Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll it's TIME TO BLOG ABOUT JR CAMP!!! I was going to try and just fit it all into ONE REALLY LOOOOOOOOOOOONG POST like I did for AMA, buuuuuuuuuuuut that just wasn't going to be possible....soooooooooo it's looking like TWO REALLY LOOOOONG POSTS!!!!
.
Soooooooooo I have to start off by saying that Jr. Camp was absolutely amaaaaaaaZing!!! Kid's just have the ability to bing down the presence of God!!! That must be WHY Jesus tells us, "Except ye become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of God" Weeeeeeeelllllll let me tell you something, when the majority of a conference is children, the power of God is POURED OUT!!!!
.
And I was telling Denae Monday night, I ACTUALLY think that JR. Camp was better than AMA and thats really, really hard to say because that camp is POWERFUL!!! And she said I shouldn't compare conferences, it's not like I'm writing a yelp review...WHICH IS TRUE...buuuuuuuuut God really touched me in some areas of my life that i needed to work on and maybe it was just that things are simplified for children...buuuuuut some of those object lessons made some things clear for me in a child-like way and weeeeeeeelllll we all know I'm just a BIG KID trapped as an adult!!! HAHA!!!
,
Buuuuuuuut don't worry Denae, I'm NOT going to yelp review Anitoch...I'm sure it will be JUST AS AMAAAAAZING in a completely different way!!! HEE, HE!!!
.
ON OUR WAY!!!
 |
| ME AND THE BIG SIS!!! |
 |
| Me and the niece and nephew Kyle-Kyoteeee-HOWWWWLLLL and Chelsea= CHELLY!!! |
 |
| What is it about uncrustables that are just soooooooo GOOOOOOOD??? I bought a homemade uncrustable maker and it just wasn't the same, must be all those PRESERVATIVES!!!! BAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! |
 |
| I thought this was sooooo funny!!! |
 |
| Kyle and Odin's first year as official campers!!! |
 |
| Off the big Ginty boys go!!! |
 |
| Lucy's first year- I just LOVE LULU, she has the best personality everrrrr!!! |
 |
| Bella-SHE'S AN OLD TIMER already!!! |
 |
| Our AirB&B!!! |
 |
| Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay sooooooooo I LOVED MY ROOM!!! Do you know how nice it is to stay in a room, with your own full length mirror, your own shower and your OWN WALK IN CLOSET??? It was epic!!! |
.ORIENTATION NIGHT!!!
 |
| yes kids were seeking God for the Holy Ghost the very first night without any preaching! |
 |
| Little Alina seeking for the Holy GHost!!! |
 |
| Bro Perry had some really GOOOOOD object lessons that clearly A LOT of time, work and effort were put into!!! This was about the crops needing water!!! |
 |
| I REALLY, REALLY, REAAAAALLLLY wanted to be called up to be grapes... buuuuuuut my heart was literally BROKEN when I was NOT CHOSEN!!! Liiiiiike I was born to be grapes in a kids object lesson!!! They wouldn't have even needed to cover my clothes from getting wet...I don't even care!!!! |
.
The message was about being dry and NEEDING water because we're THIRSTY!!! (at least thats what I got from it!!! sometimes God just emphasizes what your, REALLY NEED to be hearing in your life!!!)
.
Second Object lesson
.
He called up Chef-boy-Howdy and there was a sandwhich he had made I'm not really sure WHAT was on it but Bro. Perry said, EAT IT!!!! And he started eating it til whatever was on it was too much and he couldn't eat anymore!!! Idk if he was just acting really well of if there was a lot of salt or some really spicy peppers on it buuuuut apparently it was BAD!!! At first I thought it was just something really nasty like the sandwich that kid eats in AIO or cow tongue buuuuut I'm pretty sure it was some kind of peppers...
 |
| Trying to eat his cooking... |
 |
| Bro. Perry just pulls out a gallon of water and is like, ARE YOU THIRSTY??? And Chef-boy-howdy says YES!!! (I'm paraphrasing so no one freak out if this isn't EXACTLY what anyone said...I'm NOT quoting and you only have to be EXACT when your quoting...Magazine article writing, News article writing, English 101, SEE I LEARNED SOMETHING IN COLLEGE!!!;) . |
So he says YES he's thirsty and reaching for it and Bro. Perry starts to hand it to him and then says, WAIT you can't just have it, do 10 jumping jacks first, so he does, then he says, now do 5 push ups, now spin around and the kids are counting and cheering for everything finally Bro. Perry hands him the gallon of water and he's guzzling it down and Bro. Perry says, when your dry and your thirsty, you can't just get the water, YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING to what it takes to get it!!!! And that right there REALLY CLICKED in my mind...it was really an AHA moment for me.... I mean I'm sorry someone had to eat hot pepper for me to have an AHA moment buuuuuuuuuut it was really what I NEEDED TO HEAR!!!!
.
I mean, it's NOT like i havn't been living for God, buuuuuuut we all have those dry spells in our lives and we have to stand back and reevaluate what we need to be doing to get back where we need to be!!! Are we praying daily? Reading our Bibles? Am I listening to, too much Audible stories OR Adventures and Odyssey???? Sometimes we need to take a break from something that is EVEN a GOOD entertainment to focus more on God!!!
.
I'll never forget Bro Moore teaching us in Devotions at AMA, YEARS AGO, about how there was a time in his life that he was really, really dry and he needed to break again in God's presene, but the tears just wern't coming and he would just pray and pray, God open up the foutains of the deep in my heart and one day he FINALLY broke again!!! And that's always stuck with me because I do NOT cry easily!
.
I never cried at my mom's funeral even, now don't think I was NOT absolutly HEART BROKEN when she died, I WAS, I cried plenty by myself, buuuuuuuuut NOTHING came when I was with anyone, I wasn't holding back, i just don't cry easily! I never even cried when I got the Holy Ghost, which Bishop Abbott assured me that the evidence of the Holy Ghost was NOT TEARS but speaking in tongues.
.
buuuuuuuuuut being broken in God's presence was something I had to learn to seek after as I got older and Elder Kelley, in his Bible college classes was really the one that taught me that!!!! (I wrote about that HERE)
.
Sister Foster and I MATCHED!!! YES, we planned it!!!
 |
Devi Abbott (Foster) was THE FIRST friend I remember having!!! We first met when our family moved from NYC and I was 3 and she was 4! Growing up, I spent MANY NIGHTS at the Abbotts household, we played baby dolls together, she tutored me in math, edited my stories when I started writing and before I turned 16, SHE MADE ME PROMISE to wait til I was married to have my first kiss. She was always SO POPULAR and aLL THE BOYS ALWAYS LIKED HER, buuuuuuut when we went to conferences as teens, she never ditched me or left me behind, even though I looked like a thrift store special, and was super quiet and shy and KNEW NO ONE, she has always been one of the kindest and truest friends i've ever had!!! |
.
It was really funnnn being able to match as adults,
because WE NEVERRR could've done that growing up!!!!
 |
| I was liiiiiiiiiiike, I knoooooow we look SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH ALIKE, and with the matching dresses, I do NOT WANT your husband to mistake ME FOR YOU, soooooooo make sure he knows that MY SLEEVES HAVE TO POLKA DOTS!!! Bahahahahahahahhaaaa!!!! |
 |
| Deane and I FUTURE DAY COUNSELORS OF 2024!!! |
.
I'm sorry, buuuuuuuuuuut I just can't do the whole getting up in the middle of the night and walking kids to the bathroom thing!!! And those beds....I did it when I was 18 and i've taken an OVER 20 year break!!! BAHAHAHAAA!!! BUUUUUUUUUUT, being a day counselor I'll get do the FUN STUFF and of course THE FUNNEST part of praying with the kiddos at the altar!!!
.
 |
| Me and my oh so LOVELY LITTLE friend Victoria!!! I've been friends with the three Rosa girls FOREVERRRR!!!! . |
 |
| Coffee time, this stuff was EPIC!!! Freshly roasted beans from Honduras!!! |
 |
| Bro. Clint, I THIIIIIIINK thats his name, got excited over EVERY COFFEE DRINK HE MADE!!! |
 |
| Salted caramel, blended with half and half.... YUUUUUMMM!!!! I hope he is there NEXT year cuz we're gonna rent an RV and stay on the campgrounds sooooooo I go get my morning JOE!!! |
 |
| Sister Tori teaching how to whistle!!!! |
 |
| Alex had success in learning buuuuuut Hazi, although VERY DETERMINED was NOT succeeding!!! |
.
 |
| My little O!!! I gave him a BIIIIIG talk before AMA that he was NOT allowed to matchmake for ME, HIS MOM, OR SISTER DENAE at AMA, Junior camp OR Antioch, BECAUSE he has tried to hook all three of us up with MARRIED MEN before, IN FRONT OF THEM!!! Two conferences down with SUCESS so far, ONE TO GO!!! Phew!!! "He was liiiiiiiike, BUUUUUUT AUNT MARY, what if a man says, Sister Mary, will you marry me??? THEN can I say something??? I was liiiiiike NOOOOOOOOO!!!! (I mean, if a man said Sister Mary will you marry me, AND i wanted to say yes, the first thing I would say is, BRO, drop THE SISTER PART...and just say MARY...better yet, BABE works even better for me!!!;) |
 |
| My big sis and my little sis!!! . |
 |
| We went to lunch on Tuesday to Annies Bistro and it was sooooooo cuuuuuute!!! |
 |
| I'm in my own realn when I'm with FLOWERS!!! |
 |
| Prickly Pear Lemonade!!! |
 |
| Puffed Cheese Appetizer!!! |
 |
| It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!! |
 |
| Special Grilled Cheese RECCOMENDED BY EVERYONE AND THEIR MOM!!! |
 |
| I've NEVERRRR been into tomato soup before, buuuuuuuuuut with the grilled cheese it was AMAAAAAAAAAZING!!!! |
.
 |
| I was liiiiiiiiiiiike this is pretty much THE BEST THING I"VE EATEN SINCE THOSE OREOS YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!! You guys. it was OFF THE CHARTS!!! |
.
 |
| The AirB&B |
 |
| I went on this lovely little walk/hike and it was sooooo niiiiice!!! There was a breeze and YEAH I got in my 30 minutes of excercise and enjoyed the outdoors while doing so!!! . |
TUESDAY NIGHT!!!
 |
| Kid's Choir!!! |
 |
| When you close your excercise rings at church...It just makes you shoult a LITTLE MORE!!! |
 |
| Bro. Wilson Preaching!!! |
 |
| He also had a really good lesson about the devil coming after us!!!! |
 |
| BUUUUUUUUT WE PUT ON OUR BOXING GLOVES... |
 |
| ANNNND FIGHT BACK IN JESUS NAME!!! We do NOT let the devil defeat us!!! This was my sister's favorite message!!! |
 |
| AmaaaaaaaaZing with a capital Z altar call!!!! |
.
 |
| The Holy Ghost was POURED OUT!!! |
.
 |
| And there's a NEW NAME WRITTEN DOWN GLORY!!! |
 |
| When your friend's baby gets THE HOLY GHOST!!! THAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOU JESUS!!! |
Annnnnnnnnd that's all FOR TUESDAY!!!! By this time I was alreay having THE TIME OF MY LIFE...buuuuuuuuuuut MORE TOMORROW!!!
♥Mary Frances :)
p.s. I don't wanna brag, buuuuuuuut i'm friends with the camp photographer, soooooooooooo a few of these pics were stolen from her!!!!
