There were 170 people that pre-registered and more showed up, there were well over 200 in attendance, which was so nice. It's definitely the largest YSA conference I've attended thus far. There was always someone to talk to, no one can accuse me of being a wallflower anymore! It's really funny to me how full circle I've come- I used to be so shy!
On Friday evening, they had games at a nearby ice rink but I knew I'd miss those so I just went right to the church for registration. Driving/finding places wasn't too bad and it was great that I didn't have to be on any toll roads (a rarity for NY!). They had games but I just chatted with people. There wasn't really anything to take photos of.
On to Saturday:
Saturday's activities were at a church on Cornell's campus. We ate breakfast there, and had a speaker. He talked about how we'll never be perfect, that it's through Jesus we are saved. A good speaker, though I don't think I agreed with everything that came out of his mouth. It was almost as if he were saying "No one's perfect, why try?". Hmmmm...
Then there were slots for three classes. First, there was a Spiritual Survival class that was fun. Our teacher was from the Pacific Northwest! He showed a survival scenario where you are leaving the foothills of Mt. Rainier in a terrible snowstorm and your helicopter crashes. You and your crew have to survive for the next 4-5 days in the cold and snow with just 12 items. They had you rank the 12 items in order, then you organized in groups and ranked them again. Then the wilderness expert told you (on the tv) what the order should be and you listed the difference between your ranking and the expert's ranking. Then you did the same for your group's ranking and the expert's. The goal is to have a low score like golf, and I am proud to say I had the lowest score in the room! By far! I go to Girl's Camp, I know how to survive, lol.
Then he compared it to spiritual survival, you have to have a plan and stick together. Usually the group score is better than the individual score- you bounce stuff off of one another. The gospel is meant for groups- families, auxiliaries, wards, etc. It was a good class.
The second class was a dating class taught by married people- it could've been a big groan, but they did a good job and it was funny.
The third class I attended was taught by the president of the Palmyra Temple presidency- he taught about "One Eternal Round" though most of it was a group discussion. I didn't really like where all the discussion went, but it was good. I may bring up this class again at a later date, he had an interesting point.
I got to see in the library- it looked like Harry Potter! So cute!
The buildings are all castle looking, old and beautiful- the mod ones from the 60's really don't go!
This is the church where we did stuff on Saturday:
After lunch, we went off to service- I signed up to help at St. Paul's in Ithaca. It's one of the largest churches there and the second oldest, it was built 110 years ago.
It is big! And beautiful!
These windows are amazing! So beautiful.
I liked the angels above the altar as well:
The man that was in charge gave us a great tour. There is a lot of work to do to fix this church, lots needs to be restored (like many of the windows). This is what the building originally looked like:
The towers on top are missing these days- there was a huge partition wall (like 60 feet high and solid wood) that would come out of ceiling in the chapel. One night about 70 yrs ago it fell spontaneously and caused a tremendous amount of damage. The floor had a foot-deep trench in it and the area shook for miles! It was like a manmade earthquake. The towers had to be removed because they were no longer structurally sound after that happened. Apparently there was lots of damage to the plaster too- the wood partition splintered apart upon impact and there were large pieces embedded in the walls. What a story. We helped haul old stained glass windows from the creepy attic, and also painted downstairs. I helped open old paint cans so they could dry out and be tossed.
Th attic totally looked like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! Think of the mine scene:
You could go up the scary wobbly gangplank and see the glass dome ceiling of the chapel- it's since been covered up from the inside. I opted not to- I have the worst balance!
For activity time, I hiked out to the falls with a group of about 20. I was tempted to tour the Cornell art museum, but this won. Cold, but worth it:
Spectacular!
They were so pretty!
We headed back to the chapel for dinner and the dance, I had fun getting dolled up a bit (wore my fouf headband!) and dancing with my buds. The music was great and I danced all night! I even got asked to slow dance, that was nice. It was a lot of fun with so many people. My friend Ivan and I had to take advantage of the cheesy backdrop!
Sunday was very nice. We had sacrament meeting with the local ward, then split off for our own Sunday School and combined Priesthood/RS meetings. Afterwards, they fed us great sandwiches and sent us on our way.
I wound up rooming with young marrieds who had a year old baby that was really cute. They were really nice and hospitable- I even got heart shaped pancakes on Sunay morning!
I really couldn't complain much about the weekend- except that I lost my precious hat! Otherwise it was the most fun I've had in awhile and definitely one of the best conferences I've attended. FebCon rocks, and I am glad I listened to my friend's recommendations! I'm still in a totally great mood from this weekend, it was the right mix of spiritual and fun.
Snow Conference for the youth is next weekend, might as well keep my suitcase out of storage! See, told you that's all I do these days!
1 comment:
Hi Liz, we got your card, that was so thoughtful! I'm glad you enjoyed Febcon, you've given me some good ideas for a "stay-cation" around Ithaca!
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