December 15, 2013

This past week we had the opportunity of attending a regional youth camp that could be described as a EFY(SOY), Guatemalan style. It is held for three consecutive weeks during the school break here, which is December. The country is divided into three regions, each region is assigned to one week for their SOY. This week there were just over 700 youth ranging in ages from 17 thru 21. They begin their activities on the Monday that they arrive and conclude on Saturday morning. Las Colinas is a church owned camp similar to Heber Valley Camp. The church owns and furnishes all the tents and sleeping bags. The youth here do not own camping equipment of any kind. The church hires someone to come in and set up and take down the tents after the 3 weeks are over. There were approximately 300 adult leaders, support, counselors, and medical volunteers. The tents cities were divided by a large soccer field size area which was lit at night and patrolled heavily.

 The youth are divided into families like you see here. They try to have equal numbers of males and females. The youth are assigned randomly to create an opportunity to meet and know new friends. Each family group would have at least 2 counselors to help them. The day we attended the camp was designated as a Sunday, so everyone was in Sunday dress. It was required that the youth meet the missionary standards and worthiness,  including haircuts. If a young man came with hair longer than acceptable, he was escorted to the barbershop tent for a free haircut.

The special speaker for the evening was Elder Ochoa who is the 2nd counselor in the Area Presidency. The youth had prepared a special musical presentation with a video in the background. It was very spiritual and many of the singers had tears running down their cheeks during the presentation. We had the special treat of traveling to and from the conference with Elder Ochoa and his family. It was a wonderful experience to get to know them on a personal level. As the walked by us, many of the youth wanted to shake our hands (Elder and Hermana Pitcher's). We had to smile a little because they thought we were someone important.(HaHa)
   Wednesday we attended two devotionals. One was for the Area Office employees, the other was for Mission Presidents, Stake Presidents, and local Area 70's. President Amado spoke at both devotionals and there were meals at both also. We were introduced as the new Executive Secretary to the Area Presidency, which makes us a bit uneasy to hear.
   We started going to the Area Office this past week. We are overwhelmed, to say the least! We are thinking that we will be assigned a car for our use. We'll let you know when that happens. It will be a good thing that Elder Pitcher will be the driver because Hermana Pitcher is still turned around as we travel about.
   We miss serving in the Temple on a daily basis, however, we will be attending the Temple weekly with the Area Presidency.
   Christmas will be especially strange for us this year, being away from family. As we see the preparations down here, we pray that Christ is in your thoughts this season.