philly lds youth utah visit (maybe the longest post ever)

Before going on this trip, we liked our youth a lot. We thought they were good kids, and we were excited to share this experience with them. After spending two weeks together- we LOVE them! These 10 youth are nothing short of amazing. Not only do Isaac and I adore them, but the whole state of Utah fell in love too! They made friends wherever they went.

For several of the youth, this was their first time on an airplane and the first time outside of Philadelphia. Each of the youth had an amazing time at EFY. Their testimonies were strengthened, they enjoyed being ‘celebrities’ as the film crew followed them around, Wonder, Kilief, Cheeko, and Jerome won a dance contest, Kilief, Cheeko, and Jerome wrote the most amazing rap and performed it at the talent show, Gerald took second place in a swing dance competition, etc. They made great friends (some of whom came to a bunch of our activities the rest of the trip), bonded with each other, and came away with a renewed love of the gospel. It was a complete and utter success!!!

The week following EFY was spent touring sites in the SLC area. We went to Snowbird, had a super yummy dutch oven dinner, toured church history sites, went to Pineview reservoir, did baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple, volunteered at the Utah Food Bank, went to Desert Book (twice!), met with Neil L. Anderson, senior president of the Quorum of the Seventy, went to Music and the Spoken Word, and on and on. During the time outside of EFY, the youth each stayed with three different host families. Their families did different activities with them, including Lagoon, wonderful dinners, scripture study, family prayer, and laundry. We could not have done it without the amazing host families! The youth fell in love with the families that they were staying with- they commented over and over how they felt like a real part of the families. I think that the hosts benefited almost as much as the youth did- all were touched by their stories, their faith, and their spirits. Sheesh, we had a really wonderful time. Have I said that enough?

By Thursday evening, the youth (and their leaders) were starting to get a little testy and on each other nerves. By dinner time, I thought we were going to have to call it quits and put everyone to bed. Luckily, emotions settled and we had a wonderful evening. We put together a thank-you dinner for all of the donors and volunteers, and the youth put together a program and talent show. They did such a great job- if I can get a digital copy of it, I will put it on the blog. Amazing! They were also so gracious and thanked the volunteers and donors over and over again.

Kenny summed it up beautifully: "It means so much to us to see that people actually care about inner-city youth." We love these kids, and this night really made all the planning, worrying and stress completely worth it!

These youth are AMAZING, and the trip could not have gone more perfectly. I really believe that each youth came away from EFY with a renewed vigor for living the gospel, a stronger testimony, and pure happiness at having made so many new friends.

A few days before we left, Kilief said to Isaac, “I don’t want to leave. (I haven’t heard) helicopters, ambulance sirens, shootings. I’m just going to disappear on Saturday. They’ll be putting out an amber alert for me.” I am so glad he, and each of the youth, had the opportunity to experience life outside of Philadelphia. I wish he could’ve stayed forever!

The film crew asked Isaac and I if we would do this again. In a heartbeat. These kids are amazing, and we are so glad we were able to be a part of this.

Here is a slideshow of some of our pictures. Make sure to check out our Philly LDS Youth blog in the next few days for even more pictures.

Just to make this post the longest ever, I’ve written down day by day what we did. (I swear I have the worst memory, so I wanted to record everything.)

Day 0: Gathering the youth from various locations throughout the city and bringing them over to our house to "sleep". They played a lot of Wii that night, each of the kids received blessings...

Day 1, Saturday: The flight. For most of these youth, this was their first time on an airplane. Isaac and I had such a fun time just watching their faces as we took off. Once we were in the air, Isaac and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes- we were FINALLY on our way! It had been a long 9 months of raising money, planning, and worrying. We were very sad about the last minute drop outs, but thrilled to have 10 youth on the plane- they couldn't back out now! We had a long layover in St. Louis where we were surprised to find that Munah (who was flying from Chicago) was in the airport with us and on our next flight! To pass the time, we played a funny "sign" game which got us a lot of strange looks from passersby. When we landed in Utah, we were greeted by the film crew, the host families, and a member of the MoTab Choir who gave each of the kids a CD. Munah's bad didn't arrive, and Jerome left his suit in the overhead bins, so after working with the airlines for a few minutes, the kids were off to their various homes. Isaac’s sister Charity had three of the girls for the first block, and the girls fell in love with Isaac’s family (and we with them!!)

Day 2, Sunday: We went to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday morning. It was so beautiful, and they sang one of my favorite hymns, Be Still My Soul. Afterwards, the film crew came to take a few pictures, and we headed to our old ward building in Sugar House. The girls had all gone to their host families’ wards, but all of the young men and host families came with us to visit the Emerson Ward. It was fast Sunday, and Jerome and Kenny bore their testimonies. Isaac and Ray Caldwell also did. The ward members fell in love with our youth, and they were celebrities for the day! After church, everyone went back to their host families’ houses for Sunday evening. We had a great time with Isaac’s family, and we realized just how much we miss our families, and how much of our nieces and nephews growing up we are missing out on. We played on the trampoline, had homemade rootbeer, watched Summer and Russ battle it out on Dr. Mario… hmm... I’m a little homesick!

Day 3, Monday: Dropping the kids off at EFY. We met up with the film crew outside of registration and they took a few shots. We hung around for a while until a roommate issue was figured out (the EFY leaders are amazing!!). Then we took the youth to their dorms, and Isaac and I felt like we were parents sending our kids to college. As we dropped off the YM, they each gave me a huge hug, and we got a little choked up sending them off. Fingers were crossed that they would have a great time! After saying our goodbyes, Isaac and I were interviewed for a little while by the film crew, and then we headed to my sister’s house for a few minutes before heading back to Ogden.

Days 4-8, Tuesday- Saturday: While the youth were at EFY, we had some time to spend with family and friends. I did some much needed fabric shopping with Jenny (and can’t wait to get started on my quilt). We stayed at Mat & Kati’s house for a night and played Rock Band, which we will be buying! My family had our second annual reunion, which was a blast. We had carnival games, relays, and crafts one day, and went to a play land place the second day and played laser tag, race cars, mini golf, and arcade games. Serious fun! Isaac went golfing with his dad and a few brothers, we had lots of good meals, and loved every second of catching up with our families. We celebrated David and Nathan’s eighth birthday, and my dad’s 65^th. For his birthday, everyone in the family submitted pictures and memories of Dad, and Keri made it all into a great book. He loved it! On Saturday, the kids were picked up from EFY really early, and went to breakfast that was provided by Vest’s dad. They then went on a hike to Timp Caves. I am so grateful that Kelly and Dave drove out from California to spend some time with us- especially on Saturday so Isaac and I could be at our reunion.

Day 9, Sunday: We took a few of the young men up to my parent’s ward, and then had our typical Sunday dinner of tacos. My nephews enjoyed playing beats with the boys on the organ. Sunday evening we had dessert and watched an outdoor movie with Isaac’s fam (the mosquitoes were horrible, so only a few brave ones actually watched the movie).

Day 10, Monday: Snowbird. We spent the day at Snowbird Mountain Resort. We did the alpine slides, zip line, mechanical bull, climbing wall, trampoline, rode the tram, and had a wonderful day. All but two of the youth had never seen, much less been in, the mountains before, and they had a great time. We only had a few injuries, with Kilief falling off the alpine slide, and Jerome getting cut when he was bucked off the bull. They were so exhausted by the end of the day that they were taking naps on the benches all around the resort. For dinner, we headed down the mountain to a camp ground where Isaac’s amazing Uncle Scott cooked us a dutch oven dinner. It was delicious, and the kids were thrilled to be fed!

Day 11, Tuesday: Church History. Alright! Church History. Oh yeah! The youth were incredibly excited to spend the day learning about church history. We went to the genealogy library, the church history museum, temple square, the beehive house, and of course, Desert Book. We also were privileged to have a meeting with Neil L Anderson, senior president of the Seventy. We met in the Church Administration building, so we walked past the offices of the first presidency, and the twelve. We met in their conference room! It was very uplifting, and Elder Anderson answered the kids questions openly and honestly. After that, we headed to the Pie for some huge pizzas. Thanks to my parents for leading the tours!

Day 13, Wednesday: Pineview Reservoir. We spent a perfect day on the beach, in the boat- thanks to Tiff’s dad- on wave runners- thanks Summer and Corey-, swimming, jumping on a water trampoline. Isaac’s mom made a great lunch for everyone. About half of the youth don’t know how to swim, so it was fun to put life jackets on them and help them learn a little bit. Everyone had a blast!

Day 14, Thursday: We did baptisms for the dead at the Salt Lake Temple in the morning, then went to Desert Book (again) and had lunch. In the afternoon, we did a service project at the Utah Food Bank with another ward. We put together a thank-you dinner for all of the donors and volunteers, and the youth put together a program and talent show. It was amazing! Freddie and Kenny read some of their favorite scriptures, Crystal sang a great Hannah Montana song, Alexia played the piano, Wonder sang a Christina Agulera song, Gerald and Kelly did a swing dance, Isaac and I did our lovely rendition of "My Little Buttercup", Kilief, Jerome, and Cheeko did their Philly rap, and Munah sang my favorite hymn, "I Stand All Amazed". They ended the night with the EFY medley, which is "As Sisters in Zion" and "Armies of Helaman". Tears were flowing freely!!

Day 15, Friday: Everyone was exhausted, so we slept in a bit and then went to the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theater. We then headed to the Gateway for lunch, and then to Chris (the guy in charge of the film crew)’s house for Café Rio, a few interviews, and a wrap up discussion.

Day 16, Saturday: Early early morning, home again! Lots of sleeping on the plane, lots of goodbyes at the airport. Thanks to our ward members for picking all the youth up and taking them home. Isaac and I picked up Dax from our friend's house, and slept ALL day.