Dear Friends:
Last week, I had an incredible experience. I was fortunate enough to lead over 200 youth and 60+ adults on a youth conference for our church. This wasn't any ordinary youth conference, as we traveled almost 1,000 miles from Austin, TX to Nauvoo, IL. Nauvoo is a sacred place for our faith, where the early members of our church struggled to build a city that would free them from the prosecution that they had experienced in Missouri, Ohio, and New York.
We began the youth conference with a "fireside" meeting - we invited all the youth and their parents to a gathering on Sunday night. We wanted to set the right spiritual "tone" for the entire trip, with this meeting. During the event, one of our speakers talked to the kids about letting their "light shine" to the rest of the world. We turned off all the lights and slowly, the kids began to use the lights on their phones to light the entire room...it was so cool!
The next day, we gathered all youth at the Stake Center and divided them into "families" of about 12 kids in each. The family was headed by a "ma" and "pa" - adult couples from across the Stake. These leaders were literally the "cream of the crop" - I was lucky to have some of the best adults to make sure the youth had a great experience. Three families were assigned to each bus, and we assigned each bus a color, to help us track the families easily through the entire trip. They were given bracelets with our theme on them:
...and draw-string bags to carry small items during the trip. Each of the bags had the theme, as well as an image of the Nauvoo Temple on them:
The Cultural Hall became a center of chaos as the youth brought their bags and met their "ma" and "pa" for the first time:
After assembling everyone, and a prayer from our Stake President, we had everyone board the buses and departed for Nauvoo!
We spent all afternoon on the buses, and traveled through the night. The buses stayed together the entire time:
I traveled close behind in a "chase car" that we used in case of any emergencies. We also tried to arrive at destinations just before the buses, so we could have things assembled in time. This small crew was so much fun to travel with - it included one of my counselors, the Stake Young Womens President, and her husband:
Back on the buses, we challenged the youth to use their extra time to help with a service project. We had them loom knit hats for refugees. It was a fun thing for many of the kids to do, and the competition between buses gave them something to do with the 14+ hours on the ride to Nauvoo:
At about 1am, we stopped in Oklahoma to refuel the buses and change drivers. They made everyone get out of the buses, as a safety precaution. So there were about 200 people standing around the gas station....
With another 60+ people inside the station...most were in line for the bathrooms ; )
We continued through the night, arriving near Kansas City around daybreak. There was a huge rainstorm that passed overhead, causing zero visibility at one point on the highway. That was a little scary. We pulled into independence, Missouri around 6:30am. Independence was also a major part of our church's early history. After the death of Joseph Smith, a part of the early church broke away - believing that the leadership of the church should be handed down to one of Joseph's children. They used to be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS), but now go by the name "Community of Christ". They build their headquarters in Independence...a truly unique structure:
We parked the buses at one the Independence Stake Center, located just across the street from that unique building.
We fed everyone breakfast and then sent each bus to a different activity in parallel. Some were sent to the Independence LDS Visitor's Center - which is a beautiful set of exhibits, films and history about the early church:
At this point, my wife and kids arrived, after they had driven in our car over a two-day journey. The kids were able to go to the Visitor's Center, where they found lots of people that they knew:
Some of the groups held a small devotional, to talk to the kids about why Independence was so important, and to help put all of the sites into context. They grabbed any area they could, including this foyer of the Stake Center.
Another important site nearby, was Liberty Jail. This is where some of the early leaders of the church were put into jail, based on false charges. It was a very difficult experience, as the conditions in the building were very, very poor. It was a trying experience for these early leaders, and it was important for the youth to understand the sacrifices that were made for our faith:
We then had all of the buses meet at a small site, about an hour away. It's called Far West. Far West, Missouri was founded by early Mormon pioneers and flourished with homes and businesses. Originally, cornerstones were laid there for the construction of a temple. Unfortunately, tension between the Church and surrounding citizens became so bad that the Mormons were driven out under extreme circumstances. We wanted the youth to see the cornerstones, and understand why this tiny visitor's center was important:
G-Man at Far West
One of the cornerstones that were laid...
This is me, racing with my daughter L - because she challenged me ; )
So, let me explain the shirt. All the men on the "Logistics Committee" were given Superman shirts. I had one, as one of the leaders of the entire event. My co-conspirator had a Wonder Woman shirt - which definitely describes her abilities ; ) This is a picture of the two of us with the member of our Stake Presidency who is responsible for the youth in the Stake. We're standing with him and his wife - both serving as a "Ma" and "Pa" for one group of kids:
We then packed everyone back on the buses and traveled another hour to a site called Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This is a sacred site for our faith. It's actually a valley, used today for mostly farming. We had everyone hike down a trail to a beautiful grove of trees. I set-up a speaker system, so that our Stake leader could address the group and help the youth understand why this particular spot was so meaningful. It was a beautiful message in a beautiful surrounding:
G-Man and I were trying to make his sister laugh...so my wife caught this on camera while we were in that grove of trees:
Back on the buses and we spent another four hours to reach Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo is located right on the banks of the Mississippi River, just across from Iowa. It was just beautiful, as the Spring rains had turned everything green.
We went directly to our home for the rest of the week - Camp Nauvoo. This is owned by the Community of Christ, but is one of the few places large enough to handle our entire group.
We arrived just in time for dinner...and then assigned everyone to cabins to get some much-needed rest from the extensive travel on buses. The Camp was also beautiful. One one end, you had a view of the Mississippi River, through a lush green forest. What a sight!
That ended the first two days of the youth conference. We covered a LOT of ground, and were able to see some particularly sacred sites, to help the kids have spiritual experiences. We were all tired, so we slept well.
Join me next time for the continued story of our Nauvoo experience....
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