Youth Conference: An Overnight Camping Trip

By Thu Pham

One day my host father asked me:

- Have you ever gone camping?

- Yes, we had a barbecue and slept in a fancy hotel! – I responded.

He laughed at my misunderstanding of the word ‘camping’.

- That’s a vacation. Camping includes sleeping outside, Thu. – My host father corrected me.

A few days later my host-mother bought me a Youth Conference ticket. It was a non-technology camping trip organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the purpose of making teenagers appreciate what they have.

The throughout topic of the trip was the moment the biblical character, Lehi, and his family left their city for the Promise land. On those first days on a fallow land, without anything such as food, warm clothes and shelter available, they started a new life. So the main point of the trip is to experience the hardships of living in the wild, just like Lehi’s family lived long time ago.

 Spending one night sleeping outside taught me a lot. My bone felt frozen even though I was under four layers of clothes! Although we had sleeping bags under thick sleeping pads, comfortable tent and abundant food, everyone still felt like they could not bear that outdoor life anymore. The worst part was the bathrooms! They were the most meager bathroom I have ever seen!

A comedy tragedy happened right in one of the bathrooms. A girl was in a bathroom whose door could not be locked, leaving outside of the door the sign ‘green’.  My Chinese host brother, seeing the green sign, opened the bathroom door and saw the girl sitting on a toilet! Strangely, both of them did not feel even a little bit uncomfortable on telling everyone on the camp about the embarrassing story. 

None of us took any shower during the two-day trip. We had no cell phone, no TV, no heaters. Therefore everyone could not wait to get home. Whereas back in time, Lehi’s family and maybe our ancestors had lived all their lives like that, they didn’t even have light at night!

 The more I think about the hardships those ones had dealt with, and how transcendently they had lived without any help of modern equipment, the more I appreciate everything I have. It was the most exhausting trip I have ever made but I am glad I did. That trip taught me the important values of friendship and solidarity as well I gave me the motivation to change my attitude toward my life.