When President Boswell managed to secure funds for a Baltic Youth Conference, Elder & Sister Davis were asked to "take the lead". Elder Davis deferred to Sister Davis to lead the way and she became the "de facto" chairperson, since he had never organized ANY camp. And those 10 years of training acquired at Girls Camp, made Sister Davis's job so much easier. It was as if every successful thing she learned while helping at girls camp was meant to be taught in the Baltic.
So this post will be about how she managed to put together a youth conference for 30 youth & 21 adults.... from three different countries, speaking 5 different languages, using 3 different currencies. Sounds difficult, right? Sometimes it was frustrating but we had so many tender mercies, the Lord made this much easier than we thought it would be. And we had.... OH, SO MUCH FUN!
First, we needed help. And we knew we could count on 4 women that spoke good English and who were involved in the young women's program of the church. We had a three-way Skype session with all three countries and got organized. We used the youth theme for the year, "Arise and Shine Forth..." and we made a schedule for Monday, July 2nd - Thursday, July 5th.
The Latvian District YW's President Linda.....was a blessing to us. She found us the place--Kraukli Guest House, agreed to plan a nature activity for youth conference and give a presentation before testimony meeting on Wed. evening. She also managed to get the food catered so we didn't have to worry about cooking. Linda also chartered a bus (two days before conference was supposed to start) for the 29 Latvians & Lithuanians that needed a ride to conference.
She organized the youth as they arrived at the church in Riga and got them on the bus at the right time. And she decorated some jars for candles to shine through, for our stage area. All easier said, than done!
Left: Maris from Estonia managed to get her 9 youth/YSA's on a bus and to Salacgrivas by 4:30 and was prepared to do a craft activity and had her YSA's plan the 1920's dance for Tuesday night.
Natalie (below) from the Latvian Russian Branch agreed to teach the girls a hygiene workshop along with Skaiste and was a great help getting the youth enthused about attending.
Lasma & Donatas Blindarukas from Lithuania planned a dance workshop and Donatas was assigned to speak before testimony meeting on the theme.
We couldn't have done this without the help of all these local leaders. They could have done this themselves...they just haven't realized it yet.
The roster of attendees had to be reprinted right up until 9:00 the night before we left, because of last minute changes. That was the most frustrating part...Sister Davis had all the youth divided into four colored groups and every time her phone rang the list would change because either someone dropped out or a new person wanted to be added. Every change meant a new list had to be reprinted for the counselors. Oh well, one ream of paper later, we were set.
Elder & Sister Davis took E/S Flake with us in our car. Elder Flake was a podiatrist in his former life and he was going as our medical advisor. Lasma, Donatas and baby Lukas wanted to arrive early and they followed us to Kraukli....
We arrived on a cloudy-with-sprinkles day. We had grabbed some games as we left the apartment in case it rained for four days and we had nothing to do for activity time. We were blessed to have no major rain while we were there though we did get a few sprinkles.
We met Edmunds (the owner) and Lasma translated for us. He was excited we were there and wrote down our schedule of activities so he would know what was going on each day. He promised to come to some of our campfires and we can't say enough good things about this man. He loves sharing his place with others and was so excited we had offered to do a service project to help him fix it up.
Sister Davis made a schedule similar to what she followed at girls camp. Workshops until 2:00, two hours of free time, a group project ...free time until dinner, campfire, dance one night, testimony meeting the next and lights out at 10:30. The lights out part is just a joke...it doesn't get dark enough to really turn on the lights until 11:00 and no one really managed to get to bed that early anyway. But it did look good on paper!
At the last minute Elder & Sister Millet decided to attend, and while we didn't know if we would have space, Edmunds found them a place to stay and we couldn't have managed without their help! Senior Couples are worth their weight in gold when it comes to putting on an event this size. So many little things come up unexpectedly, that having a few extra people (who really understand what you need) were a blessing.
We found out the chartered bus in Riga, got a flat tire and was a half hour late to the church, so the youth would be late arriving. And when they did started arriving, they did so on foot. The bridge into Kraukli isn't strong enough for buses so the youth unloaded their gear and walked up the dirt drive into camp...with Elder Davis there to record it.
The trek....
Julia and Ingus (with rakes for service project)....followed by people struggling with their bags.
Elder Flake welcoming Sondra and Luiza...
Galina (far back), Tomas (YSA), Austeja, Gintare and Laima on the last leg of their journey into conference.
Rihard showing how ready he is to have some fun!
The youth had to register with E/S Flake where they each received an "Arise and Shine Forth" wrist band that divided them into four groups by color. They also got a packet with spiritual journal, a pen, daily schedule and name tag. They printed their name on an envelope that would become their conference "mail box" so the youth could "send" notes to each other, which became quite a hit. And then they had free time until the Estonians arrived.
This camp had so many things to do, we never worried about the youth being bored... they played Frisbee, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hula-hoops, walked by the river and played on the climbing equipment....so much to do and only three days to do it in.
Edmunds was busy mowing the lawn and allowed Elder Flake a go-around on his riding mower, though they couldn't understand each other's language, they managed to communicate.
Soon after the youth arrived, the first snack arrived from Salacgrivas. The company that provided the food, fed us three meals a day and a substantial snack for 5 Lat a person. Now, feeding someone four times a day for $10 is pretty reasonable...and we got so much food we had to store some in the camp kitchen. The snack was Spanish rice with big chunks of pork in it. Dinner was a ham porridge and they were only an hour and a half apart! No one ever went hungry at this youth conference.
Karolina, who is not a member of the church but was invited by her friend, seemed to be have a good time. "Here Elder Davis, CATCH!"
The swing was a big hit!
While the youth were playing and having a good time, Elder & Sister Davis snuck in a staff meeting with all the camp leaders. We hadn't even met all the chaperone's yet and we needed to make sure everyone knew the rules of youth conference.
After dinner, it was time for "campfire" which Edmunds lit every night, even though it wasn't dark enough to appreciate the ambiance of the fire. The youth sat quietly waiting to see what would happen next.
You might be wondering what language was used at youth conference. For the most part English, though they used their native tongue to talk with friends, and, if they didn't understand English during classes, someone would translate for them. It was interesting to us that we never had to ask someone to translate for anyone else. The youth knew who needed help and just sat by them and translated whenever it was needed.
We had FHE first, given by Brigita, a YSA from Lithuania. She gave a great lesson on perspective and had a relay race that required partners working together to win.
Then Sister Davis did her "campfire leader" routine like she used to do at girls camp.
The first song she taught these youth was one they had never heard before.....
Black Socks!
Then Sister Davis did her "campfire leader" routine like she used to do at girls camp.
The first song she taught these youth was one they had never heard before.....
Black Socks!
Okay, all those campers who already know this song are probably asking, "Why on earth would Sister Davis want to curse the Baltic with a song that you can't ever seem to get out of your head?" And that is a valid question...it's because black socks translates into any language. Every country has black socks...and they get dirty...and they have to be washed. For those who have no idea what Sister Davis is talking about, the words of the song go like this:
"Black socks, they never get dirty
The longer you wear them the blacker they get.
Some day, I think I might wash them,
But something inside me says, "Don't do it yet...not yet...not yet!"
And this was the perfect song to warm up the crowd with...and NOT ONE of them had ever heard it before! Whoa, there was going to be some serious culture shock with Sister Davis introducing foreign songs to nations that pride themselves on their folk music. Will this rather irritating invasion of sound ruin their culture? Sister Davis was willing to take that risk, though if it ever got back to their Minister of Culture, she could well be deported from the country.
FYI: "Black Socks" was heard being sung all over camp for the next three days...mostly by girls. The boys made up their own lyrics that Elder Davis heard, but we won't repeat those lyrics on a nice blog like this....
After the first song, it was time for "rat races".....
The three brave volunteers, Viktoria, Jeva and Karolina had to wind up a toy rat and get it to the end of the table first to get a candy bar. The rats don't always cooperate and go in all directions.
Next song?
A -tee-ta- tah!
Thumbs up! Elbows out...knees together...bum out...tongue out...turn around!....
"Yep, there is no doubt about it, the Minister of Culture is not going to like this!"
The youth were super, even the older boys participated
And then time for another Rat Race...
.
The Young Single Adult camp leaders were introduced...Oliver, Triinu, Marta, Sanita, Tomas and Viktoria.
Does Sister Davis dare to teach Bungalow?
"Oh, yes she does!"
And it is another hit...with kids dancing in the strangest fashions while singing, Bung-a-low, bung, bung-a-low.
And now its time for group skits...the youth had been given 45 minutes before dinner to come up with a skit and practice it ...except for the Latvian Russian Branch young women who did the dance they performed for the 20th Anniversary of the church in Latvia. The campfire smoke kept drifting their way, making the skit even more mystical.
L-R: Jeva, Anna, Julia, Marija, Karolina, & Natalie (their leader). Each girl is holding a light in their hands (symbolic of the light of Christ) and they dance slowly around sharing with each other.
And then the devil comes and slowly makes each girl lose their testimony of Christ and their lights go out.....
Until one new girl enters the dance with a strong light and helps each girl get their light back...together they force the devil away with their lights.
Each group had to use the props given to them in a bag. The birthday hat became the nose of a bee...that flitted from flower to flower, while someone narrated the story.
The next skit was a story of little red riding hood (in red & white cap) who was going to her grandmothers house because she thought she would be lonely. But grandma had so many friends, there was a party going on when Red Riding Hood showed up...there was a lot of singing in this skit....
After campfire was over, brownies made by the missionary couples were handed out and everyone had some free time to play and talk.
Luiza (who is a Costa Rican-Lithuanian) and Sondra enjoying the campfire.
The youth were supposed to be in bed by 10:30, which was a good goal but an unattainable one. Most of the youth were in bed by 11:00 but a few night-owls stayed up talking. Elder & Sister Davis didn't get to bed until 1:00PM but we were pleased that the opening day had gone as smoothly as it had and were looking forward to DAY 2....which will be in another post.
DAY 1 wore us out!
What fun memories this brought back to me of our time at camp. It was hard to hold back the tears. You are such a great treasure to the saints in this mission. YOU GO GIRL! dena
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