HEBER, UTAH
Gathered with 2,300 young women high on a mountain top, Sister Elaine S. Dalton unfurled a banner to virtue June 1.
The bright golden banner now stands among other colorful flags at the Church's Heber Valley Camp for young women.
"Today as we raise a golden banner standing for virtue here at the Heber Camp, I might ask you to arise also and shine and stand," said Sister Dalton, Young Women general president.
"I ask you to undertake with me, beginning this day, a spiritual journey worthy of your and my best efforts. I ask you to press forward with me in a quest of unparalleled personal spirituality and purity. And I ask you each to determine right here, right now, that you will be virtuous and worthy to attend the temple."
The young women, attending the camp with their wards and stakes, sat in an amphitheater and endured light rain during the program, a celebration of all the Young Women values — faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue.
The value virtue was added to the Young Women theme by the First Presidency in November.
Sister Dalton told the campers that the Lord asks, in the Doctrine and Covenants, for each of them to walk the paths of virtue.
"So while you are here at Heber Camp and while you are walking on those paths, I hope that you will think about what the path of virtue will look like in your life. Sometimes it will be narrow. Sometimes it will be steep. But you are climbers. And you are not meant to be valley dwellers. You are meant to be up here in high mountain tops overlooking the grand vista you have.
"You are here on this Earth now for a glorious season and for a glorious purpose."
Situated on 8,000 acres of mostly wooded mountainside, the Heber Valley Camp first opened in 2003.
Sister Dalton spoke of having visited the area before the camp was constructed. She wondered then if making such a camp would be possible. But today, "the Heber Camp is more magnificent than I could have ever dreamed," she said. "You are standing on ground that was foreseen by prophets of God for the very purpose to build and strengthen you, to strengthen your faith and testimony of Jesus Christ so that you might become the leaders of the next generation."
Looking at all the huge banners representing each of the Young Women values, Sister Dalton said she never imagined at the beginning of her call as Young Women general president that the Church would add virtue to the Young Women values.
Still, she said, she and her counselors climbed Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City, and as they looked down on the Salt Lake Temple, waved a gold Peruvian shawl and called for a return to virtue. "We unfurled that banner that day, never … imagining or dreaming we would eventually see come to pass the value of virtue added to the Young Women theme and values."
And when it was added, Church leaders asked Sister Dalton what color would be appropriate to represent virtue.
"It was crystal clear to me what color it should be," she recalled. "'Gold,' I said, 'It has to be gold.' They said, 'Gold, Why?' I didn't say, 'Because it is the color of my Peruvian shawl,' but I did say this, and I thought it was brilliant and it just came into my mind through the Spirit. I said, 'Because gold is pure. It has to be refined. And it shines and it is precious.....' I want you to know today that you are golden children. You are gold. You shine. You shine because of the purity of your lives. And the purity of your desires. And your testimonies. And you are precious."
Sister Dalton closed by telling the campers that their purity and virtue will literally change the world.
"These are no ordinary days and you are no ordinary young women," she said. "Remember that. Let that sink into your hearts in the quiet of Heber Camp. Then when you go back to your homes, don't let anyone persuade you otherwise.
"It is my prayer that this day, here in the tops of the mountains, you will resolve to arise and go up to the mountain of the Lord – the temple. That you will resolve to stand for truth and righteousness."
Ultimately, she told the young women, they will be scattered throughout all the world. "You will become the banner of virtue to the world. Live your life in such a way that you might be happy and joyful and an example to all that you come in contact with."
