Erica's Adventures!: FOL

Last week I got to go on the Foundations of Leadership conference at BYU's Aspen Grove. It was an amazing experience. Aspen Grove is so beautiful and the conference was the perfect mix of fun and spiritual. We had lots of devotionals, EFY style classes, team building games and other activities. Our group was exactly what each of us needed. Its amazing how when you have the gospel in common you can become friends so quickly. By the end of just three short days I can honestly say I love everyone in our group, and I look forward to seeing them around campus. We were group 25 or 2-5 as we called ourselves and we had an awesome rap for our cheer (someone recorded it but I'm not sure where it ended up). I had so many great experiences but I don't have time to write about all of them so I'll just tell you about my favorites. The dance on Monday night was probably the best dance I've ever been to! It was just the right size, there was good music, and pretty much everyone was actually dancing. Tuesday during free time I hiked up to Stewart Falls. It's a beautiful waterfall! Some of my new friends and I actually went underneath it. The mountain water was freezing, but it felt good. Tuesday night was really spiritual. First we had a musical program, followed by a blindfolded activity about listening to the Spirit and testimony meeting. The testimony meeting was just in our small groups so everyone had the opportunity to share if they wanted to. I had never been to a testimony meeting that was so small before but it was really uplifting, and it was nice to be able to bear my testimony in a group I was so comfortable in. I think the thing that impressed me the most about the whole conference is that people who are just a few years older than me were completely in charge of the whole thing, and they were great at it! The two people who ran the conference were both seniors, and the group leaders were a mix of sophomores and juniors. I was totally amazed at what great leaders our counselors are, and how much they know about the gospel. One of our group leaders has both the Living Christ and the Family Proclamation memorized ( if you haven't read those or dont know what they are you can read them here and here). I was totally impressed; I don't even have all the scripture masteries memorized. Wednesday morning we had one more class and then headed back to BYU. I was kind of sad to leave but unlike youth conference, EFY or Girls Camp everyone at the conference is going to the same place after. We'll be able to see each other all the time!