As I Search

Last weekend I drove down to Cranberry, PA for the N. Pittsburgh stake's first YSA conference. The theme was "As I Search". There were a few glitches (they should've invited Ohio) but overall it was a good conference and they did a good job. It was a little smaller conference, but that was okay. Sometimes that's nice. We had 6 YSA come from our stake, which was great considering it was just me last year that went to the fall Pitt conference.

Friday was spent getting there (darn construction traffic!) and then the mission president and his wife spoke. Later was get-to-know-you-games in the gym with refreshments. Don't get me started on get-to-know-you games (or GTKYG for short)...I'm not a fan of most of them and I've been forced to play them for far too long...

We stayed at a very nice home- the nicest accommodations I've had at one of these things. We had beds available, two showers and a powder room for us 4 girls, and even a finished basement with internet access. It even had a real tiger on the wall! I always get a kick out of what people have in their basements.

Saturday was full of classes- I did the one on scriptures and then there was a really nice one on testimonies (resolving our hearts and minds) too. Then I did the one with drums- finding your inner beat. Kate has all these instruments and it was so much fun to learn African songs (like their version of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes) and play drums and dance around. We were all big kids. We took turns leading the group in the drum circle. I even danced up in front of everyone with a tambourine- how Esmeralda!

I loved the little reptile xylophone that I played!

 Drum circle:

The next class was salt dough sculptures- there were some good ones, some funny ones. My butterfly won "Most Pretty":

My sis made some cute puppy dogs:

Later in the day we did service- they had people bring laptops and learn how to do indexing on the church's family history site. I'd never done that before and found it to be fun. I also had to have the spirit help me decipher some of those names- not very good handwriting! Their cursive L's looked like cursive G's!

We also did a scavenger hunt where you read a list of scriptures, figured out what object was mentioned, then you had to find the object! We did not win. We had a speaker afterwards talking about how singles fit in a church centered on families. Basically the answer is to be of service. It was a good talk.

We had a rather lame dance- Pitt never seems to pull off a good dance, I think they are cursed.

On Sunday I had an early meeting with the leaders and other YSA reps- how did I get drug into this? It was a good meeting, but not terribly productive. Everyone just kept saying the same thing over and over. Got a bit old. I did like that the Priesthood leaders gave each of us YSA a chance to speak our minds. I talked about how things have to be done with the spirit- I get tired of YSA groups that only meet to play volleyball or games, that never have a gospel conversation. Anytime you involve the spirit, it's better- whether its an fhe night or a friendship or a relationship. And if the spirit is at an activity, then people will want to come back.

We had good speakers for Sacrament meeting, talking about prayer and fasting. The couple who spoke got married later in life. There is hope.

Why, yes, we are cute girls!

I like my ruffledy Michael Jackson coat.

Oh, and on a totally girly note, I really liked our host's bathroom..totally loved this shower curtain:

I love aqua!

I also loved that they took the motif from the shower curtain and decorated the wall, too. So cute!

After saying our goodbyes, I jetted Laura home (two hours in the car) and then was home for only an hour and a half til it was time to pick up YW for Standards Night all the way up at the Stake Center. Phew! I had one girl go with me and it was a nice evening. It felt like an extension of my conference! Our stake presidency spoke about the plan of salvation, dress and appearance (was glad that he spent as much time talking about modesty for boys as modesty for girls) and then our stake president spoke about the law of chastity. Afterwards were refreshments (chocolate fountains! Yum!) and a slide show of my trek pics played.

It was brought to my attention that I had a flat tire that evening...and sadly it was true. I don't know when it happened, but my tire was totally flat. Of course life would be easier if it hadn't happened, but if it did have to happen then it happened at the right time/place. I was so glad that I made it home from Pittsburgh ok and made it to Standards Night without trouble. And I was surrounded by hoards of willing Priesthood who changed my tire for me. Everyone asked if I was ok. It was nice to see that there are nice guys out there- though sadly the guys who changed my tire were either married or 14! I teared up a little out of gratitude that I had help when I needed it. I felt very watched over.

A rather tiring weekend, but a good one. I'm excited for the next conference- going to spend Halloween at the same conference I did last year!