When I was a little boy, my mom was serving with the Young Women in our ward. At what age? All of them. It seemed like my mom was always serving with the Young Women. Even if it wasn’t a year-round calling, she would inevitably serve in some capacity for the annual Young Women camp that they attended each summer.
My younger sister and I helped make crafts and organize resources to help with “secret sister” assignments. Sometimes we went up to the camp ahead of time to help time a hike or calculate the space for tents or sleeping bags or testimony meetings. And we tested plenty of Dutch oven meals and desserts.
I also remember the bookmarks with scriptures that my mom would meticulously make by hand with her calligraphy pens. She made that part look easy, but I could never write quite as beautifully as she did. I remember watching her write her testimony in letters or inside copies of the Book of Mormon for her young women. She cared — and still cares — for those whom she served.
Fast-forward to this year when I had the chance to attend my stake’s Young Women camp. The location was different, and decades had passed since I first attended with my mom. But this time I watched my wife and other stake and ward leaders show the same kind of love that I saw as a boy. And I saw my three daughters participating in the activities, devotionals and testimony meetings.
Among the activities they participated in was a faith walk that I had heard and read about earlier this year. I didn’t know I’d have a chance to make the walk, and I certainly didn’t know it would help strengthen my testimony of the Savior like it did.
Sacred music set the tone for individuals to be in a calm place where they could feel the Holy Ghost. Images of the Savior helped reiterate the teachings of His earthly ministry. Prophetic words taught gospel doctrine. And spaces set aside for contemplation, pondering and recording feelings allowed each individual to take the time they needed to pray and feel impressions in their hearts and minds.
The exact details of the experience are less important than the takeaways.
I thought I would watch how the young women reacted along the path to gauge their level of investment and excitement for the activity. But I quickly found myself immersed in the walk as a personal experience, despite the hundreds of youth and leaders around me. I found out later that many others had a similar experience. No matter how many people were there, the experience was an individual one and a sacred one.
The young women and leaders I spoke with all agreed that the walk was the most powerful part of the week. That doesn’t discount the hard work that went into the other parts of the camp. I think everything else was a crescendo into that moment that allowed everyone to feel the Spirit.
Over the decades, I don’t know how many testimonies I’ve heard from young women who returned from their camp experiences and said that the previous days had been among the most meaningful in their life. I’ve heard them talk about unity and scripture study and prayer and singing and hiking and serving each other.
But it wasn’t until this year that I had my own special and joyful experience that felt on par with what I had heard so many times before.
When serving as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Russell M. Nelson spoke in the October 2016 general conference about finding joy and surviving spiritually while navigating the challenges of mortality.
“Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish and despair almost consumed us. Yet we are here to have joy? Yes! The answer is a resounding yes!” he said.
And as those who thought about their own challenges along our Young Women camp’s faith walk can attest, we each face unique trials. But we each find joy and hope in the same Savior — Jesus Christ.
President Nelson continued in the same conference message, “Joy is a gift for the faithful. It is the gift that comes from intentionally trying to live a righteous life, as taught by Jesus Christ.”
