Righteous Desires: Singing Trees & Sister Dalton

I cannot begin to tell you what is in my heart this morning. I feel strongly that I need to write this down for my close friends and family to read.

As some of you know, I was recently called into the great Primary organization to serve as the President in our ward. I am so excited to teach and I love the little children of McCall 2nd ward. I have been in that job for approx. 3 weeks. Everything about it has been an amazing spiritual experience for me. I have faith in the fact that The Lord qualifies those whom He calls, for, were it not for Him leading and guiding me through the Spirit EVERY DAY, I would have had a complete breakdown by now. I'm not kidding.

Now- that being said - in order to serve in Primary I had to leave my old calling. This has not been easy for me. I’ve served as the 1st counselor in the Young Women's Presidency for the last 3 years. I know this does not seem like a long time to some but in the life of a teenager 3 years is a looooong time. Heavenly Father knew it would be a hard thing for me to leave these Young Women that I have grown to love and (in some cases) prayed to love (with those prayers being answered above and beyond that which I asked). :o) AND- to top it all off... this was all happening 3 wks. before girls camp!!! Are you kidding me?

But, through the experiences of last night, I have been reminded that Our Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us and the desires of our hearts. And if those desires are righteous and in timing with HIS plan He will do all He can to help those desires become reality.

So - just when I thought my heart would break into 10 million pieces thinking that I would not be able to share in this last amazing spiritual experience with my girls He blessed me with an answer to my prayers. A sweet phone call from the Stake Camp Director (who also happens to be my next door neighbor and a dear, dear friend) assured me that I would still be able to come to girls camp for Wednesday night. Now some of you might wonder what the big deal is. Girls camp is amazing EVERY year. And I know this. I've been to many girls camps over the years. But this one was different. This was an EXTRA SPECIAL girls camp. And Wednesday night was an extra special night for the girls of the Weiser, Idaho Stake.

For, because of the prayers & righteous desires of our great Stake Young Women Leaders and Camp Director, we were blessed last night to sit at the feet of Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Women's President. Yes. That's what I said. GENERAL Young Women's President. And yes, at Stake Girls Camp. Not a Regional Conference or an auditorium filled with thousands of girls or even an EFY session. Just our quaint little Stake Girls camp nestled up in the hills of Idaho. Our leaders were inspired to ask her to come and, according to Sister Dalton, she felt impressed and excited to come, even though others around her thought she was crazy. Idaho? Stake Girls Camp? What? I will forever be grateful for those inspired leaders and for Sister Dalton listening and acting on those promptings and impressions that she should come.

We pulled into camp and saw that the girls were already assembled at the pavilion and she was speaking with them. We found out that they had been given the oppportunity to submit written questions to her and her husband was graciously choosing them for her to answer. Just knowing that the girls were being taught directly from her was an amazing feeling.

Later on we were blessed to have her speak to all of us. I was in tears before the meeting began. She spoke to us of her experiences as a teenager and a mother and a grandmother and a wife and a Young Women Leader and The Spirit spoke to us of her great faith in Christ and testified of her love for all of us and the gospel. Our Stake Camp Director, Dana Jones, testified of the value of Virtue in our lives and offered each Young Women a Gold 'Banner', made out of fabric, small enough to fit in a pocket but big enough to hang on a wall. Our Stake Young Women President, Margo Dening, shared her testimony at the request of Sister Dalton and I was moved by her soft and tender spirit and her love of the gospel and of serving with the Young Women. I could relate to all of these women and knew that the girls were feeling that too.

We ended the night with an activity called "Singing Trees". This is an activity that takes place in the dark. We were dismissed ward by ward to walk reverently to a pre-designated spot in the tree line using flashlights for guidance. Our ward was the 2nd of 10 wards in our Stake to be dismissed. We had the opportunity to watch the others wards as they helped their fellow sisters to find their places in the dark. When all the wards were in their separate spots all flashlights were turned off and the world around us fell silent (not an easy task for 100+ girls ages 12-18).

I was sitting there enjoying the silence and the feeling of friendship and love for the dear sisters I was sitting with and then a group of flashlights came on in the distance and sweet, soft voices filled the air. One ward started to sing as the rest of us sat in the soft and quiet dark and listened. They finished. Their lights went off and it fell silent again. It was our turn. Our lights shone and our voices filled the darkness while those around us sat in the trees in silence and darkness and listened, and most importantly, FELT. Felt the Spirit testifying that we were where we needed to be, doing what we needed to be doing, and that while we might feel alone at times in a world of darkness there ARE others out there. We might not be able to see them but they ARE there. The songs continued through all the different groups. I heard "Nearer, My God, to Thee" & "Where Love Is", & "Abide With Me, Tis Even tide", & "Our Savior's Love" & ohmygoodness... I can't name them all. Our Stake Leaders were the last small group and they sang "I Am a Child of God".

And then something amazing happened. ALL the flashlights came on, and ALL the voices, including Bro. & Sister Dalton, sang TOGETHER in the darkness. It was our camp song, written by our Stake Camp Director, entitled "In The Arms of His Love". Based partly on D&C 6:20 where it says "Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love".

We had been instructed that after the song finished we could walk reverently back to our ward campsites for the night. The Spirit was strong. And even with all the silliness of teenage girls stumbling in the dark the atmosphere was still one of reverence. Our ward’s singing spot was at the bottom of the tree line, in front of some of the other wards so we were some of the first ones to walk across the spacious field towards the ward camps. I turned around about halfway across the field and was touched again by the Spirit. I was watching tiny lights coming out of the woods. Each being held by a Virtuous Young Woman or their Leader. It reminded me of the scripture in Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." I turned to a few of the girls and leaders and said "you should turn around and look". They did. I hoped they felt what I felt. Watching the lights coming out of the darkness was as touching to me as listening to the praises being sung 5 minutes before. It reminded me of the Janice Kapp Perry song (from my days as a teenager) that says "Just one little light in the darkness shining through the night... can grow to a blaze of glory setting the world alight.”

We ended the night a few minutes later with a Ward Family Prayer around the campfire and I felt peace. A peace that I didn’t realize I was longing for. I had closure. I knew at that moment that “my” girls would all be okay. I silently handed them back to the Lord knowing that He would take care of them & that they were being watched over by angels on this earth and angels in Heaven. And when I finally got home at 2AM I thanked my Heavenly Father for many many things- for my testimony, and my love of the gospel and the Young Women & the Primary Children but most specifically, last night, for giving me one last spiritual experience with my girls by answering the righteous desires of my heart with Singing Trees & Sister Dalton.