Camp Cumorah

Yesterday (9/19) Eric and I went up to Camp Cumorah to provide service hours. Our stake is one of several that will be using this new campsite for Young Women. We had previously been using another campsite owned by other stakes but I guess it was decided that a new camp should be set up to aleviate demand for one campsite. They decided to go all out on this camp- huge lodge, kitchen, bathroom/shower facilities, water and power to each of the campsites, etc.

Our ward was assigned to provide 2 people for 3 different days this month. They gave the High Priest Group the responsibility to provide people on the 19th. No one but Eric could go! It's a long drive there (they said 2 hours) and they wanted two people to work all day. I took pity on Eric and made necessary arrangements to go with him. We left here at 7:15 am after feeding the kids breakfast and packing lunch for everyone. We left Caleb and Kaitlyn to get themselves ready for school and out the door on time. We dropped Jared off at the babysitter's and headed off to the mountains!

The instructions on the map show that the camp is only 57 miles away. We were puzzled as to why it took 2 hours to get there. Some of it was slow driving- dirt rock roads and switchbacks, etc. It is a beautiful drive and I wished I had my camera with me! Fall is showing it's beautiful colors in the mountains. All around we saw shades of red, yellow, orange, and green. The roads were narrow so the wildlife and trees were practically right next to us! We saw cows, chipmunks, and falcons on the drive up. It was a beautiful drive! We made it there (after 1 1/2 hours) and set right to work. They had us smoothing out tentsites. Each campsite has a cement platform for food preparation and tables- complete with electricity and water hookups. There are about 6 surrounding tentsites- 4 for the girls, one for the leaders and one for the priesthood leaders. There's probably about 10-12 of these campsites. The tentsites were already plowed (trees removed) had straw laid out with a pile of gravel/sand mix. Our job was to take the half logs (about 10 feet or so) and make a perimeter for the tent sites- 16'x32'. We had to level the logs, spread out the gravel/sand and level that (without levelers!). It took us about 3 hours to do one. It was hard work and we were so pleased with the way our first project turned out. We took a break for lunch and then went to get more logs. Then we started and another 16'x32' tentsite. By that time we were getting worn out and the second pile of sand wasn't as soft as the first. Along came this man who works for the church (I guess he's there to oversee the project) and he said he'd find us a Bobcat (machine, not animal) to move and smooth out the gravel and we would do the detail work. We were so appreciative to have that help!

There is so much to do up there to get it ready before the snow sets in. We didn't see very many people there. Just the usual staff that do this stuff day in and day out. They said the bulk of their help comes on Saturday (obviously). After all that hard work we did yesterday, we have much admiration and appreciation for those people who are up there doing this everyday until the camp is finished. And they're not young people either!

We came home around 6 pm and rested for the rest of the evening. Now it's the day after and I'm not as sore as I thought I would be! As Eric and I reflected on our day, we realized we "lost ourselves in service". We didn't think once about the trials that were upon us. Of course we thought of our kids and hoped they were doing ok but trusted in the Lord and the caretakers. Other than that, our minds were focused on the work. Such an honest hard day's work!