AH it's done, it's over, it's never coming back :( EFY...yes I am in mourning that I shall never be returning to EFY as a participant. But as a counselor? Well that is a possibility but you have to be at least 20 years old so that's a while from now.
So yes this last week July 5-10 was my last EFY session. This year I attended Tacoma session 2 which is hosted at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma (go figure). To sum up the week with a few words I shall use the following; EXTREMELY HOT (we're talking 90's people!), spiritual, fun, tiring, exciting, moving, and of course very rewarding. This was my 5th and last year and all I can say is, I'm glad that I went. I've always taken something from each EFY session and this year I did just that. I've made several goals and have gained a lot of insight that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for CES programs such as these. I know that growing up in the church and attending these sort of programs have helped me in so many ways. WE ARE SO BLESSED :)
The theme this year was based off of Joshua 1:9 which reads: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest". So I really liked that verse and enjoyed having that as our main schpeal. This EFY was pretty special because (besides it being my last session) I was at the same session with 2 of my brothers Loren and Geoffrey! Loren was a returning counselor (he's 22) and Geoffrey was coming back for his second year at Tacoma in a row. So that was a lot of fun spending time with them and seeing the looks on people's faces when we filled them in that we in fact were siblings haha. Geoffrey played his EFY remixed song in the talent show too, and that was pretty funny. My counselors were both totally well rounded and just awesome. They both were super super fun and yet they knew when it was time to get down to business and be serious, they both have such strong testimonies and were great examples. Spending time with them really motivated my desire to be an EFY counselor when the time comes. I would love to work with the youth and have fun but also have spiritual experiences and LEARN about our gospel principles!!!
I was also quite quite quite lucky to have had some friends at this session. The last 3 years I've gone by myself to EFY, as in no room mate and no friends that we're meeting up with me at the session. So this was quite a change for me having friends and people that I knew at this session. Besides my siblings, Kurt, Kyle, Alice, Greg and Nathan were all there as well. I'm so grateful that they were all there. It made such a huge difference and we all had so much fun together. Nathan and I spent most of the week together with the free time we had because we decided to participate in the Musical Program on thursday night which required missing free time to practice singing. Yes it was a sacrifice but it was SO WORTH IT! The spirit was so strong when we performed and even though it was super hot (beads of sweat going down my back!!) I really didn't notice once we started singing and I felt so content. I love that feeling of peace we get from the Spirit comforting us. I can say that that happened to me multiple times this last week. And I hope to continue feeling that, not just at EFY. The Dances were awesome and the food was fantastic (Tacoma has the best food FYI, or at least better than Rexburg and Santa Barbara sessions). Oh and our company which was called "That You May" WON THE CHEER OFF for the wednesday night game/cheer night! I have never been in a company that's won before. So we were quite proud! I loved my company, we were all super close and I'm so glad for that unity we had.
I think my highlights of EFY this year were: Brother Morgan (our session director) telling us on day 1 to BE HERE at EFY-as in forget about stuff going on at home or on facebook or who's texting you. But to just really get involved, pay attention and get the most out of EFY. So to do my part I left my phone in my dorm every day and only looked at it before I went to bed each night. It doesn't sound like a big deal but it made a huge difference for me. When I came back to my dorm monday night I had 8 texts and 2 missed calls! So I decided that I need to cut down on how much time I spend on my phone and even facebook etc.
Another highlight was testimony meeting (thursday night) not much to say about that except that I love hearing other people's testimonies because it's so reassuring and they totally strengthen mine too. And I love how spiritual that night always is, it's always really reflective for me personally, and I love it. My last highlight is that I have an amazing friend Nathan who I became a lot closer with this session. It was his first time going and when we found out we were going to the same session a few months ago I couldn't believe it! It was so much fun showing him the ropes and being there when he was going for the first time. My first time attending EFY made a huge impression on me (as it does for most rookies) so I was grateful to be somewhat of a mentor to him. We certainly had quite a fun time together and I'm so glad because we both had a lot of fun with our group of friends we hung out with and made a lot of people laugh. I think that's one of the best qualities about him and I. Plus we got half of the people there thinking that we were actual blood related cousins, bahaha some people thought we even looked alike? oh goodness. He is awesome though, I pretty much consider him my long lost brother!
So all in all, EFY was a blast and I can now say that I went all 5 years and am an official EFY FANATIC :) I love being MORMON!!
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