efforts.

We made new friends : )

Pamela, Laura and Felicia

Zoey,

Tian, Yenny and Fifi

Sherida and Amy

 

We played, studied and worked. 

 

And of course danced!  It was a disney themed dance with some great costumes.

 

  

We served where we could.  (it was so nice not to be in charge of all the food that we were more than happy to chop carrots and peel potatoes!)

The cooks are amazing. They made delicious meals.  (and no one uses paper plates, etc. here.  They always use dishes and wash…soooo much work!) 

We love Femke, Daphne and Ida.  They went the extra mile and surprised us with an apple tart to celebrate our 1-year mission mark on Aug.  1 : )

Sometimes we get discouraged and wonder if we are doing any good….we wonder if our and our family’s sacrifice has purpose and meaning.  There are still lots of young single adults who don’t participate in the gospel and of course those who haven’t even heard the message of the restored gospel.  Then we look at this mighty group of faithful young adults.  And we remember that someone didn’t get them all to come….someone invited one, who invited another and another.  We remember that the pattern of heaven is “face to face” ministering.  We remember that “no effort is wasted” (PMG pg. 170).  We were lifted by pondering the theme “Walk with Christ”  all week.  And we feel renewed in our commitment to love, nurture, teach and strengthen one by one the young adults and young missionaries who cross our path as we serve here in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.  It is a blessing to be here : )