Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo!

I am so blessed to be able to work with the youth in our church! There is no other place I would rather be- probably because most of the time I act about their age :) We got to take the youth from our stake on an awesome trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to learn about the early saints and plenty of church history. Because I'm a stake leader, we had the "pleasure" of making the menu and purchasing all the food for 60 people. This was no easy task for someone like me that doesn't even like to cook for 3! But my friend Claudia (who is my 2nd counselor in the stake YW presidency) and I drove ourselves up a day early and ended up with 5 heaping shopping carts full of food. I know we looked hilarious and this is the back of her car STUFFED to the top! The closest Walmart is 30 minutes away from where we stayed so we did two trips that day so we wouldn't have to go back.

This picture was taken in Carthage, IL outside of the jail where Joseph Smith (prophet and president of our church in the 1800's) was being held and was killed by a mob of nasty men. These were all the leaders and youth that went on the trip from my ward.

Me, Amy Kemp (my secretary) and Claudia in front of the Mississippi River where the early members of the church had to cross when forced out of their city, Nauvoo.

Some good times back in our condo as we had a lettuce food fight while making sack lunch sandwiches for the youth :) We picked on the Young Men leaders the whole time! (I told you I act like a teenager) Seriously, the trip was so awesome- we had tons of fun, but left with such a great appreciaton for the early saints and what they went through so that we could have the gospel of Jesus Christ today. This group of youth are the best I have ever been with and just behaved so well and have great spirits about them! With all the temptations that are in the world today, it's great to see young people with high standards who know who they are and stand for what is right! It just makes me smile :)