In the ARMY!

I just wanted to tell you about what we did this weekend. We were part of our Stake's Youth Conference. (That is a program that our church provides for the youth every year. They go and perform service, do activities, listen to speakers talk about our church/beliefs, then there is a dance for them, also a talent show, and there will be a Fireside tonight - a meeting where they will have a chance to talk about their own beliefs.)


Our Plantoon was called "Red Blooded Alpha," because we were the Red Alpha group.
This year's theme was "Called to Serve." Thier moto was ARMY - Always Righteous Mormon Youth. They had some really clever "advertisments." They basically used the Army's recruiting posters but put our own message on it. They looked really awesome! Then they all got a tshirt that had ARMY on it with a small picture of the angel Moroni, they got dog-tags, and a rubber bracelet that said "Called to Serve" on it, similar to the "Live Strong" bracelets.



We were asked to be "Platoon Leaders." We had a group of about 15 youth and we with two more groups to a place called "Sammy's House." It is an organization that helps children that are physically impared and developmentally delayed. They deal with children who have serious problems, whether health or emotional or both. The children there have serious issues that normal care providers won't accept, and the parents can't pay for. We built some tables so that they could do some outdoor planting, we also built a planter for them which required breaking up some dirt mounds that had been dried up and solid, and we cleaned the inside of the building. She said that they saved over $1,000 by having us help them clean. Our church has been volunteering there for four years now. Isabel, the director, said they don't let any youth groups come and help anymore because they usually cause more harm than good, but that our youth is the exception. That is so wonderful and such a compliment to our church and our youth. It was a wonderful thing to help them. The kids looked like angels inside cleaning the floor. All you could see was them in the dim light and their shadows. They looked so beautiful!


We had a lot of fun doing some team building activities and listening to some great speakers! It was a wonderful day and made me so proud to be part of such a wonderful organization!
Some of our garbage from raking leaves.

One of our drivers and a participant taking some garbage bags.

Painting our planter table. The holes in it are for the black tubs for the plants.

Ben putting the table together. He made it the day before because the kids probably shouldn't be using power tools.
ha ha

Raking leaves.

Breaking up the dirt mound.

More fun with the dirt.

Putting together the planter box. They had to hammer in the stakes.


Transporting the table in pieces #2.

Transporting the table in pieces #1.

All three groups together in front of thier "Sammy's House" van.

"Sammy's House" logo from the building.

Half our group doing our cheer we made up.

Second half of our group doing our cheer.
"I don't know but I've been told,
Red's a color bright and bold.
I don't know but it's been said,
Red's always come out ahead.
Sound off
Soudn off
Red Blooded Alpha
Wo-ah!"