So this last week I was able to attend a program called Especially For Youth (EFY) at BYU with my friend Cambree. Basically you live in the dorms for a week and are put into groups of about 8 people under one counselor. Three groups are put together to form a company. Your company is kinda like your family for the week-- you do absolutely everything with them. Every day there's activities centered around strengthening our testimonies, but also we have tons of fun just being rowdy teenagers!
Some of the most important lessons I learned this week didn't have much to do with what was actually said, but more with how I view myself and how I act. EFY is unique in that everyone is their most outgoing self because A) they only have a week to befriend these people and B) even if you make a fool of yourself, you'll never see any of them again anyways so who cares! Because of that, I spent way less time worrying about what the people in our company thought of me and more time focusing on just being myself, talking to everyone and making everyone feel included. A lot of the people in our company were kids I would never talk to at school, just because I'd be so convinced they wouldn't want anything to do with me, but after this week I realize that people really aren't so different and we all want to be accepted by everyone. Brother Wilcox (our session director) talked about how the way we think other people view us is just like one of those distorted mirrors that make you look 10 feet wide or erase your head; our perceptions aren't accurate and we just need to accept people as they are without worrying what they think about us.
My other favorite thing about EFY is that the Spirit is present absolutely everywhere. You literally can't escape it, even if you try. We start every day off by studying the scriptures individually. We made goals as a company to pray for the Spirit in our meetings and we're constantly attending devotionals and firesides where we learn about ourselves and our Savior and God's love for us. And mixed in with all that spirituality we have dances, games night, Girls Camp games during lunch (which it turns out are 10 times funner when there's boys involved ;D ) and karaoke during free time.
My favorite part of the week is testimony meeting. By that time everybody's pretty good friends and comfortable around each other. It's powerful to hear the testimonies and backgrounds of kids you've only seen being happy and jovial, and it really united us as a company. The Spirit was so strong.
So basically EFY was just a life-changing experience, not only because of the things I learned but because of the habits I made and the people I met. It's crazy to think that I only knew those kids and counselors for 5 days, yet they're definitely some of my best friends ever and already we're trying to plan some sort of reunion (6 of them live in St. George, which isn't unreasonably far away). We talked a lot all week about how to apply the things we learned in our everyday lives once we got home. I'm hoping that maybe because of this experience I'll be able to be more than just a little better.
Also during one of our activities we made a video based on a For the Strength of Youth topic. Ours was service and I'm posting the link here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWonzyMZaSc&feature=youtu.be
And yes, three of them actually are named Nate.
Some of the most important lessons I learned this week didn't have much to do with what was actually said, but more with how I view myself and how I act. EFY is unique in that everyone is their most outgoing self because A) they only have a week to befriend these people and B) even if you make a fool of yourself, you'll never see any of them again anyways so who cares! Because of that, I spent way less time worrying about what the people in our company thought of me and more time focusing on just being myself, talking to everyone and making everyone feel included. A lot of the people in our company were kids I would never talk to at school, just because I'd be so convinced they wouldn't want anything to do with me, but after this week I realize that people really aren't so different and we all want to be accepted by everyone. Brother Wilcox (our session director) talked about how the way we think other people view us is just like one of those distorted mirrors that make you look 10 feet wide or erase your head; our perceptions aren't accurate and we just need to accept people as they are without worrying what they think about us.
My other favorite thing about EFY is that the Spirit is present absolutely everywhere. You literally can't escape it, even if you try. We start every day off by studying the scriptures individually. We made goals as a company to pray for the Spirit in our meetings and we're constantly attending devotionals and firesides where we learn about ourselves and our Savior and God's love for us. And mixed in with all that spirituality we have dances, games night, Girls Camp games during lunch (which it turns out are 10 times funner when there's boys involved ;D ) and karaoke during free time.
My favorite part of the week is testimony meeting. By that time everybody's pretty good friends and comfortable around each other. It's powerful to hear the testimonies and backgrounds of kids you've only seen being happy and jovial, and it really united us as a company. The Spirit was so strong.
So basically EFY was just a life-changing experience, not only because of the things I learned but because of the habits I made and the people I met. It's crazy to think that I only knew those kids and counselors for 5 days, yet they're definitely some of my best friends ever and already we're trying to plan some sort of reunion (6 of them live in St. George, which isn't unreasonably far away). We talked a lot all week about how to apply the things we learned in our everyday lives once we got home. I'm hoping that maybe because of this experience I'll be able to be more than just a little better.
Also during one of our activities we made a video based on a For the Strength of Youth topic. Ours was service and I'm posting the link here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWonzyMZaSc&feature=youtu.be
And yes, three of them actually are named Nate.
You're a real inspiration to me Kiersten. Thank you.
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