Church article

I mentioned in my last post about an article I might have in the Church magazine called the Liahona. (It's the international version of our English magazines.) As I'm tired, and next week will really get busy with a new school class, I thought I'd go ahead and post the article, before approval from the magazine. Plus - you get more pics!!

*Casey is in some of the pics. Mark was busy being a leader, and I was in charge, and taking the pics! The kids did more than just what the article states. There was also kayaking, obstacle courses, flying fox and other activities, but I had a word limit for the article. : )

This article is about a Youth Conference that our church holds every year for teens ages 14-18. They have activities and classes and fun, all focused on the gospel of Christ. The last two years I've had the blessing to be in charge of it! This past year our them was Christ, his service and mission. Here's the article:

May 17-19, 2008

The youth of the Kuala Lumpur West Malaysia District had a fun, service-filled Youth Conference this past May. Youth from all five branches attended; Klang, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Petaling Jaya 1 and Petaling Jaya 2 made up the full contingency of 36 missionary-inspired "service warriors".

The youth were divided into "missions" of Mandarin-speaking, Bahasa-Malay-speaking and Tamil-speaking missions. These languages are the languages these youth are surrounded with in their everyday lives. Each day they learned missionary phrases in their mission language. They acted together with their mission when they went to their activities, and were assigned "companions" from their mission, with whom they were to stay with the entire conference.

Our first missionary-act of service was at a spastic center in Kuala Kubu Bahru. Here the youth helped to clean for and visit with the patients. Most of these patients were severely handicapped and the youth had to overcome their fear and uncomfortableness in order to serve them. Serve them they did! Like Christ, our youth humbly swept and mopped floors, and where appropriate, held hands, laughed and sang with those sweet spirits. *This pic didn't make the magazine. I didn't know at the time I took it, but we weren't supposed to take pics of the patients. They were happy and clean patients, but the restraining methods used at the facility were NOT what we westerners were used to... The boy in the pic is especially smiling. The boys had a bigger shock than the girls. This particular boy (King Wai) came over to the women's side to get some cleaning aids. The girls were standing around in shock (having just arrived) and said "There's naked men running around over there!!!!" He was flabbergasted, to say the least. After that, the girls realized they didn't have it so bad and got to work. : )

Our second missionary-act of service was to the Orang Asli, or native people of Malaysia. Like missionaries of old, the youth trekked 1 hour on foot to the remote village. Tired, hot and thirsty, they dove into their service and taught, sang, and did magic tricks and wushu for the young children of the village. *After the shocks of the Spastic Center our youth really appreciated the happy, healthy children of the Orang Asli. Even the 1 hour walk didn't dampen their spirits with these kids! Look at the smiles!

Refreshed in Spirit, and with water, the youth began their long journey back to the camp. Only the leaders knew a short-cut! (The blessings that come through service?!) The short-cut was indeed shorter, but it also had an obstacle – a river!! The youth compassionately assisted each other over a 2 meter sink-hole, and then hand over hand helped each other across the river. What a refreshing way to end our long journey! * These youth are awesome. They helped each other all the time. This is the obstacle course we did when we first got there. They did stuff like this ALL the time! Without being asked!

* I don't believe in pampering youth. I know that we all grow when we are tested and tried. I wanted this conference to be demanding and exhausting - both physically AND spiritually. While I didn't get pics of the trip back (I knew we would have to cross a river and get soaked so I sent it ahead) this is a pic of the 'easy' way to the village. Nice bridge, eh?

Once back at camp the youth cleaned up for a testimony meeting, then on to classes to teach them basics of being a missionary; ironing, mending, budgeting, shopping and cleaning! The apartment-cleaning was a hit because not only did they clean the apartment, but they got to mess it up for the next group! *This is Mark's room. He did the decorations. It was fun to see the reactions on the kids faces! But they had a blast after they had cleaned it up, had it inspected, then trashed it again for the next group!

The youth learned that service is not easy, but it is rewarding. Each came home with a desire to serve- a mission, each other, and the Lord.