I started on Tuesday when I went to the Logan temple and did baptisms for the dead. We were told that our stake did over 1,000 baptisms. That made me feel really happy! Some of my friends were hoping to get ice cream after baptisms, but me, I was just happy to do ordinances for the dead cause I had been wanting to go back for a long time and I finally got the chance!
On Wednesday we went to the Stake Center and had a kick off party. We watched some videos about the life of Christ and how he served others. We talked about President Uchdorf and the talk given by Elder Patrick Kearon, "Refuge from the Storm." Elder Kearon said, "This moment does not define the refugees, but our response will help define us." So what happened the next few days, was really was a defining moment.
On Thursday morning I met with my new "family" at 7:30 a.m. at the church. We loaded up the Suburban and then we were on our way to Salt Lake City. Our stake had the opportunities to serve in the following places: The Humanitarian Center, Camp K, The Road Home Shelter, A Family Shelter, and a Juvenile Only Center. My families first stop was at the Humanitarian Center. At the center we took a tour around the building and then we watched a movie about refugees. We then went to a storage shed and loaded a U-Haul with several items like shoes, clothes, backpacks, school supplies, snack foods, and a few other items. Then we took these items to a local church in SLC and divided them up and put them in boxes. We didn't do anything else with these items but another Youth Conference "Family" would most likely deliver them to a homeless shelter. Before we went to the church, we actually saw some people on the street that looked liked they needed a cold drink. Our Ma and Pa had Gatorade that they gave us to go pass out to these people. I felt a little nervous to approach these people but it wasn't scary because in the end they're just people. Our next stop was the Salt Lake City Mission Center. People there have a place to sleep but they can go there for food, clothes, and there's even a recovery program there. Here, we did some cleaning such as taking out trash, sweeping floors, and loaded boxes for the dumpster. The Salt Lake City Mission Center isn't ran by the LDS Church, but the spirit was still strong. I'm not going to lie, I saw some people that looked scary but they looked like they were getting help and that made me feel good.
After the Salt Lake Mission, we had a little bit of down time before we had to go to camp so we went to the Family History Center. We looked around there and we watched a movie on Joseph Smith. By this time we went to "This Is The Place Heritage Park" and set up camp. When camp was set up, my "family" and I went to "The Road Home" to serve dinner for the men, women and children who live there. We were the first people to serve both men and women at the same time. The men used to be in a separate area. They sleep in seperate areas but they eat together. My job was to pass out the plates and napkins. People were trying to get more food even after dinner service was over. We let people get seconds if they were still hungry but after dinner service was over, they couldn't get anymore. It was kind of sad to turn people away knowing that they might still feel hungry. Especially because there was A LOT of leftovers. But everyone that wanted to eat, got to eat. The people in charge there had us move away from the serving tables so it didn't look like we were serving anymore. My "family" ate our dinner at the Road Home Shelter. We ate what they ate. Enchilada casserole, watermelon, and a cookie. After we ate dinner, we found an alleyway that was sorry to say super stinky! It was full of homeless people. People with shopping carts and garbage bags. There was a guy in the middle of the alley asleep in the road. It smelled so bad, but we went down it and offered Gatorade to these people too. We got a lot of people saying "Thank you" and "God Bless." I was scared. But I also felt good at the same time. One lady asked me for a second Gatorade cause she said she was pregnant, but she was also smoking which kind of really bugged me. I hope she will be ok. And she got a second Gatorade from me by the way. It was time for us to head to the main camp at "This is the Place Heritage Park." We had a fireside and the opportunity to hear from Sister Ann Dibbs, the daughter of our Prophet Thomas S. Monson. It was super cool! She talked about testimonies and why we came to youth conference. She said that her Dad was involved with a church calling ever since she was born. In fact, he was a ward bishop at age 22. She told us lots of stories about her Dad. She ended with her testimony and hoped that this youth conference would strengthen ours. I was so tired after the fireside. We had a closing prayer. Dessert. AND THEN BED!!!!
On Friday morning we woke up at 5:30 with our young men's president banging on our tent. I missed my music on my alarm clock. We tore down camp super fast, went to breakfast which was eggs, grapes, muffins, juice or chocolate milk. I had both. We put on our pioneer clothing and headed out for our TREK. We watched a reenactment of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and the mobs. We got our handcarts. I pulled in the front and pushed in the back. We hiked to the very top of the mountain. It was hard because it was straight up hill. There was a part of our hike that only the women could pull the handcart. The boys just had to sit reverent and watch. I wanted to help but I couldn't. A girl passed out. A member of our Stake Presidency just yelled, "WE NEED A DOCTOR!" She had heat exhaustion. When we were at the top of the mountain, The Pony Express came and had a mail delivery. Every youth got a letter from a parent. I was kind of surprised about this. My Mom said I was supposed to be surprised. It worked. My letter was really good. I found a place to sit alone and I read it out loud to myself. We had lunch at the top of the mountain of honey and bread and trail mix. Then we made our way down the mountain. This was almost harder than going up for me. My legs hurt so bad and they still hurt a little. We stopped halfway down and had a devotional. The girl that passed out actually spoke. When we made it to the bottom of the mountain, we put our handcarts away and headed for home.
When I walked in my house, it was so clean. And it smelled good because my mom was cooking dinner. I was glad to get out of my pioneer clothes and take a shower and put on clean clothes. I got to sleep in a queen size bed with clean sheets and fluffy pillows. I didn't have to worry about if I would have breakfast on Saturday morning. I knew my clothes would be washed in a washing machine, and that the pantry and the fridge would have snacks for me if I were hungry. I am grateful that I had the chance to attend youth conference and I would attend again. I am also grateful that I have ancestors that made the 1,200 mile journey to the Salt Lake Valley. If it weren't for their faith, I might not be where I am today, enjoying the things I get to enjoy. I am still gaining my own testimony and this experience will change my life forever.
Love, Dixon
